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Still Dancin'
Michael O'Neill Quintet featuring Kenny Washington
18.98
Phone Orders Only 800.894.4918
Still Dancin' is the second release for The Michael O'Neill Quintet featuring Kenny Washington. Their 2005 CD -- The Long and the Short of It -- received great critical acclaim. The new release also features the amazing Joe Locke on vibes, who plays on 7 of the 10 cuts. The material is mostly hard-hitting, straight ahead arrangements of timeless standards -- each a carefully considered setting for Kenny Washington's unique vocals.
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A Love Supreme
Turtle Island Quartet
Telarc 17.98
The Turtle Island String Quartet has the chops, the guts, the soul, the spirit, and the taste to take on the musical legacy of John Coltrane -- what more could anyone want? One of the great soloists, composers, and bandleaders in jazz history, Coltrane transformed the music of his time through the strength of his personality and his recordings continue to transform the music of all following times. This disc carries on that series of transformation by setting his music in the context of a traditional classical string quartet. While the players and arrangers do a more than creditable piece of work in taking on his music -- the unisons of the violins, the bow slaps of the viola, and the walking bass in the cello do a fair job of approximating a jazz quartet -- it is Coltrane's music that ultimately transforms them. When the musicians tear through the opening of Countdown, when they soar through the solo of "My Favorite Things," when they rip into the climax of A Love Supreme, it sounds like neither classical musicians playing jazz nor string musicians playing band music: it sounds like great musicians transformed by great music. Telarc's digital sound is clear and cool, but immediate.
~ James Leonard, All Music Guide
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Exclusively for My Friends
Oscar Peterson
Polygram 4 CDs 59.98
Oscar Peterson has stated that he feels his MPS recordings are his finest. That is quite a statement considering the huge amount of records that the pianist has produced through the past 50 years. This four-CD set reissues the music from six of his MPS LPs: Action, Girl Talk, The Way I Really Play, My Favorite Instrument, Mellow Mood, and Travelin' On. While some of the performances feature the 1963 trio he had with bassist Ray Brown and drummer Ed Thigpen, most of the music dates from 1967-1968 and matches Peterson with bassist Sam Jones and either Louis Hayes or Bobby Durham on drums. A special treat is Peterson's first unaccompanied solo album, which fills up the final CD. Peterson's many fans know what to expect in this set, while other listeners need to discover him to realize what all of the fuss was about. Quite simply, Oscar Peterson has long been one of the greatest pianists the world has ever known; this reissue offers plenty of proof.
~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide
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Best Of Ella & Louis
Fitzgerald/Armstrong
Verve 14.98
The Best of Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong from Verve contains a selection of 15 duets the two jazz legends recorded for the label over the years. Clearly, this set isn't of particular interest to hardcore collectors, since they'll already own much of the material, but as a sampler targeted at casual fans, this is quite nice indeed, since it contains such timeless classics as "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off," "Stars Fell on Alabama, " "Autumn in New York, " "Summertime," and "They Can't Take That Away from Me."
~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
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The Lester Young Story
Lester Young
Proper Box 4 CDs 25.98
Proper, the famous British reissue label, has given the world a series of four-CD "Proper boxes" that contain essential recordings by legendary musicians. Proper's The Lester Young Story is an excellent introduction to this man's phenomenal artistry. Beginning with two instrumentals from his very first recording session on November 9, 1936, Proper skims along the surface of the first 13 years of Lester Young's career, touching upon his adventures with Count Basie, Teddy Wilson, Billie Holiday, Una Mae Carlisle, Sammy Price, the Kansas City Six and Seven, pianist Nat King Cole, and numerous others who collaborated with Pres on records issued under his name. This musical odyssey is a colorful mosaic of historical recordings that originally appeared on the Vocalion, Columbia, Victor, Signature, Keynote, Savoy, Aladdin, and Mercury/Norgran/Verve labels. The survey closes with two extended jams from a Jazz at the Philharmonic concert held at Carnegie Hall on September 17, 1949.
~ All Music Guide
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Count Basie at Carnegie Hall