Tuesday, March 6, 2018

Sab 10 e Dom 11 marzo - Francesco Venerucci feat. Dave Liebman a Lecce e Roma


FRANCESCO VENERUCCI E DAVE LIEBMAN 
IN CONCERTO A LECCE E ROMA

Sabato 10 (ore 21 - info e prenotazioni 0832091231) al Teatro Paisiello di Lecce e domenica 11 marzo (ore 21.30 - info e prenotazioni 0685352527) al Cotton Club di Roma, doppio concerto di presentazione di Early Afternoon, nuovo lavoro discografico del pianista e compositore romano Francesco Venerucci, affiancato dal sassofonista statunitense Dave Liebman. Il concerto leccese è organizzato dall’etichetta discografica salentina Dodicilune, che ha prodotto il disco, distribuito in Italia e all'estero da Ird e nei migliori store digitali, in collaborazione con l'associazione culturale Festinamente e con il sostegno di Carofalo - Agenti di Assicurazione a Lecce dal 1989 - Reale Mutua/Lloyds Open Market Correspondent

Se nel lavoro discografico precedente Tango Fugato (Dodicilune, 2007), Francesco Venerucci aveva dato prova di una sapiente tecnica di scrittura musicale per ensemble, in Early Afternoon l’artista ci conduce nell’universo del “piano solo”. Nella continua e incessante ricerca della sintesi stilistica tra linguaggi musicali, Venerucci trasferisce la densità armonica e la stratificazione polifonica sulla superficie della tastiera, nel solco della tradizione tracciata da Duke Ellington, Bill Evans e Paul Bley; fino a John Taylor e Richie Beirach. «L’album traduce al meglio la complessa personalità di Venerucci in grado di combinare classico e jazz con vivacità compositiva. Pianista eclettico, accoglie nel suo lessico musicale figurazioni che rimandano ora alla spazialità cosmica di Skrjabin, ora al post romanticismo di Rachmaninov, ora alle sinuosità puntiformi di Debussy», si legge nelle note di copertina a cura di Eliana Augusti. «I fraseggi frammentati, i colori decisi e le poliritmie a perdersi definiscono la cantabilità personale di ogni singolo brano. La voce del Sax Soprano di Dave Liebman s’innesta ora quieta ora ispida sui paesaggi compiuti di Venerucci, quasi incisi nel silenzio. Un dono di dolcezza e carattere che impreziosisce l’album».

«Nel 2011 ricevetti l’invito dell’associazione Amore e Psiche a tenere un concerto presso la loro sede, una bellissima libreria del centro storico di Roma. Nel preparare il programma scelsi alcune mie composizioni caratterizzate dall'interazione tra letteratura e musica», sottolinea Venerucci. «Il lavoro di selezione dei brani, scritti nell’arco di circa vent’anni, e della loro rielaborazione ha costituito il nucleo fondamentale di ciò che sarebbe divenuto in seguito l'attuale progetto discografico. La maggior parte dei brani sono eseguiti in “Piano Solo”. In quattro titoli (Exodus, Music for Lilith, Good Morning Mr. Samsa e Early Afternoon) ho coinvolto il sassofonista David Liebman, la cui performance, di rara bellezza e sensibilità, ha reso questo lavoro per me ancora più caro e prezioso», prosegue. «Chiude la raccolta uno standard della canzone popolare americana, Premio Oscar nel 1940 come migliore canzone per il film di animazione Disney “Pinocchio”. È il mio omaggio personale ad uno tra i musicisti più importanti del XX secolo, Louis Armstrong».

