Jazz On The Beach 158
Blues Beach goes Country again
There are some really tremendous new releases on this week’s Jazz on The Beach playlist, starting with the consistently great tenor saxophonist Diego Rivera’s hard boppin’ Volver from his new album Ofrenda (Posi-Tone, October 11th), this time adding trumpeter Terell Stafford to the usual Posi-Tone suspects of pianist Art Hirahara, double bassist Boris Kozlov and drummer Rudy Royston.
Another new gem is the Tyshawn Sorey Trio’s expansive and compelling interpretation of Brad Mehldau’s Bealtine from The Susceptible Now (Pi Recordings, October 11th), with drummer Sorey, pianist Aaron Diehl and double bassist Harish Raghavan.
I’ve also been enjoying La Luz Verdadera (meaning The True Light) from New York based guitarist Nico Moreno’s debut album Cornerstone (September 5th) with double bassist Matt Stavrakas and drummer Colin Stranahan. He play a gorgeous Fender D’Aquisto Elite archtop guitar with a tone as good as it looks.
A real find this week is Funky Friday by the Estonian pianist Tõnu Naissoo from EMA EP (Jazzaggression, October 4th) with saxophonist Markus Holkko, bassist Teemu Åkerblom and drummer Aleksi Heinola. It’s available as a lathe cut 45rpm 12-inch EP limited to just 50 copies. But it’s streamable, for now at least.
There’s exciting new music from two bass player/composers, with New Yorker Joe Sanders’ terrific Dualities recorded live at the 2021 Jazz en Tête Festival from the album Parallels (Whirwind Recordings, October 11th), featuring saxophonists Logan Richardson (alto), Seamus Blake (tenor) and drummer Greg Hutchinson.
Also, the London based double bassist and composer Myra Brownbridge returns to the playlist with the uplifting The Joy of Being from The Voyage Out (October 18th), with guitarist Tom Ollendorff, alto saxophonist George Garford and drummer Matthew Holmes.
Two terrific tracks from the mid 20th century are tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins’ drumerless How High the Moon from Sonny Rollins & the Contemporary Leaders (Contemporary, 1959), with guitarist Barney Kessel and double bassist Leroy Vinegar providing all the groove necessary, and alto saxophonist & flautist Leo Wright’s Tali from Suddenly The Blues (Atlantic, 1962) with guitarist Kenny Burrell, double bassist Ron Carter and drummer Rudy Collins.
It’s been a long time since I’d heard saxophonist Sadao Watanabe’s grooving Massai Talk from My Dear Life (Flying Disc, 1977). Here he’s playing soprano with trombonist Hiroshi Fukumura and the cream of the L.A players - pianist Dave Grusin, guitarist Lee Ritenour, bassist Chuck Rainey, drummer Harvey Mason and percussionist Steve Forman. I’m delighted to say that It sounds just as great as it always did.
There’s yet another amazing track from vocalist Vanisha Gould’s She’s Not Shiny, She’s Not Smooth (Cellar Music, La Reserve, November 8th) with Now That You’re Here, a fine original composition performed with her trio of pianist Chris McCarthy, double bassist John Sims and drummer Jongkuk Kim.
With Jo Harrop’s trio date at The Lighthouse in Deal only a week away (Thursday 24th October - tickets here), there’s the gorgeous Beautiful Fools, her co-write with Ian Barter from The Path of a Tear (Lateralize, June), featuring bassist (and producer) Larry Klein, guitarist Anthony Wilson, pianist Jim Cox and drummer Victor Indrizzo.
The saddest news…our good friend, the drummer Doug Sides passed away last week, less than a month after his former bandleader Benny Golson. Doug had performed the weekend before at Broadstairs JazzFest, leading his own quartet on the Friday evening and sitting in with young players down from the Birmingham Conservatoire over the following days. He died at his home in Broadstairs, Kent, on his 82nd birthday, October 10th. May his memory be a blessing.
There’s so much great music of Doug’s to choose from, such as Curtis Amy & Dupree Bolton’s Katanga!, the Midnight Blue trio set with Walter Bishop, Jr, the recent Duplexity with trumpeter Daniel Cano or The New John Handy Quartet’s New View. But I’ve chosen Blues For Thelma from trumpeter Blue Mitchell’s Blue Mitchell (Mainstream, 1971), with tenor saxophonist Jimmy Forrest, pianist Walter Bishop, Jr and double bassist Larry Gales, because when this album was given the deluxe reissue treatment two years ago by New Land Records, Doug was so delighted with the results and proud to have contributed to the sleeve notes. (Admittedly they used a picture of a different drummer on the insert, but that’s the music business for you!)
Here’s an excellent video biography by filmmaker and musician Martin Goodsmith that was made nine years ago, not long after Doug had moved from Paris to Margate, and includes some great concert footage of Doug performing with Benny Golson, Kirk Lightsey and Ricky Ford.
To listen to Jazz on The Beach, just click the link below…
During the summer, Blues Beach took a week’s break and handed over the playlist for a one time only country music special. After bowing to listener pressure, here’s a second trip out West with more songs about love, heartbreak, beer, semi-trucks and honky-tonks.
To listen to Blues Beach Goes Country 2, just click the link below…
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