Jazz Recommends Jazz October 2021

Review: Blue Note's Classic Vinyl series is about reissuing vital jazz records on heavyweight vinyl with all new mastering by Kevin Gray of Coherant Audio. Next to get the special treatment it deserves is Herbie Hancock's 1965 classic Maiden Voyage, which is some of the most evocative jazz to have ever been recorded. Net to Hancock, the players were all either present or past members of Miles Davis' quintet, so made for a heavy line-up. Hancock's impressionistic style is here for all to hear with the sublime compositions of 'Dolphin's Dance' and 'Maiden Voyage' and more tumultuous sounds of 'The Eye Of The Hurricane' some of the highlights.

Review: Jazz multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy's Out To Lunch is the latest in the on going Blue Note Reissue series, Tone Poet. It was his only recording for the seminal label and is often said to be one of the best they ever put out, as well as one of Dolphy's own personal highlights. Certainly fans of 1960s avant-garde jazz will agree. Dolphy was joined by trumpeter Freddie Hubbard and bassist Richard Davis amongst others, and told all players that there was no leader in the recording sessions that made up the album. That makes for a dense, busy and freeform record filled with wild playing and super musical ideas.

Review: 80s soul jazz sensation and keyboardist Judy Roberts debut with her The Other World album and went on to out another nine full length. The first remained her best, though, and two tunes from it make up this hot new 7" on Dynamite. It's the title track that goes first and is an uplifting and life-affirming soul-jazz jam with busy drumming, hectic chord work and a fantastic lead guitar that brings the Balearic vibes. Things slow down on the flip with the more sentimental and noodling jazz-funk bass and laidback grooves of 'The River Must Flow.'

Review: Decca is on a mission to remaster and reissue some of the most acclaimed British jazz album there ever have been. The New Jazz Orchestra was a British jazz big band that first formed three years before this sophomore album came out in 1966. Made up of Clive Burrows and directed form 1964 to 1968 by Neil Ardley, Le Dejeuner Sur L'Herbe was their crowning glory. The music draws on pastoral inspirations and ranges from big, uplifting tracks with playful grooves and lively trumpets to more intense and dense jazz cuts. 'Nardis' is a track written by Miel Davis while 'Naima' was written by John Coltrane, helping to make this the standout it is.

Review: Warren Oree is an acoustic bassist, producer and composer who founded The Arpeggio Jazz Ensemble in Philadelphia in 1979. The adventurous outfit are eclectic and have a far from predictable sound that combines acoustic sounds with African and Middle Eastern influences, a hint of Afro-Cuban Orientalism, spiritual jazz and avant garden flourishes. This album was recorded in 1980 and has a truly worldwide sound that very much fits in with the sound of the current jazz revival. There is cool jazz on 'Wet Walnuts and Whipped Cream', percussive drenched grooves on the title track and much more besides. A real classic.

Review: Ethio Jazz reissue from the Godfather of Ethiopian Jazz Mulatu Astatke.

Review: It's not hard to see why Reggie Andrews & The Fellowship's "Mystic Beauty" is a holy grail record for jazz lovers that has long been unavailable and often fetches four digit prices on second hand markets. A earthy, stunning set of modal soul jazz from the LA underground of the 60s brimming with glowing piano chords and mellifluous keys drifting next to lilting trumpets and gently swaying drums, with the overtness of Afro-Cuban rhythms and Latin sunshine. Whether it's spiritual-jazz, soul-jazz, jazz-funk, none quite capture the musical beauty of this most profound and life-enriching album, which is so masterfully led by pianist Reggie Andrews.

Review: Keyboardist Walter Bishop Jr's Coral Keys album was the second long player to get released on Blue Note. It was a triumph of lush jazz atmospherics with hefty doses of 70s soul, but just two years later he reinvented himself for 1973's Keeper of My Soul, which came deeply entrench in spirituality in part because of his studies with yogi Parmahansa Yogananda. The ambitious record features great work from flautist and sax man Hubert Laws, bassist Gerald Brown and vibraphonist Woody Murray, all of whom serve up myriad free-form passages and plenty of funky interpretations, not least a cover of 'Summertime.' The whole album has been remastered for this pressing and comes with liner notes from Pat Thomas.

Review: On previous instalments in their essential Jazz is Dead series, Adrian Younge and A Tribe Called Quest's Ali Shadeed Muhammad have served up some super fresh and new takes on jazz for the modern generation. They have had help from the likes of Roy Ayers, Azymuth and Marcos Valle, all of whom have made it an essential series. Now they serve up a limited edition coloured vinyl release that offers a bunch of fantastic instrumentals. Those aforementioned big names all feature on these tunes which cover every style of jazz and then some.

Review: Tenor saxophone master and composer Wayne Shorter recorded his The All Seeing Eye album in 1965. It's a hugely ambitious album, multi layered and intriguing and is now reissued as part of Blue Note's Tone Poet series. His aim for the music was that it would use "a wider range of colours and textures" as well as continuing on his usual theme to explore life, the universe and god. The main man was joined for this one by trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, Grachan Moncur III on trombone and Herbie Hancock on piano, amongst others. The epic rollercoaster that is 'Genesis' has to be the highlight here.