Francesco Venerucci si è diplomato in composizione sotto la guida di Claude Ballif, svolgendo contemporaneamente studi di armonia, analisi, direzione d’orchestra, e orchestrazione a Parigi, e in pianoforte sotto la guida di Valentino Di Bella. Ha conseguito un Master post laurea in composizione teatrale e coreutica sotto la guida di Fabio Vacchi per il dramma musicale Kaspar Hauser, su libretto di Noemi Ghetti, eseguito nel 2011 in prima mondiale all’Opera di Tirana. Attivo concertisticamente dal 1985, ha partecipato a numerose rassegne e registrato programmi radiofonici e televisivi. Ha composto musica da camera, lirica e sinfonica, colonne sonore, balletti e musiche di scena. Nel 2012 ha composto l’Opera Lirica Scanderbeg da un melodramma perduto di Vivaldi, su libretto di Quirino Principe, commissionato dal Teatro Nazionale d’Opera e Balletto d’Albania e co-prodotto dalla Verona Opera Academy. Vincitore di concorsi internazionali, ha visto le sue opere eseguite in importanti festival, sale da concerto e teatri d’opera. Ha collaborato, tra gli altri, con l’Orchestra of Colors, il Danish Saxophone Quartet e il Quinteto Tango Extremo. Ha partecipato a varie incisioni discografiche in qualità di compositore, arrangiatore e pianista. A suo nome ha realizzato il cd Tango Fugato (Dodicilune, 2007) con la partecipazione, tra gli altri, di Michele Rabbia, Marco Siniscalco e Gianni Iorio e il cd Early Afternoon (Dodicilune, 2017), con la partecipazione del sassofonista statunitense Dave Liebman. 

Dave Liebman, laureato in Storia alla New York University, ha studiato pianoforte e sassofono fin da ragazzo. Ha suonato con Miles Davis, Elvin Jones, Chick Corea, John McLaughlin, McCoy Tyner. I suoi lavori spaziano dalla classica al rock al free jazz. Diversi i riconoscimenti a livello internazionale: NEA Jazz Masters (2011); Jazz Educators Network (JEN); Legends of Jazz; nominee ai Grammy; vincitore per la categoria sax soprano ai Downbeat/Jazz Times Critics/JEN Poll; Honorary Doctorate alla Sibelius Academy. Nel 1989 fonda ed è direttore artistico della International Association of Schools of Jazz (IASJ). Centinaia le sue collaborazioni e registrazioni.

L’etichetta salentina Dodicilune è attiva dal 1996. Dispone di un catalogo di circa 250 produzioni di artisti italiani e stranieri, ed è distribuita in Italia e all'estero da IRD presso 400 punti vendita tra negozi di dischi, Feltrinelli, Fnac, Ricordi, Messaggerie, Melbookstore. I dischi Dodicilune possono essere acquistati anche online (Amazon, Ibs, LaFeltrinelli, Jazzos) o scaricati in formato liquido su 56 tra le maggiori piattaforme del mondo (iTunes, Napster, Fnacmusic, Virginmega, Deezer, eMusic, RossoAlice, LastFm, Amazon, etc).


Schiaffini / Prati / Gemmo / Armaroli - Luc Ferran Exercices d'Improvisation (DODICILUNE / IRD March 6, 2018)


Prodotto dall'etichetta pugliese Dodicilune, martedì 6 marzo esce in Italia e all’estero distribuito da Ird e nei migliori store digitali, il progetto discografico "Luc Ferrari Exercises d'Improvisation". Il trombonista Giancarlo Schiaffini, il violoncellista Walter Prati, la pianista Francesca Gemmo e il vibrafonista Sergio Armaroli propongono un omaggio al compositore e attore sonoro parigino (nato nel 1929 e scomparso nel 2005), personalità di rilievo internazionale nella stagione della prima grande sperimentazione dell'arte sonora a partire dai primi anni cinquanta, ancora poco conosciuto in Italia. 

Il disco sarà presentato ufficialmente sabato 10 marzo (ore 21) al Teatro Arsenale di Milano, in collaborazione con Erratum, nell'ambito della serata dedicata al progetto Tautologos III che ripropone il lavoro per gruppo di musicisti e attori firmato da Luc Ferrari nel 1969. Sul palco con il quartetto del disco anche i musicisti  Claudio Chianura, Brunhild Ferrari, Mario Mariotti, Steve Piccolo, Gak Sato, Andrea Vigani e gli attori Veronica Del Vecchio, Greta Di Lorenzo, Ian Gualdani, Alessandro Pozza, Margherita Serra, Barbara Villa.

