From Spirituals To Swing [BOX SET]
Various Artists

In many ways, these 1938 and 1939 Carnegie Hall concerts ushered in an exciting period of black music for the American public. While great bandleaders like Benny Goodman had been blurring the color line for years, From Spirituals to Swing was the first prominent Carnegie Hall production to present African American performers to an integrated audience. Besides the racial and political implications of John Hammond's controversial shows, the producer was able to bring together some of the era's finest talent in jazz, blues, and gospel music. Recorded straight onto lacquer discs before the advent of long-playing albums and first released in 1959, this three-CD set includes two dozen previously unreleased performances by the likes of the Count Basie Orchestra, bluesman Sonny Terry, the Golden Gate Quartet, and James P. Johnson. There are several notable moments in Hammond's Carnegie collection, previously unreleased and otherwise. Naturally, this includes swinging presentations by a Basie band that showcase star-studded soloists like Lester Young, Buck Clayton, Hershel Evans, and Harry "Sweets" Edison. There are also three dynamic performances by the Kansas City Six, which feature the rare pairing of tenor saxophonist Lester Young with early guitar great Charlie Christian. The box set also includes wonderful vocal contributions from Joe Turner, Helen Humes, and Jimmy Rushing as well as blues icon Big Bill Broonzy and gospel matriarch Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Unusual artistic combinations make these Hammond productions particularly distinctive. The live trio collaborations between boogie-woogie pianists Meade Lux Lewis, Albert Ammons, and Pete Johnson are fast-paced and terrifically exciting. The New Orleans Feetwarmers showcase the Basie rhythm section of bassist Walter Page and drummer Jo Jones alongside Sidney Bechet and piano legend James P. Johnson for some real Dixieland music. While gospel contributions from the Golden Gate Quartet and Mitchell's Christian Singers are powerfully emotive, it's the seasoned work of Benny Goodman that tops off this fascinating set of performances. With a group that included Charlie Christian, Lionel Hampton, and pianist Fletcher Henderson, Goodman presents classic compositions like "I Got Rhythm" and "Stompin' at the Savoy." With a jam session finale of "Oh, Lady Be Good," From Spirituals to Swing sums up two historic musical events that should not forgotten.

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Left Hook, Right Cross
Rahsaan Roland Kirk

One of America's more overlooked saxophonists, the late Rahsaan Roland Kirk was distinctive for a number of reasons. He was a blind man who was able to play three reed instruments simultaneously, and his art encompassed traditional jazz, gospel, the avant-garde, ethnic music, and even pop music. Left Hook, Right Cross is a two-CD reissue of his more commercial efforts from 1969 and 1972, Volunteered Slavery and Blacknuss. On Volunteered Slavery Kirk juxtaposes an instrumental version of Stevie Wonder's "My Cherie Amour" with an in-concert tribute to John Coltrane that included interpretations of "Lush Life" and "Bessie's Blues." While Blacknuss is slightly more sterile, Kirk's versions of "Ain't No Sunshine" and "What's Going On/Mercy Mercy Me" display an artist's inner vision that was both compelling and contemporary.

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Manhattan Melodies
Eric Reed

Since taking over the piano bench previously occupied by Marcus Roberts in the Wynton Marsalis band, Eric Reed has quietly established himself as a force to be reckoned with in contemporary jazz. On Manhattan Melodies he returns with his regular trio of Reginald Veal (bass) and Gregory Hutchinson (drums) for an album of songs that pay tribute to the city so nice they named it twice, New York, New York. While not as splashy or idiosyncratic as some of his piano contemporaries, Reed is an outstanding player privileged with a band that swings with effortless grace and understated muscularity. To his credit, Reed is both captain of the squad and a team player, often allowing his sidemen to shine while he lays low. While many tunes here seem obligatory (his "Harlemania" suite contains "Drop Me Off in Harlem," "Harlem Nocturne," and "Take the 'A' Train,") to the album's theme, Reed also interprets Paul Simon's "59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)" and Sting's "Englishman in New York" to add contemporary flavor. The album's centerpiece is a smoky-cool Dianne Reeves appearance on "Letter to Betty Carter." Just one of many classy moments on a very classy album.

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Smile
Steve Lacy

Matt Wilson has come a long way in a short time, being heralded one of the brightest lights of the new brigade by all the prognosticators of repute, and all in just a scant two years. He's joined here by a venerable supporting crew, featuring Andrew D'Angelo (alto, bass clarinet), Joel Frahm (tenor and soprano sax), and Yosuke Inoue (acoustic and electric bass). The group rips through an invigorating mix of originals and "standards"--only these standards are slightly left-of-center in their own right (despite the sterling reputations of their original purveyors): Coltrane's "Grand Central" and Monk's "Boo Boo's Birthday" are mutated slightly (including a sardonic reference to "Take Five" in the latter). Meanwhile there's a version of "Strangers in the Night" that, while falling short of the pathos David S. Ware evoked on a similar tangling of "The Way We Were," comes from the same realm of postmodern redefinition. Like a lot of new modern jazz, Wilson seems to be influenced by ideas first wrought by the Art Ensemble, Miles Davis, and Anthony Braxton, among others. These influences, and others, are put to good use on the original compositions: Wilson's own "Wooden Eye" sounds like one of Albert Ayler's parade-type two-steps (with similar in-out movements from Frahm). Meanwhile, on D'Angelo's "Big Butt," Wilson takes propulsive rim shots throughout, and the whole band performs with a bashing intensity. "Making Babies" has the group doing a collective count-off and coming off as perhaps a bit too much the pranksters because of it. Similarly, on "Go Team Go" (which, as its name implies, is somewhat of a free-for-all) Frahm actually blows a cavalry call at one point. In the hands of lesser men, this type of cheeky humor might prove annoying, but Wilson and crew display a vibrancy that never comes off as self-serving. This band is for real.

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The Rent
Steve Lacy

Recorded in its entirety and without interruption (set 1 fills the first disc, while the second set is contained on disc 2), The Rent precisely captures the brilliant, in-the-moment creative lightning of live jazz music. With Lacy's reputation as an angular, minimalist player, the overflow of emotive blowing and chatty interplay between artist and audience may come as something of a surprise, but there is Lacy answering questions, announcing tunes, and even reciting poetry. The crowd responds enthusiastically, and after the first tune (Monk's "Shuffle Boil"), the connection between performer and audience is cemented. From there things just get better. Lacy and longtime bandmates Jean-Jacques Avenel (bass) and John Betsch (drums) manage to increase the stratospheric level of their playing and still engage the audience as the evening rockets forward. While Lacy isn't gifted with a set of iron lungs, his music has never been about power. Lacy's strengths come from his ability to direct and articulate his speed-of-light idea flow. On The Rent he is remarkably precise and nimble as he darts from idea to idea only to return just in the nick of time to nail the chorus. Lacy's tone is unfailingly accurate and, even in the midst of the most demanding passage, remarkably consistent. No note is wasted. There is no filler. This is the Steve Lacy Trio at its absolute finest. Straight, no chaser.

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