Houston Person - Naturally (2012)

Active on the scene for decades, 78-year-old tenor saxophonist Houston Person still seems to be a discovery for some. Both newcomers to his music and longtime fans will no doubt enjoy this latest recording featuring a formidable group: veteran pianist Cedar Walton (with whom Person first collaborated in the 1960s), bassist Ray Drummond and drummer Lewis Nash. Person showcases his warm, enveloping tone and big sound, steeped in bop, blues and the Great American Songbook, on a set of beloved tunes, some still relatively unexplored. Opening is Milt Jackson’s “Bags’ Groove,” where Walton takes the first solo, laidback yet abounding with spirit and sentiment; Person stretches out in luxurious fashion while Drummond and Nash contribute their own groove-enhancing statements. One of three ballads in the program, “My Foolish Heart” illustrates Person’s fundamental approach to his horn, eloquently expressing heartfelt emotion in much the same way a vocalist might. Nash’s swinging brushwork shines on the sumptuous “That’s All” and “How Little We Know,” and Walton shimmers on “Red Sails in the Sunset.” The Ellington/Hodges gem “It Shouldn’t Happen to a Dream,” largely unrecorded since the 1950s, is revived in grand style, with poignant solos by Person and Walton, as Nash and Brown sustain taut yet fluid movement. Recorded at the legendary Van Gelder Studio, this throwback album is nonetheless fresh and imaginative. Aptly titled, it’s a relaxed, compelling set on which Person and his bandmates demonstrate unaffected dexterity, swing and soul. ~ Sharonne Cohen, JazzTimes. 

HighNote Records, HCD 7245, 2012
Recorded 5th July, 2012 At Van Gelder Recording Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey 

Musicians:
Houston Person - Tenor Saxophone
Cedar Walton - Piano
Ray Drummond - Bass
Lewis Nash - Drums 

Tracks:
1. Bag's Groove {Milt Jackson} (7:09)
2. That's All {Bob Haymes} (5:52)
3. [How Little It Matters] How Little We Know {Phil Springer, Carolyn Leigh} (4:30)
4. Namely You {Gene DePaul, Johnny Mercer} (6:53)
5. My Foolish Heart {Victor Young, Ned Washington} (6:34)
6. Red Sails In The Sunset {Wilhelm Grosz, Jimmy Kennedy} (4:25)
7. Don' Cha Go 'Way Mad {Illinois Jacquet, Jimmy Mundy, Al Stillman} (5:38)
8. It Shouldn't Happen To A Dream {Duke Ellington, Johnny Hodges, Don George} (5:54)
9. Sunday {Jule Styne, Chester Conn, Bennie Krueger, Ned Miller} (5:24) 

Total Time: 52:18

Credits:
Producer - Houston Person
Executive Producer - Joe Fields
Engineer, Mixing, Mastering - Rudy van Gelder
Assistant Engineer - Maureen Sickler
Photography - Alan Nahigian
Design - Brad Wrolstad
Liner Notes - David Jaye

Red Holloway - In The Red (1997)

Red Holloway is joined by a set of veteran jazz performers for a no-nonsense, down-to-earth blowing session recalling those magnificent Prestige and Blue Note recordings of the 1950s and '60s by Johnny Griffin, Dexter Gordon, Gene Ammons, Sonny Stitt, and others. The first cut, "The Chase," was the vehicle for the seminal Dexter Gordon/Wardell Gray tenor sax battle recorded in 1947, which set the ground rules for all such battles to come. On this cut, Holloway shows he has lost little, if any, of the fingering dexterity that characterized his playing in earlier days with such notables as "Brother" Jack McDuff, Bill Doggett, and Lloyd Price. Holloway continues to be equally adroit on alto as he is on tenor, bringing out the smaller sax on "The Gypsy" and "A Tear in My Heart" (the latter a composition by piano player Norman Simmons). A highlight of the album is the very poignant rendition of Duke Ellington's "In My Solitude," played in soulful, long musical lines. HighNote Records, the successor to the old Muse label, became a home for several veteran saxophonists. In addition to Holloway, the stable includes Houston Person and Teddy Edwards. HighNote deserves considerable kudos for providing a forum for this hard driving saxophone playing, done with soul, which otherwise might be lost. ~ by Dave Nathan, AMG.