«Che componga musica strumentale (come la musica concreta che chiamerà più avanti, da Eterozigote in poi, “musica aneddotica”), che fabbrichi immagini, che scriva poesie o proprie riflessioni, che giri film, Luc esprime le sue emozioni, la sua curiosità e il suo amore per la vita sempre con entusiasmo», sottolinea la moglie Brunhild Meyer-Ferrari nelle note di copertina. «È in effetti la società in ogni suo aspetto, (rivolta, gioia, sofferenza, intimità e amore) il fondamento stesso dei temi che lo preoccupano e che traduce nelle sue creazioni. Ognuna delle sue creazioni implica, dunque, queste emozioni contraddittorie. Gioioso di natura e amante della risata esprime i suoi sentimenti con umorismo, ma anche con derisione e autoironia. Perdere l’umorismo fu per la sua vita un grave trauma e lui lo combatté con forza», prosegue. «Luc non si era mai piegato alle esigenze del mondo della musica, né classica, né “contemporanea”. Dal momento che egli non appartiene a nessuna categoria estetica stabilita o in voga, gli organizzatori sembrano perplessi non sapendo a quale categoria assegnare la sua opera. Inoltre, quest’uomo sempre elegante, amabile e sorridente, non poteva essere preso sul serio per il suo umorismo da quelli che volentieri lo consideravano un tipo poco serio», si continua a leggere. «Uno dei suoi beni più preziosi. Terminata un’opera, non esitava ad avventurarsi in un’esperienza e in un ambito che non aveva ancora esplorato. Fino alla fine della sua vita amò esplorare nuovi percorsi come maneggiare le piastre cd come i dj. Gli incontri con DJ Olive e con eRikm gli aprivano un altro eccitante mondo del quale avrebbe voluto prolungare la vita». 

Luc Ferrari

Il booklet è completato dalla partitura testuale completa del 1977 di Luc Ferrari sull'improvvisazione. Il compositore studiò alla École normale de musique di Parigi e fece parte del Groupe de recherches de musique concrète della Radio francese. Insegnò, tra l'altro, a Colonia (1964-66) e a Montreal (1966-67 e 1969). Nel 1966 produce Les Grandes Rèpetition, una serie di documentari televisivi focalizzati sulla musica contemporanea, in particolare su Olivier Messiaen, Edgar Varèse, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Hermann Scherchen e Cecil Taylor. Nel 1982 creò l'associazione "La Muse en Circuit", studio per composizione elettroacustica e arte radiofonica. Nel 1996 allestì, invece, il suo studio personale, l'Atelier post-billig. Nel corso della sua carriera ha composto brani di musica strumentale, concreta ed elettronica, conquistando numerosi premi e riconoscimenti.

L’etichetta Dodicilune è attiva dal 1996. Dispone di un catalogo di oltre 220 produzioni di artisti italiani e stranieri ed è distribuita in Itali a e all'estero da IRD in circa 400 punti vendita tra negozi di dischi e store. I dischi Dodicilune possono essere acquistati anche online, ascoltati e scaricati su una cinquantina tra le maggiori piattaforme del mondo.


Track List
1 - Exercises d'Improvisation N. 1
2 - Exercises d'Improvisation N. 2
3 - Exercises d'Improvisation N. 3
4 - Exercises d'Improvisation N. 4
5 - Exercises d'Improvisation N. 5
6 - Exercises d'Improvisation N. 6
7 - Exercises d'Improvisation N. 7

All compositions by Luc Ferrari

Personnel
Giancarlo Schiaffini - trombone
Walter Prati -  violoncello
Francesca Gemmo - piano
Sergio Armaroli - vibraphone

Recording Data
Production by Sergio Armaroli and Gabriele Rampino for Dodicilune edizioni, Italy
Label manager Maurizio Bizzochetti (www.dodicilune.it
Recorded 21, 22 October 2017 at Il Pollaio, Ronco Biellese (Bi), Italy
Mixed and mastered 22 October 2017 at Il Pollaio, Ronco Biellese (Bi), Italy
Sound engineer Piergiorgio Miotto
Cover/back photos © Olivier Garros
Inside photos © Brunhild Ferrari, Wolfgang Richter, Olivier Garros


Playlist for Tom Ossana – The Thin Edge – March 7, MST 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.


http://www.kzmu.org/listen.m3u ~ Use this link to access the show online.




