Friday, June 13, 2014

Old Jazz CD's 2014 - Part Five

Egil Kapstad Trio
Remembrance



Released: 1994
Genre: Jazz

Tracklist:
1 Linjer; 2 Before You Go; 3 Ved Vannet; 4 Medium; 5 Mood
6 Big Red; 7 Bird Lovers; 8 Rememberance Of Eric Dolphy
9 Tribute To Melvin; 10 A Song You'll Never Sing; 11 To The Most Peaceful Man
Personnel:
Double Bass - Terje Venaas
Drums - Egil Johansen
Piano - Egil Kapstad


Guido Manusardi Trio
Down Town



Artists :
Guido Manusardi ( Piano )
Isla Eckinger ( Bass )
Ed Thigpen ( Drums )
Release date: Dec 31, 1986

Down Town album by Guido Manusardi was released Mar 16, 2010 on the Soul Note label. Guido Manusardi Trio: Guido Manusardi, Isla Eckinger, Ed Thigpen. Down Town buy CD music Engineer: Gennaro Carone, Giancarlo Barigozzi. Down Town songs Personnel: Guido Manusardi (piano); Ed Thigpen (drums). Liner Note Author: Nat Hentoff. Recording information: Barigozzi Studio, Milano, Italy.
Photographer: Mirko R. Boscolo.


Don Friedman Trio
Circle Waltz



By Scott Yanow
Even ignoring that bassist Chuck Israels is on this set and the similarity of some of the repertoire, it's difficult to overlook the fact that pianist Don Friedman sounds very similar to Bill Evans on this set. With drummer Pete LaRoca completing the trio and such songs as "I Hear a Rhapsody," "In Your Own Sweet Way," and "So in Love" joining four of the leader's originals, Friedman uses chord voicings similar to Evans and engages in the same type of close interplay with his sidemen. However, since the music is of high quality and few other keyboardists sounded like Evans this early, Circle Waltz is worth hearing by post-bop fans.


Harold Danko
Alone But Not Forgotten



By Dave Nathan
Perhaps encouraged by the presence of a bevy of strings, Harold Danko indulges in a bit of flamboyant rapture on his third album for Sunnyside. First issued in 1986 and now reissued, the compact play list is split between Danko originals and compositions by others, the most familiar of which is Bill Evans/Bob Dorough's "Laurie." The tune "When Everything Gets Quiet" pretty much sums up the theme of this session: pleasant-to-hear music offering few surprises and hardly complex -- a bit out of the ordinary for Danko. Even his "Wayne Shorter," which, while more intense than most of the material found on the CD, doesn't seem to grab hold of the essence of the music Shorter, is most noted for. There's more good bass work here, this time by Michael Moore. "Candlelight Shadows" is enhanced by the presence of Marc Johnson's probing bass and Joe LaBarbera's light drum punctuation to give this tune a sharper edge not on other cuts. Bob Dorough makes a single appearance coming in on "Laurie" following a longish Danko solo. Like the rest of the tracks on this CD, Dorough is restrained, singing almost in a whisper at times. Pretty music very nice for a laid-back, easy-going mood, this offering doesn't have much meat on the bones, demanding little from the listener.


Michel Graillier
Dream Drops



By François Lacharme
Michel Graillier aurait dû faire la carrière de Michel Pétrucciani. Ce raccourci s'impose à l'écoute de cet album-collage qui fut enregistré en 1981, à la faveur de ces rencontres humaines qui ont toujours été, chez ce pianiste au toucher magnifique, les ressorts de la création. Il y a dans ce CD un culte du lyrisme rarissime : les plages en solo, doublées par quelques notes de synthétiseur, sont un voyage onirique duquel on ne revient qu'à contrecœur. Celle en duo avec le trompettiste Chet Baker (que le pianiste accompagna longtemps) sont en fait deux voix qui chantent leur spleen à l'unisson. Celle avec Pétrucciani (nous y voilà ! ) est d'une complicité gémellaire, comme née de la même inspiration. Celles enfin avec le contrebassiste Jean-François Jenny Clark ou le batteur Aldo Romano racontent une histoire, grave ou enjouée, faisant passer une technique pourtant remarquable au débit de la seule émotion. C’est l’une des réussites intemporelles du jazz français.

BAKER Chet : trumpet
GRAILLIER Michel : acoustic piano / electric piano / synthesizer
JENNY CLARK Jean François : bass
PETRUCCIANI Michel : acoustic piano
ROMANO Aldo : drums


Eddie Higgins Trio
Haunted Heart



By Richard S. Ginell
The lonely cover photo and title of this Japanese import give away most of the story; this is a haunted, introspective album of piano-trio jazz very much indebted to Bill Evans and, to a lesser extent, George Shearing. Veteran Eddie Higgins mostly serves up standards from the Great American Songbook -- "My Funny Valentine," "Someone to Watch Over Me," "I Should Care," "Lush Life," the usual suspects -- in a tasteful, unshowy, often gently swinging way, harmonically locked into the mainstream, occasionally throwing in a gentle quote for humor's sake. Elsewhere, "Israel" forms the core of a "Stolen Moments" sandwich, and "Lover Come Back to Me" is given the token bossa nova treatment. Ray Drummond (bass) and Ben Riley (drums) make up the fine rhythm section, and they never miss a cue.

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