HighNote Records, HCD 7022, 1998

Recorded 27^th November, 1997 At Van Gelder Studios, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey

Personnel:

Red Holloway - Tenor Sax, Alto Sax (#4,7)

Norman Simmons - Piano

Peter Washington - Bass

Kenny Washington - Drums

Tracks:

1. The Chase {Dexter Gordon} (4:36)

2. In My Solitude {Eddie DeLange, Duke Ellington, Irving Mills} (7:33)

3. Snu-Fu {Norman Simmons} (7:36)

4. The Gypsy {Billy Reid} (8:58)

5. Claudia {Red Holloway} (6:05)

6. Watermelon Man {Herbie Hancock} (6:49)

7. A Tear In My Heart {Norman Simmons} (5:48)

8. Rapture {Harold Land} (8:30)

Total Time: 55:35

Credits:

Producer - Houston Person

Engineer - Rudy van Gelder

Cover Photo - Ken Franckling

Tray Card Photo - J. Flint

Art Direction - Dick Smith

Don Byas - Midnight At Minton's (1941)

Tenor saxophone legend Don Byas is heard with great clarity on this, a relative jam session, as is vocalist Helen Humes (the first two cuts) and ostensible leader/trumpeter Joe Guy, whose high energy solos are very good in spots. Less audible in the mix are pianist Thelonious Monk and drummer Kenny Clarke, working in this band while bebop was fermenting. These two would lead the bop charge later in the '40s at Minton's Playhouse, the bebop concubine/jazz club in N.Y.C. The music is pretty much swing material, with Humes tossing in a ballad ("Stardust") and a bluesy number ("Exactly Like You") while the instrumental "Indiana" is all fired up, and they typically chill down "Body & Soul." Present on the dates is an unidentified tenor saxophonist and trumpeter tossing in his/her less than two-cents worth solos. Even annotator Dan Morgenstern, with his detailed and informative liner notes, can't ID the pair. The star is clearly Byas. His well-rounded tenor inflections and characteristic quarter-to-eight note slurve is on throughout the performance. He can be at once warm, witty, smooth, precise, and consistently wonderful. He's one of the first original jazz voices on his horn and emphatic to boot on these tunes. These are true club date "field recordings," from the then Columbia University student Jerry Newman's portable unit, replete with crowd noise in the background (one can hear Humes rebuffing a heckler/admirer) annoying kicking of the stage area, and a brief drop out or distortion. Total time is barely 39 minutes. But the overall sound quality is quite acceptable, at most times remarkable. The music itself is priceless, the document of a transitional period from swing to bop, and some of the people that made it happen, especially the underappreciated genius Byas. ~ by Michael G. Nastos, AMG.

HighNote Records, HCD 7044, 1999

Recorded March, 1941 At Minton's, New York

Musicians:

Don Byas - Tenor Saxophone

Helen Humes - Vocals (#1,2)

Joe Guy - Trumpet

Thelonious Monk - Piano (#1,2)

Kenny Clarke - Drums (#5,6)

On other selections unknown Bass and Drums

Tracks:

1. Stardust {Hoagy Carmichael, Mitchell Parish} (9:09)

2. Exactly Like You {Dorothy Fields, Jimmy McHugh} (9:06)

3. Uptown {Don Byas} (2:48)

4. Body And Soul {Edward Heyman, Robert Sour, Frank Eyton, Johnny Green} (7:34)

5. I Can't Give You Anything But Love {Dorothy Fields, Jimmy McHugh} (4:11)

6. [Back Home Again In] Indiana {James F. Hanley, Ballard MacDonald} (6:31)

Credits:

Producer - Jerry Newman, Don Schlitten

Reissue Producer - Joe Fields

Recordings [Original] - Jerry Newman

Remastering [CD] - Malcolm Addey

Repackaging, Design & Digital Imaging - Hal Wilson

Cover Photo - Frank Driggs Collection

Photos [Inside & Tray] - Bob Parent

Note:

Originally released on Onyx Records (1973)

Total Time: 39:19

Jimmy Ponder - What's New (2005)

Guitarist Jimmy Ponder's trio date is very much in the style of the classic mid- to late-'60s soul-jazz sessions. His double-time version of "God Bless the Child" is a bit reminiscent of Richard "Groove" Holmes' hit version of "Misty," and the other standards are all interpreted with swing and soul. Ponder has an appealing sound that blends in well with organist Gene Ludwig and drummer Cecil Brooks III and results in accessible ensembles. Although few surprises occur, none are really needed, for this style of music always pleases organ fans and lovers of swinging soul-jazz. ~ by Scott Yanow, AMG.

