Down the Middle

Haven't really touched on mainstream jazz much lately, not since the Smoke Sessions CDs for Harold Mabern and Vincent Herring. So here's a group of four recent purchases that have tickled my fancy and caught my ear. All are highly recommended.

What can be more mainstream or better than Oscar Peterson and Ben Webster, "During this Time" (Art of the Groove 2014), especially when Peterson's trio includes Tony Inzalaco on percussion and the inestimable Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen (NHOP) on bass. this set was taken a live recording at the 84th NDR Jazz Workshop in December of 1972, sadly just a few months before Webster passed away in Amsterdam. It's a nice set, well-recorded and featuring both a CD and DVD of the event. The songs include "Perdido", "For All We Know", "Cotton Tail" and "In a Mellow Tone" among others, and if Webster's sound is just a tad less dynamic than on earlier sets, he is still great, while Peterson is as good as ever and NHOP excels.

Scott Hamilton Quartet, "Dean Street Nights" (Woodville Records 2014) is a live showcase from Pizza Express in London and features John Pearce on piano, Dave Green on bass, and Steve Brown on drums. Hamilton's play is from the direct line of which Webster was one of the kings; his sound is large, mellow, and unforced, and his roots are and always have been in the mainstream tradition. The seven pieces attest to his love of the standards, featuring "Cherokee, "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most", and "Sweet and Lovely" among them, but the two real standouts are "Jitterbug Waltz" and Hamilton's own "Zoot's Blues", an homage to another of Hamilton's iconic heroes.

Sticking with the saxophones, there's a new one from one of the young lions -- Javon Jackson, "Expression" (Smoke Sessions 2014), a third live performance and another outstanding set. Jackson has incredible support here from Orrin Evans on piano, Corcoran Holt on bass, and McClenty Hunter on drums. Smoke is a great setting for jazz and that comes through in the excellent sound, the dynamic play, and grateful audience response to this set of ten songs. Jackson is strong on a set of standards, covers from some great jazz players like Wayne Shorter and George Cables, and five of his own tunes. His ballad to his late cousin "Lelia" is a standout, but then so are tunes like "88 Strong" dedicated to McCoy Tyner as well as the standard "When I Fall in Love." The Smoke Sessions label is producing some standout live jazz -- this is the third this year, with another set for April under the leadership of David Hazeltine.

Bruce Barth, "Daybreak" (Savant 2014) is another hit in a long line of hits for the veteran pianist. His group includes Steve Nelson on vibes, Terell Stafford on trumpet and flugelhorn, Vincente Archer on bass, and Montez Coleman on drums. Barth compose 7 of the 10 pieces and the others are "Triste" by Jobim, "In the Still of the Night" by Cole Porter, and "So Tender" by Keith Jarrett. Stafford and Barth are unaccompanied on "So Tender" and luxuriate in the beautiful melody. The trio of Barth, Archer, and Coleman impress on the Jobim opener, and Nelson and Barth are special on "In the Still of the Night" which opens with a bouncy lead from Nelson. But that's just three pieces, the remaining 7 each have their moments in the sun as well.

A Label To Know: Smalls Live

A second jazz club with its own house label, Smalls Live, is the brainchild of Spike Wilner, club owner and pianist extraordinaire of Smalls, who every night produces one to three outstanding sets, including Christmas Eve, as I know from the xperience of being there the past few years.

Spike has gone beyond the production of CDs and MPs this year and is now live stremaing his shows for those who wish to subscribe but cannot always be there; and keeps an archive second to none of shows for the past few years that one can enjoy from home.

To date there are 31 productions availabel from Smalls Live, from the initial CD of Ryan Kisor to the most recent release this year of David Schnitter, Grant Stewart, and Tyler Mitchell.

I posted this past Friday (December 7th) about the Grant Stewart release, which I have been enjoying all weekend and expect to wear out in the near future, but that is only one of many that I own and love to listen and re-listen to. Smalls features straight-ahead jazz fror the most part, and these live performances can be electric, creating the ambience of sitting at this small cellar club surrounded by the music and appreciative audience. The sound balance on each has been great, which is hard to achieve sometimes in such small settings, the combinations often different and exciting, and the music first rate.

I have quite a collection of the 31 CDs, not quite all but at least half of them, and recommend all. Among those I consider special are as follows:

• Grant Stewart, "Live at Smalls" I posted December 7th on this.
• Jesse Davis Quintet, "Live at Smalls"  with Ryan Kisor on trumpet, Spike Wilner on piano, Peter Washington on bass, and Billy Drumond on drums. You don't get much better than that quintet, which blows strong throughout the set.
• Joel Frahm, "Live at Smalls", with Kurt Rosenwinkel on guitar, Joe Martin on bass, and Otis Brown III on drums. A chance to hear an under-appreciated sax player in a part blowing session, part ballad session, showing his prowess. Another guy who should not be under the jazz listener's radar.
• Bruce Barth, "Live at Smalls", with Vincente Archer on bass and Rudy Royston on drums. More great piano work by Barth, not his only one this year but wonderful to hear him live on htis one.
• Cyrille Aimee, "Live at Smalls" with Roy Hargrove, Joel Frahm, Spike Wilner, Philip Kuen, and Joseph Saylor as the band backing this marvellous jazz singer.  I didn't know her so I am glad to have gotten to hear her on this disc. Now I need to see her live.
• Ethan Iverson, Tootie Heath, and Ben Street, "Live at Smalls" a very special inter-generational trio that shows Iverson in a different light than his work with Bad Plus, and features outstanding support and solos by Heath and Street.

But again, picking these seven is like tryinig to do the 10 Best of 2012 list -- tomorrow I could drop any one of these to add maybe David Kikoski, Ian Hendrick-Smith, Kevin Hays, Peter Bernstein...and the list goes on.

Order these discs or downloads directly from the Smalls site and support the club in any way you can so the music will go on. It's great that places like Smalls or the Cellar in Vancouver are producing these CDs and MPs, or live streaming, but it is always best to hear the music in person.