Album Reviews

“Jazz” and “clarinet” usually equals Dixieland in the minds of many jazz fans, which may explain, in part, why jazz clarinetist Jimmy Guiffre, a most imaginative, and free-spirited musician failed to achieve the acclaim he deserved-not that there's anything wrong with Dixieland.

Producer and concert promoter Norman Granz signed Ella Fitzgerald to his Verve label back in 1956 and thus began a series of stellar studio albums, orchestrated songbooks and live set releases, many of which have been reissued on both CD and deluxe vinyl.

The CTI record label started by producer Creed Taylor in 1968 didn’t immediately get the respect it deserved from jazz snobs who found its musical output as glitzy as its glossy cover art. It was the "smooth” jazz label of its day. By the musical terms of the next decade CTI’s original musical vibe was almost “free jazz” compared to the next decade's elevator music slop labeled as “smooth jazz.” It was smooth alright, but jazz?

Classical music recorded all-analog using purist microphone techniques are few these days. Here is one from Bob Attiyeh's Yarlung Records that is both sonically and musically exquisite.

(This review, originally written back in 1995, appeared in Volume 1, issue 2 of The Tracking Angle as a review of Sony Legacy Gold CD ZK 66220, produced by Bob Irwin. It was an amazing sounding CD).

As good and desirable as blues guitarist Mel Brown’s 1967 Impulse Records debut album Chicken Fat is, the reality is he’s not quite a household name, even among many jazz and blues aficionados. That said, enough people have discovered Brown’s music to warrant its inclusion in a significant new reissue series from Verve By Request/UMe that’s being pressed by Third Man Records. Read Mark Smotroff’s dive-into-the-frying-pan review to see why you might want to add Mel Brown’s tasty-sweet funky 180g Chicken Fat LP to your vinyl collection. . .