Sun Ra And His Interplanetary Vocal Arkestra - The Space Age Is Here To Stay (SUNDAZED MUSIC-MODERN HARMONIC 2018)


The first-ever collection of Arkestra vocal tracks! Over 75 minutes of vocal performances - audible perfection! Across the history of jazz, there is no wilder, more future-forward composer and performer than Herman Poole Blount, aka Sun Ra. Known as much for his wild on-stage persona as his innovative compositions, Sun Ra was the avant-garde bleeding edge of the jazz genre, introducing modal composition and electronic instrumentation before almost anyone else – not to mention bringing the space age to life with his obsession with all things extraterrestrial. Across more than 100 LPs released in his lifetime, Sun Ra charted a course to space and far, far beyond. Known primarily for his keyboard improv and freeform band arrangements, Sun Ra could also write great vocal songs when he set his mind to it. Such songs as "Space Is The Place" and "Interplanetary Music No.1" show Ra's unique approach to songwriting, using eerie chanting and repetition to create hypnotic moods. And Ra could get swingy when he wanted to as well -- "Enlightenment" and "Sometimes I'm Happy" are gorgeous ballads, as pretty as any Tin Pan Alley tune. Of course, it wouldn't be Sun Ra without his space age lyrics -- "Take your first step out to outer space/You're like a little baby who never walked before" shows up in the future-predicting "Walking On The Moon." At long last, Modern Harmonic has put together The Space Age Is Here To Stay, the very first collection of Sun Ra’s vocal tracks - two album’s worth of mind-blowing tunes from the mind of the Man from Saturn himself. Cue this one up and get ready to visit other worlds in Sun Ra's jazz rocket ship!

1. Along Came Ra / The Living Myth 04:17
2. Interplanetary Music, No. 1 02:27
3. Back In Your Own Back Yard 02:03
4. Enlightenment 02:36
5. 'Round Midnight 03:52
6. Sometimes I'm Happy 04:28
7. The Antique Blacks 04:16
8. Moorish Nights 03:46
9. Walking On the Moon 06:15
10. This Song Is Dedicated to Nature's God 03:55
11. 1984 07:01
12. Space Is the Place 09:47
13. The Forest of No Return 03:05
14. The Truth About Planet Earth 06:36
15. Nuclear War (Live) 05:40
16. Space Chant (Third Heaven) 06:04

Various Artists - Jazz For Hi​-​Fi Lovers (SUNDAZED MUSIC-MODERN HARMONIC 2018)


A smart set of fine beat-era jazz, beautifully programed and compiled for the hi-fi in your home! Includes some of the top players of the era- Zoot Sims, Paul Quinichette, Gene Roland, and others- in selections suited for a swingin’ starlit session! ”Start Here,” says it all as this both the perfect way to start this LP and the perfect way to start your jazz collection! From the distinctive style and touch of Randy Weston on the keys, to the tenor tones Paul Quinichette blows, these are the tracks to let your hi-fi strut its stuff! A virtual greatest hits of ’50’s jazz from the Dawn Records catalog, including cuts from The Modern Art Of Jazz by Mat Mathews, to cool jazz LPs from Zoot Sims, Paul Quinichette, Gene Rowland, Dick Garcia and more! …and when we say “cool jazz” we mean “cool” jazz!

1. Paul Quinichette and his Band - Start Here 04:53
2. Dick Garcia - If I'm Lucky (I'll Be the One) 03:57
3. Randy Weston - Loose Wig 03:02
4. Mat Mathews - Not So Sleepy 07:04
5. Les Modes - Catch Her 02:41
6. Alex Smith - Darn That Dream 05:46
7. Zoot Sims - Bye Ya 03:47
8. Gene Roland Octet - Suitcase 04:46

Dick Garcia - Message From Garcia (SUNDAZED MUSIC-MODERN HARMONIC 2018)


Jazz guitar autodidact and 1956 Downbeat Critics Poll winner Dick Garcia struts his stuff while the likes of Bill Evans, Gene Quill, and John Drew try to keep up! The combination of Bird, Christian and his own personality meld here in Dick’s own swinging style, delivering repertoire so diverse it required three different backing bands! Message From Garcia presents Dick in various contexts so as to give the listener an idea of his scope - the material is diversified in order to give Garcia and the other instrumentalists a chance to speak of varied moods. The first group is a quartet typified by a quietly pulsating, yet exploratory quality on “Have You Met Miss Jones,” “I Don’t Want To Set The World On Fire,” and “Potatoes.” The second unit finds its identification in the ensemble sound of the guitar and piano on “Ev’ry Night About This Time,” “Like Someone In Love,” and “Kimona My House.” The last group tends toward a more basic jazz quartet persuasion on “The Deacon,” “Stompin’ At The Savoy,” “If I’m Lucky” and “It Could Happen To You.”

