Album Reviews

Abbey Lincoln:
In the upside down year of 1961 (not until 6009 will that happen again), the Kennedy era began, Washington D.C. residents finally got the right to vote in presidential elections thanks to the 23rd amendment to the constitution, and the civil rights movement was in its most activist period, with sit-ins staged throughout the south at public places and freedom riders traveling on buses to force the de-segregation of bus terminals as mandated by federal law.

The idea of this 1956 session was for everyone involved to have a chance to blow the roof off Van Gelder's home recording studio. And why not when you have trumpeter Donald Byrd and trombonist Curtis Fuller joining the alto sax player's group for this session, with Sonny Clark on piano backed by drummer Art Taylor and George Joyner on bass?

Produced, recorded and performed with love and respect for the “genius of soul,”-the artist for whom musical boundaries and genres had no meaning-this album of duets is nonetheless neither an important, nor an essential Ray Charles album. That doesn't mean it isn't an immensely pleasurable one, or one not worth owning and enjoying. It's just that there are a dozen or so Charles albums that should be in your collection before you buy this one. On the other hand, this isn't exactly a bad introduction if that's what you need. Do you really need one?

Sundazed's Bob Irwin plays guitar and loves guitarists. In case you haven't noticed, go through the Sundazed catalog and you'll see. Hank Garland, best known as a Nashville session cat who played with Elvis, Eddy Arnold (in his touring band) and many, many others, was equally adept at playing electric jazz and this album on SESAC records issued in 1960 proved it. Adding to the interest here is the inclusion on the session of the very young vibraphonist Gary Burton.

This simple 1957 session featuring the mellow-toned tenor sax player backed by Oscar Peterson's trio (bassist Ray Brown and guitarist Herb Ellis) plus drummer Alvin Stoller doesn't set off any sparks but like a good Cognac, it goes down easy and brings great warmth and much pleasure, both musically and sonically.

Duke Ellington in a hard charging trio session may surprise some listeners expecting the Duke's usual light touch. Spurred on by Charles Mingus's angry plucks and Max Roach's polyrhythms, Ellington hits the keyboard harder than usual, punctuating his flourishes with greater dynamic gusto than one hears on his big band recordings.

As you'll read in James Lyons's Iiner notes for this disc, Respighi was a nostalgic artist who preferred the melodic, romantic music of a bygone era to the atonal, serial, avante-garde constructions popular when these retro-impressionistic compositions were written in 1927.