Thelonious Monk - Brilliant Corners

Riverside / ConcordRelease date: December 17th 1956Re-release date (Keepnews remaster): March 4th 2008Availabilty: CD, MP3 download, iTunes "Brilliant Corners" is at one and the same time full of the idiosyncracy that typifies so much of Thelonious Monk's music and then again simply one of the greatest jazz albums ever produced. The band is essentially a quintet: Thelonious Monk (piano), Sonny

Gonzalo Rubalcaba - Avatar

Blue NoteRelease date: February 5th 2008Availability: CD, MP3 Download, iTunes Discovered by Charlie Haden on a tour of Cuba, Gonzalo Rubalcaba was pronounced a major undiscovered jazz talent at the 1990 Montreux Jazz festival. Signed by Blue Note and twelve albums later somehow his music has not succeeded in having quite the impact promised by that early breakthrough.This is surely set to

Horace Silver - Further Explorations By the Horace Silver Quintet

Blue Note (RVG)Release date: 1958Re-release date (RVG remaster): March 25th, 2008Availabilty: CD, MP3 download, iTunes "Further Explorations" was released in 1958, the same year as Horace Silver's appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival. As on the Festival appearance, Louis Hayes is on drums. However, the front line here with Art Farmer (trumpet) and Clifford Jordan (tenor sax) is more

Chick Corea and Gary Burton - The New Crystal Silence

ConcordRelease date: February 5th 2008Availability: CD, MP3 Download, iTunes The original "Crystal Silence" was a landmark album in 1972 that crossed the traditional boundaries of jazz into a wider audience without sacrificing any integrity. It also signposted the remarkable understanding between Chick Corea (piano) and Gary Burton (vibraphone). As Pat Metheny remarks on his liner notes to the

Horace Silver - Live At Newport '58

Blue NoteRelease date: February 5th 2008Availability: CD, MP3 Download, iTunes This is not a re-release of previously known Horace Silver material but rather a re-discovery of a very strong set played at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1958 and released now for the first time (with the exception of one track "Tippin'" that had appeared on the long unavailable Newport Jazz Festival compilation album

Pat Metheny - Day Trip

NonesuchRelease date: January 29th 2008Availability: CD, MP3 Download, iTunes With the exception of two fine recent albums with Brad Mehldau, "Day Trip" is Pat Metheny's most accomplished straight ahead jazz outing since his emblematic debut, "Bright Size Life".As with that breakthrough album, the trio format (here with Christian McBride (bass) and Antonio Sanchez (drums)) allows the jazz to

Ron Blake - Shayari

Mack AvenueRelease date: January 29th 2008Availability: CD, MP3 Download, iTunes"Shayari" is essentially a two hander from Ron Blake (saxophone) and Michael Cain (piano/ producer) with star support from Christian McBride (bass), Jack DeJohnette (drums), Regina Carter (violin) and Gilmar Gomes (perscussion) added sparingly and just where required. The overall feel is somewhat similar to the 'less