Jazz on the Beach 185 & Blues Beach 74: Charles Tolliver, James Brandon Lewis, Mark Kavuma, Gonzalez, George Benson, David S.Ware, Joshua Redman
This week's radio playlists and listen again links
Among the many great reissues and previously unreleased records that have dropped in recent months, one of the most anticipated is trumpeter Charles Tolliver & Music Inc.’s Live at Slugs’ Vol. 1 & 2 (Mack Ave/Strata-East, 25th April). Recorded in 1970 and now released with the excellent mastering and quality pressing that’s thankfully becoming de riguer for any quality jazz release. On this week’s radio show playlist is Spanning, with Tolliver on fire as he always is, while pianist Stanley Cowell, double bassist Cecil McBee and drummer Jimmy Hopps are right there with him.
One never has to wait long for new music from tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis, it’s been barely three months since his excellent trio album Apple Cores (Anti-Records, February), with double bassist Josh Werner and drummer Chad Taylor (who also plays a mean mbira). Now comes his fifth quartet album Abstraction Is Deliverance (Intakt Records, 30th May), featuring pianist Aruán Ortiz, double bassist Brad Jones and drummer Chad Taylor. I picked the opening track Ware, a beautiful dedication to the saxophonist David S Ware.
Here’s a wonderful short film on David S. Ware directed by Amine Kouider in association with David Lynch Foundation Television.
I’m delighted that trumpeter, bandleader and Tomorrow’s Warrior Mark Kavuma won Instrumentalist Of The Year at the Jazz FM Awards in London last week. To celebrate, here’s the magnificent Cedar Tree from Mark Kavuma & the Banger Factory’s Magnum Opus (Banger Factory Records, November 2024), with tenor saxophonists Mussinghi Brian Edwards & Theo Erskin, pianist Noah Stoneman, double bassist Jack Garside and drummer Jack Thomas.
Here’s a clip from last year’s Queen Elizabeth Hall show.
Drummer Bill Stewart leads his superb trio of tenor saxophonist Walter Smith III and double bassist Larry Grenadier on his composition Ten Foot Two from Live at the Village Vanguard (Criss Cross Jazz, 25th April). It may be a well trodden album title, but the music’s sensational.
There’s saxophonist Joshua Redman’s wistful A Message to Unsend from his upcoming Words Fall Short (Blue Note, 20th June), featuring his new group of pianist Paul Cornish, double bassist Philip Norris and drummer Nazir Ebo. The music was written during the pandemic, and while the world has moved on to a new set of crises, this track certainly stands on its own merits. I first misread the album title as Worlds Fall Short, which I couldn’t figure out at all.
There’s more this week from Hillai Govreen who plays absolutely gorgeous clarinet on Downhill from Every Other Now (Fresh Sound New Talent Records, 20th June), with pianist Eden Ladin, double bassist Ben Meigners and drummer Eric McPherson. And there’s another track from tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano & pianist Marcin Wasilewski’s Trio with This Side from the excellent Homage (ECM, 24th April), featuring double bassist Slawomir Kurkiewicz and drummer Michal Miskiewicz.
I used to regularly see UK jazz funkateers Gonzalez at the Speakeasy club in Margaret Street, London during the early ‘70s. They had a huge pool of the best players in town to call on when one of them was out on tour, which was often. Here’s the title track from their eponymous album Gonzalez (EMI, 1974), featuring the formidable horns of saxophonists Mick Eve, Chris Mercer, Steve Gregory and Bud Beadle, guitarist Gordon Hunte, pianist Roy Davies, bassist Lisle Harper, drummer Glenn Lefleur and percussionists Allan Sharpe & Bobby John. Along with bands like Kokomo and F.B.I., London certainly did get enough of that funky stuff.
Speaking of which, there’s the George Benson Quartet’s Benson’s Rider from the John Hammond produced The George Benson Cookbook (Columbia, 1967), with the guitarist in killer form with just organist Lonnie Smith and drummer Jimmy Lovelace. I also rediscovered Herbie Hancock’s Nobu, from his one man album Dedication (CBS/SONY Japan, 1974), recorded for the Japanese market while there on tour. Would make a good name for a restaurant, you think?
And finally, I was reading Bret Primack’s marvellous Backstage in Eternity post, which I urge you to read too. It brought to mind the astonishing Loose Threads from the saxophonist Michael Brecker’s final album Pilgrimage (Heads Up, 2007), with guitarist Pat Metheny, pianist Herbie Hancock, double bassist John Patitucci and drummer Jack DeJohnette. After reading Bret’s piece, the music felt even more magical.
To listen to this week’s Jazz on The Beach on Mixcloud, just click below:
Blues Beach
This week’s Blues Beach features a number of records released on Bobby Robinson’s Fire Records in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, with Buster Brown’s Sugar Babe, Mary Ann Fisher’s Put On My Shoes, Little Ann & Tarheel Slim’s It’s Too Late, and Wild Jimmy Sprull’s Hard Grind.
On the country blues side there’s Mississippi John Hurt’s Coffee Blues, Snooks Eaglin’s I’m a Country Boy and Mississippi Fred McDowell’s You Gotta Move. Plus Atlantic Records stars Ray Charles’ Mary Ann, Mose Allison’s I Ain’t Got Nothing but the Blues, as well as Chess classics like Howlin’ Wolf’s Shake for Me and Muddy Waters’ I Want to Be Loved.
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Some recent shows on Mixcloud:
Jazz on the Beach 184 - 23rd April 2025
Blues Beach 73 - 17th April 2025
Jazz on the Beach 183 - 16th April 2025
Jazz on the Beach 182 - 9th April 2025
Blues Beach 72 - 3rd April 2025
Jazz on the Beach 181 - 2nd April 2025
Listen live on Deal Radio or Catch up on Mixcloud
Jazz On The Beach broadcasts live every Wednesday evening from 10:00 PM to midnight (UK time), with a repeat on Monday mornings from 2:00 AM to 4:00 AM (UK time).
Blues Beach broadcasts live every other Thursday from 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM (UK time).