1. Have You Met Miss Jones 02:50
2. If I'm Lucky 03:57
3. Kimona My House 03:36
4. I Don't Want To Set the World On Fire 03:28
5. The Deacon 03:07
6. Stompin' At the Savoy 02:13
7. Like Someone In Love 05:20
8. Potatoes 03:17
9. It Could Happen To You 05:19
10. Ev'ry Night About This Time 02:48

Barney Kessel - Live At The Jazz Mill 1954, Vol. 2 (SUNDAZED MUSIC-MODERN HARMONIC 2018)


More unearthed tape from a jazz icon! This second volume of Jazz Mill recordings shows Barney firmly at the top of his game. Once again, Kessel and the Jazz Millers (pianist Pete Jolly, drummer Art Kile, and bassist Gene Stoffell) interpret a variety of standards from The Great American Songbook and each arrangement serves to demonstrate the group’s superb chops and collective creativity. In “Mean to Me,” a vintage standard from 1929, a high velocity rendition of Harold Arlen’s “Let’s Fall in Love,” the riff tune “Godchild,” and others, Kessel and the Jazz Millers demonstrate superb chops and collective creativity. Thanks to Jack Miller, a young Phoenix audiophile, armed with his Knight-brand recorder, today we can relive and enjoy the artistry of one of jazz’s most extraordinary musicians. This is Barney in his salad days when he was topping all the major jazz polls and emerging as one of the most important guitarists of that or any subsequent era.

1. Mean To Me 07:23
2. Tea For Two 05:51
3. Indian Summer 02:40
4. Let's Fall In Love 04:33
5. Blue Moon 08:32
6. I Can't Get Started 04:35
7. Godchild 06:07

Paul Tanner - Music For Heavenly Bodies (SUNDAZED MUSIC-MODERN HARMONIC 2018)


STELLAR GOOD VIBRATIONS FROM THE INVENTOR OF THE ELECTRO-THEREMIN! 

Light years ahead of its time, the eerie sound, colorful orchestral blending, and haunting melodies of Music For Heavenly Bodies has become a crate digging classic. 

America's fascination with space and its mysteries was at a peak during the 1950s, and this astral awareness got the attention of professional musician, Paul Tanner. Tanner, a trombonist, got his start in the original Glenn Miller Orchestra. The theremin first caught Tanner's attention as he witnessed a studio player fighting to control the pitch and keep his theremin parts in tune. Never before had he an interest in the instrument, but with its ghostly glissando and unlimited range, Tanner got the idea of doing a space-themed album. Inspired by the studio player's struggle, and with the help of Robert Whitsell, Paul Tanner created the Electro-Theremin, a theremin played with a knob and slide mechanism rather than hands-free. 

A mere two days after the creation of the Electro-Theremin, Paul Tanner recorded Music For Heavenly Bodies, a lush, eerie, and atmospheric take on space music. After the 1958 release, people around Hollywood took notice, and would lead to Tanner recording themes for My Favorite Martian, Lost in Space, and Dark Shadows. This work would secure for Tanner and his Electro-Theremin, a place in the history books, when he was contracted to record with the Beach Boys. The iconic theremin sound from "Good Vibrations" came from the very same Electro-Theremin created for Music For Heavenly Bodies.

1. Over the Rainbow 02:28
2. Midnight Sun 04:55
3. The Red Sea of Mars 02:31
4. Lost in the Stars 02:23
5. Sunrise Serenade / Moonlight Serenade 05:03
6. I Wished on the Moon 03:02
7. Up to Jupiter 02:53
8. Misty Moon Blues 02:05
9. Holiday on Saturn 04:16
10. The Story of a Starry Night 03:28
11. 20th Century Venus 05:54
12. Out of this World 03:33

John Cage Meets Sun Ra - The Complete Concert (SUNDAZED MUSIC-MODERN HARMONIC 2018)


If you were going to envision the ultimate avant-garde meeting-of-the-minds jam session, who would you pick? Even the most hopeful fan of strange and innovative music couldn't have seen this one coming: on one afternoon in 1986, at Coney Island's dilapidated freak show, space-age avant-jazz genius Sun Ra met avant-garde "serious music" composer John Cage in an unforgettable performance. 