HighNote Records, HCD 7100, 2005

Recorded 5^th August, 2002 At Anything Audio Multimedia, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Musicians:

Jimmy Ponder - Guitar

Gene Ludwig - Organ

Cecil Brooks III - Drums

Tracks:

1. TNT {AC/DC} (4:39)

2. Polka Dots And Moonbeams {Jimmy Van Heusen, Johnny Burke} (7:17)

3. God Bless The Child {Billie Holiday, Arthur Herzog, Jr.} (7:57)

4. Besamé Mucho {Consuelo Velázquez} (7:15)

5. Please Give Me Someone To Love {Percy Mayfield} (7:38)

6. What's New {Bob Haggart, Johnny Burke} (9:28)

7. That's All {Alan Brandt, Bob Haymes} (9:21)

Credits:

Producer - Cecil Brooks III

Executive Producer - Joe Fields

Engineer - Dino DiStefano

Photography, Design - Keiji Obata, Littlefield & Co.

Portrait - Kaufmanns Studio

Liner Notes - Larry Hollis

Jeremy Pelt - Make Noise! (2017)

Trumpeter Jeremy Pelt occupies an enviably open-minded space in the modern jazz landscape. A capable traditionalist, Pelt has built his career around making acoustic post-bop, with increasing forays into electrified, electronic-tinged fusion. His mutable choices keep you in suspense as a listener -- you’re never sure what to expect from one album to the next. While there are no such electronic flourishes on Pelt's 2017 effort, the warmly sophisticated Make Noise! It still pops with much of the same cross-genre creativity he's explored in the past. The album follows his similarly inclined 2016 effort #Jiveculture, which also featured an inventive acoustic sound accented by legendary bassist Ron Carter. This time out, Pelt brings along a slightly less-high-profile, if no less talented, ensemble including pianist Victor Gould, bassist Vicente Archer, drummer Jonathan Barber, and percussionist Jacquelene Acevedo. Together, they take an intimate approach to expansive post-bop that straddles the line between Miles Davis' '60s albums and Terence Blanchard's early-'80s work. Pelt has a broad, enveloping trumpet tone and a knack for laying down highly engaging solos that never hold a listener at arm's length. It's a skill he puts to good use throughout Make Noise! and one complemented by his bandmates, especially pianist Gould, who layers these tracks with a sparkling delicacy reminiscent of the late Mulgrew Miller. Similarly, with Acevedo's kinetic percussion filtered throughout, Make Noise! also has a strong Afro-Latin influence, a vibe especially apparent on the roiling title track and frenetic, salsa-infused "Bodega Social." Equally compelling, "Chateau d'Eau" has a languid, R&B-inflected melody set to a midtempo Afro-Latin groove. Elsewhere, Pelt pushes toward harmonically nuanced modalism, offering a fittingly elegiac and noir-ish tribute to the departed pop icon on "Prince," and evincing the angular, classically influenced style of Black Codes-era Wynton Marsalis on "Cry Freedom." While much of Pelt's work fits nicely into the jazz canon, he clearly has an open ear for melody, a gift he exercises on "Your First Touch...", which sounds like a Leonard Cohen song reworked as a sensuous jazz ballad. Ultimately, Make Noise! continues to reveal Pelt's maturation into a confident artist, comfortable enough with his place in the jazz tradition to keep subtly pushing the edges of audience expectation. ~ Matt Collar, AMG. 4.5/5 Stars

This CD is dedicated to Amma Sakyibea Pelt

HighNote Records, HCD 7299, 2017

Recorded 9th September, 2016 At Systems Two Recording Studios, Brooklyn, New York

Musicians:

Jeremy Pelt - Trumpet

Victor Gould - Piano

Vicente Archer - Bass

Jonathan Barber - Drums

Jacquelene Acevedo - Percussion

Tracks:

