BeBop / Hard Bop - CD Reviews (481)
In spite of the relentless hype that is associated with his name, Joshua Redman remains one of the young and bright shining jazz lights in this early 21st century. His curr…
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One Day, Forever represents a musical reunion for Benny Golson with some former band mates, most notably Art Farmer and Curtis Fuller of the immortal Jazztet. The album sam…
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OK, I’ll skip the T. Monk history lesson and get to the music. This classic stuff (recorded 1951-52) has been out on Blue Note before, but this time ‘round you get the orig…
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Going home again has proven to be a rewarding experience for Milwaukee native, Fred Horn. Even though he grew up there, Horn has moved around and more than paid his dues by…
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All in one place at last, the Miles Davis "Kind Of Blue" Sextet live at the Newport Jazz Festival in '58. (It was previously available on one side of the "Miles & Monk At N…
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Eric Alexander and his ensemble produce a very tight knit sound reminiscent of John Coltrane, George Coleman and Joe Henderson in the late 1950s. In many respects, this alb…
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Veteran pianist Kenny Barron and virtuoso violinist Regina Carter have collaborated on one of the best albums of 2001. "Freefall" is an immensely enjoyable set of duets tha…
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What is it about that milieu of musical elements floating about the jazz world of the early sixties that continues to attract young stylists, nearly forty years after its h…
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Aw heck, man, this Bay Area bebopper really goes to town tipping his fedora to sax icon John Coltrane with a clutch of originals (and 2 standards) firmly in the style of Tr…
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Yeah, yeah, yeah - like a good meal, one consumed at leisure with friends and w/ out guilt, this reissued Cannonball Adderley classic album hits the spot. Of all the…
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Referring to trombonist Curtis Fuller as a "prolifically recorded" musician would be a major understatement. In a career that now spans over 47 years in the major leagues o…
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Art Pepper at 50 was emerging from a decade and a half of prison and rehab. By then the damage was done and he would live only seven more years. But if the live performance…
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This is a "reissue-plus" of the 1960 debut album (originally on Vee-Jay Records) by jazz trumpet great Lee Morgan. Morgan had one of the sharpest, brashest modern trumpet s…
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Wynton Marsalis is agile gracefulness personified when it comes to trumpet music, and his masterly sound is almost beyond definition! His sound is self-defining, a magic al…
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The late alto saxophonist Sonny Criss was one of the sadder stories in jazz: a career marked by drastic peaks & valleys, ending in suicide shortly after his birthday in 197…
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The Mark Elf Trio have created a wonderful CD entitled "Live At Smalls," that embodies the adrenaline rush quality live jazz produces. Each song is magnificently presented.…
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Quickly, how many bop-oriented clarinetists came you name? Not many come to mind seemingly, many players from the bebop-and-beyond generation seem to have associated the cl…
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MJT+III was recorded in the late Fifties at the height of hard bop, the more bluesy child of bebop. That this group of second-tier players sounds so damn good is evidence o…
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This superb three CD package opens with four numbers from a 1944 session with Coleman Hawkins and ends a couple of hours later with six from a 1954 Miles Davis set. In betw…
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When all else fails, always (well, almost always) fall back on the Old Masters. When you want to hear contemporary jazz that leaves you smiling instead of befuddled or bore…
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