You couldn't imagine two figures more opposite. Cage was known for his unusual approach to composition, using objects such as radios and television sets, as well as pure silence, as instruments, often encouraging his musicians to do other things at their whim on stage. Sun Ra, on the other hand, was a jazz arranger known for his "space-age" approach to jazz, adding free-jazz and surrealist elements into a musical form that Cage often disdained -- improvisational music. And yet, for one afternoon, they pooled their talents -- Ra playing keyboards, leading his small group and reading his unusual poetry; Cage "performing" vocal readings and passages of vocal sound -- plus his trademark silence -- designed to baffle and disorient. The combination is breathtaking, both organic and mechanical, free-form and totally composed. 

For the very first time, Modern Harmonic presents the full and unexpurgated concert from 1986. In addition to never-before-heard songs and musical passages, this album at last presents the long-rumored co-performance between the two musical giants. Take yourself back to 1986 and a once-in-a-lifetime performance that you can finally hear as it was intended. 

"This live album documents the meeting of two avant-garde legends." - Pitchfork 

"This month?s WTF prize goes to John Cage Meets Sun Ra, a monophonic double LP released on clear vinyl by the Modern Harmonic label, which documents a performance by the two eponymous giants of the 20th century avant-garde in a Coney Island freak show in June 1986. With the whole concert released for the very first time, including 25 minutes of previously unheard material, it’s an absolute no-brainer for friends of the strange." 
-Daniel Spicer, What's New In Vinyl--JAZZWISE Magazine

1. Rick Russo - Introduction 01:11
2. Marshall Allen - Untitled Wind Synthesizer Intro 01:02
3. Sun Ra - Untitled Keyboard Solo 1 06:43
4. John Cage - Empty Words (Vocal Solo) 02:39
5. John Cage - Empty Words (Silent Solo) 03:03
6. John Cage - Empty Words (Vocal Solo) 04:46
7. Sun Ra - Untitled Keyboard Solo 2 02:54
8. Sun Ra - We Hold This Myth To Be Potential 02:41
9. Sun Ra - The Damned Air 02:51
10. John Cage - Empty Words (Vocal Solo) 01:29
11. John Cage - Empty Words (Silent Solo) 02:37
12. John Cage - Empty Words (Vocal Solo) 04:01
13. Sun Ra - The Living Parable 00:37
14. Sun Ra - This Is The Space Age 01:25
15. Sun Ra - Untitled Keyboard Solo 3 06:55
16. Sun Ra - Enlightenment (featuring June Tyson) 02:28
17. Sun Ra - Untitled Keyboard Solo 4 02:03
18. John Cage and Sun Ra - Silent Duet 02:14
19. John Cage and Sun Ra - Empty Words and Keyboard 05:23
20. John Cage and Sun Ra - Silent Duet 2 02:47
21. Sun Ra - Untitled Keyboard Solo 5 10:05

Love Is A Drag - For Adult Listeners Only (SUNDAZED MUSIC / MODERN HARMONIC 2018)


A once shocking 1962 LP of love songs...by men, for men. A long lost treasure featuring the cool & sophisticated vocals of Gene Howard and a cast of prime studio jazz musicians, performing a set of standards sung to a male suitor. Ahead of its time in every way. 

A fantastic, once-shocking album finally sees reissue - and brings with it the answer to a half-century mystery! Case file: A big band vocalist, a Hollywood photographer, and an LGBT music and history archivist - they are the heart of the story behind Love Is A Drag, a 1962 shrouded-in-mystery long-player comprised of love songs by men, for men. 

Decades ago, JD Doyle, renowned LGBT music historian and archivist, happened upon a copy of Love Is A Drag. Resonating with him immediately, the album presented compositions such as “The Man I Love” and “Mad About The Boy,” (songs that were intended to be sung by a woman to a man), and featured them as songs performed by a man to another man. Doyle would often play cuts from it on his radio show, Queer Music Heritage. He remained intrigued by the lack of either artist or producer credited on the album. A vague line of jacket text ambiguously announced, “For Adult Listeners Only - Sultry Stylings by a Most Unusual Vocalist.” 

And, the facts behind the album would have most likely remained unclear if it were not for one Murray Garrett (Hollywood star-photographer through the late 1940s to the 1970s). Out of the blue, Murray Garrett contacted JD Doyle and wanted to talk about the album. According to Garrett, through his photography career, he had forged a friendship and partnership with prolific big band vocalist, Gene Howard. The two worked together on projects, eventually teaming with Jack Ames, founder of Edison International Records. When queried for ideas for a potential Edison International release, Garrett recalled a performance he had once seen in Greenwich Village - a performance of a man singing love songs to another man, in serious fashion, i.e., not at all campy or overly-dramatic. 

