Cannonball Adderley - Radio Nights CD

Radio Nights album for sale On paper it seems as if such titanic and distinctive musical personalities as Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane might not mix very well, but this stellar set, recorded live at Carnegie Hall in 1957, plays almost like a blissful extended duet between the two (with support from a sensitive yet hard-swinging bassist and drummer). The opener, "Monk's Mood," for example, features the composer/pianist's typically brilliant, idiosyncratic playing, while Coltrane floats over the top in the most lyrical of modes. Monk, in particular, is a master of tension-and-release tunefulness, creating rhythmic and harmonic intricacies that seem to spur Coltrane's saxophone exploration to new heights. The quartet shines ...

Radio Nights buy CD music Gerry Mulligan's 1959 studio date with Johnny Hodges is one of the most satisfying sessions of his various meetings with different saxophonists for Verve, yet it was inexplicably the last to be made available on CD. With a hand-picked rhythm section consisting of pianist Claude Williamson, bassist Buddy Clark, and drummer Mel Lewis, and three originals contributed by each of the two leaders, everything gels nicely, though several tracks took more than three takes (in spite of liner note writer Nat Hentoff's assertions) to reach their final form. Mulligan contributed the gorgeous ballad "What's the Rush" (where he sat back to enjoy Hodges' solo and never plays his own horn), the easygoing swinger ...

Radio Nights CD music Sonny Stitt was so closely identified with Charlie Parker on the alto that even when he played tenor, his style was of the quicker-than-lightning variety with all the notes he could pack in a phrase in his soloing. Which makes listening to him, for all but the most ardent bebop fans, an endurance contest no matter how agile he was. Here, in a 1956 session with Ray Brown and Jo and Jimmy Jones backing him, there is some tempering of the maelstrom that Stitt conjured up on every bandstand. Half the program is ballads, including "The Stars Fell on Alabama," a gorgeous "Body & Soul," and "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue ...

Radio Nights songs This 1968 live outing captures the Jazz Crusaders in fine, laid-back form. As with the best concert recordings, the group benefits here from the intimacy of the setting; the musicianship is spot-on and technically challenging, yet remains warm and expansive. The band--fronted by pianist Joe Sample, trombonist Wayne Henderson, and tenor sax man Wilton Felder--rolls out its smoothest grooves while incorporating gospel fervor, funk rhythms, and no small amount of hard-bop vocabulary. The opener, "Oogo-Boo-Ga-Loo," lays a sassy horn line over a simple, loping pattern, giving the soloists plenty of room to stretch out. Things stay deep in the groove on cuts like "Tough Talk," but the group proves itself equally adept at modal ...

Radio Nights CD music Adderley was on the verge of leaving Miles Davis's Sextet when he recorded the seven titles and two alternates that comprise this LP, the sixth in a seven-volume series of Riverside dates reissued by producer Orrin Keepnews. Accompanied by pianist Wynton Kelly and alternating bassists and drummers, Adderley is in fine form on these standards with the emphasis leaning a bit toward ballads and blues. Highlights include "Serenata," "Poor Butterfly" and two versions of "I Remember You." ~ Scott Yanow All tracks have been digitally remastered. Recorded at Reeves Sound Studio, New York, New York in April & May 1959. Originally released on Riverside (1148). Includes liner notes by Orrin Keepnews. Personnel: Cannonball Adderley (alto saxophone); ...

Radio Nights buy CD music Ready for a 24-minute rendition of Thelonious Monk's "Rhythm-a-ning"? You don't think so? Well, give it a shot -- you might be pleasantly surprised. Material from Dexter Gordon's May 1969 concert at the Famous Ballroom in Baltimore has already appeared on another live album (L.T.D., also on Prestige), but the three long tracks presented here are not cold leftovers. Opening with that 24-minute version of "Rhythm-a-ning," Gordon shows himself to be in peak form, improvising for a solid seven minutes without doing anything boring. Pianist Bobby Timmons is playing well too (though he's a bit hard to hear in the slightly unbalanced mix; bassist Victor Gaskin is, unfortunately, practically inaudible). And ...