01. Prologue: Introduction to "Make Noise!" {Jacquelene Acevedo} (0:51)

02. Make Noise! {Jeremy Pelt} (5:23)

03. Prince {Jeremy Pelt} (8:14)

04. Cry Freedom {Jeremy Pelt} (5:24)

05. Digression {Simona Premazzi} (8:35)

06. Introduction to "Evolution" {Jonathan Barber} (2:05)

07. Evolution {Jeremy Pelt} (5:43)

08. Chateau D'Eau {Jeremy Pelt} (5:55)

09. Your First Touch... {Jeremy Pelt} (5:24)

10. Bodega Social {Jeremy Pelt} (5:07)

Credits:

Producer - Jeremy Pelt

Executive Producer - Joe Fields

Recording Engineer - Joe Marciano

Mixing and Mastering Engineer - Katsuhiko Naito

Photography - Ra-Re Valverde

Design - Keiji Obata, Peter Muller, Littlefield & Company

Charles Earland - Blowing The Blues Away (1997)

The title tune is by Horace Silver, as are “Strollin'” and “Quicksilver,” two other tunes on this album. Veteran organist Earland allows in the liner notes that Silver had a great influence on him; thus, this album has a funky feeling (an expectation of most organ dates, anyway) and a Silver-ish front line of trumpet (James Rotundi) and tenor saxophone (Eric Alexander). There’s a nice balance between the hard bop blowing of the hornmen (and guitarist Bob De Vos) and Earland’s more fundamental solo approach. The organist has an effective solo style consisting of swinging riff-like lines that build all the way. Besides the Silver tunes, we hear, among others, Herbie Hancock’s modal “Dolphin Dance,” the Isley Brothers’ “For the Love of You” and the hymn “This Is the Day (The Lord Has Made).” Greg Rockingham is the quintet’s drummer, a good one. ~ Owen Cordle, JazzTimes.

HighNote Records, HCD 7010, 1997

Recorded in 1997 At Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey

Personnel:

Charles Earland - Organ [Hammond B-3]

Jim Rotundi - Trumpet

Eric Alexander - Tenor Saxophone

Bob DeVos - Guitar

Greg Rockingham - Drums

Tracks:

1. Blowin' The Blues Away {Horace Silver} (4:59)

2. Sweet Love {Anita Baker, Gary Bias, Louis A. Johnson} (6:06)

3. For The Love Of You {Chris Jasper, The Isley Brothers} (6:13)

4. This Is The Day [The Lord Has Made] {Traditional, Arr. Charles Earland} (7:11)

5. Dolphin Dance {Herbie Hancock} (6:39)

6. Put It Where You Want It {Joe Sample} (7:40)

7. Strollin' {Horace Silver} (6:18)

8. Quicksilver {Horace Silver} (7:14)

Credits:

Producer, Arranger - Charles Earland

Engineer - Rudy van Gelder

Art Direction, Design - Annalee Valencia-Bruch

Photography - Graham Haber

Liner Notes - Dave Helland

More Soulful Cookin' from The Mighty Burner

Another winner from Charles Earland. Earland's organ playing runs the gamut from simmering slow burns (Anita Baker's "Sweet Love" and Horace Silver's "Strollin'") to high heat (Silver's "Blowin' The Blues Away" and "Quicksilver"). From beginning to end a most satisfying addition to The Burner's catalog. ~ High Modes, Amazon.com.

VA - Sax And The City - The Sensuous Sound Of The Saxophone (2008)

A splendid compilation of masterworks from some of the best saxophone players in the industry over the past decade or so, all released on the brilliant HighNote label. A skillfully selected range of tunes guaranteed to please the more discerning jazz lovers, but also a great way to introduce any newbie to the jazz world. Enjoy!

HighNote Records, HCD 6020, 2008

Tracks:

01. David "Fathead" Newman - It Had To Be You (5:32)

02. Houston Person - All Soul (4:26)

03. Jim Snidero - Lover Man Oh Where Can You Be? (5:26)

04. Charles Earland, Najee - If Only For One Night (6:51)

05. Frank Morgan - I'll Be Around (4:49)

06. Vincent Herring - Sophisticated Lady (5:35)

07. Lucky Thompson - We'll Be Together Again (4:45)

08. Teddy Edwards - Candy (4:19)

09. David "Fathead" Newman - Autumn In New York (6:29)

10. Houston Person - Blue Velvet (6:33)

Credits:

Producer - David Fabilli

Mastering, Authoring - Allan Tucker

Design - Brad Wrolstad

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