Gene Howard (straight and happily married!) agreed to sing on the record, accompanied by a who’s-who of Los Angeles A-list session men. Completed, the record was issued on a “surrogate” label named Lace Records - an imprint hastily-created in order to avoid any misinterpretation of the Edison International focus. Upon release, the record sold well in Hollywood, with Frank Sinatra, Liberace, and Bob Hope among its biggest advocates.

1. Lover Man 02:35
2. He's Funny That Way 03:39
3. My Man 02:29
4. Bewitched 03:07
5. Bill 02:54
6. The Boy Next Door 02:56
7. The Man I Love 03:56
8. Mad About the Boy 02:37
9. He's My Guy 04:13
10. Jim 03:03
11. Stanger in Paradise 02:13
12. Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man 03:04

Mundell Lowe - Blues For A Stripper (SUNDAZED MUSIC / MODERN HARMONIC 2018)


Beyond hip! From cool jazz to hard bop. This extraordinary soundtrack, featuring many of the finest jazz musicians this side of anywhere, is a collection of small ensemble and large band arrangements so perfectly indicative of its era. It’s beyond hip and runs the gamut from cool jazz to hard bop. Moreover, it authorized the virtuosic freedom of the best of New York’s jazz community. 

The swingingly cinematic score was commissioned for a Sexploitation classic entitled Satan in High Heels, the story of a woman caught in the decadent nightlife of the Big City. Mundell Lowe’s compositions aptly complement and enhance the story’s mood and atmosphere while often juxtaposing humor with strains of profound symbolism. The score, a stellar example of “jazz noir” however, is never decaffeinated. It’s relentlessly vibrant and engaging. 

Mundell Lowe’s virtuosity knows virtually no bounds. His comprehensive and artistic musicality has placed him in among the top players in jazz. In addition to working at both NBC and CBS in New York he was the staff guitarist for Dave Garroway’s original Today Show. 

Both the film, and this score are respective examples of classic cult cinema. The music is often sensuous and sexy but at times as tough as a two-dollar steak. It’s the real deal.

1. Blues For A Stripper 03:27
2. From Mundy On 03:23
3. Montage 02:13
4. Coffee, Coffee 03:29
5. The Lost And The Lonely 03:38
6. Pattern Of Evil 02:27
7. Satan In High Heels 03:26
8. East Side Drive 02:50
9. Lake In The Woods 03:29
10. The Long Knife 02:18

Al Cohn - Cohn On The Saxophone (SUNDAZED MUSIC / MODERN HARMONIC 2018)


A swingin' beat-gen jazz classic back in print! Sax-man Al Cohn, best known for his work with fellow Lester Young tenor-sax disciple Zoot Sims, has all the pots bubbling on this classic 1956 LP. Five stars in Downbeat? You bet! 

Al Cohn first sprung on the national scene as one of the saxophonists on the Woody Herman hit "Four Brothers," a crazy arrangement of "Jeepers Creepers" featuring each "brother" on a wild-and-crazy swingin' sax solo. Along with fellow "brother" Zoot Sims, Cohn became one of New York's leading sax men, forming with Sims a quintet that played in the hot beatnik jazz scene of the day, even backing up Jack Kerouac on a few poetry recordings. 

Cohn on the Saxophone finds our man Cohn taking the lead on a series of great jazz standards. Al's sax voice on this session is smooth, lyrical; almost like he's talking to you or telling a story. Dig his smooth, supple playing on "We Three," or the gorgeously blue-toned notes he hits on "Singing The Blues" -- Cohn is very much a man at home with his instrument, and the band lays back and lets him spin his tales. 

When Cohn on the Saxophone was released, Downbeat magazine gave it the prestigious and rare five-star rating -- and almost 60 years down the pike it still sounds as vital and delicious as it did when it was released.

1. We Three 03:48
2. Idaho 03:39
3. The Things I Love 03:53
4. Singing the Blues 05:06
5. Be Loose 04:31
6. When Day is Done 03:55
7. Good Old Blues 04:50
8. Softly as in a Morning Sunrise 03:20
9. Abstract of You 03:45
10. Blue Lou 04:08