Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges may co-headline Side by Side, their portraits aligned in parallel on the cover. But for most of that 1959 album’s runtime, the titanic pianist, composer, and bandleader and his longtime alto saxophone foil aren’t together at all.On August 14, 1958, Hodges led a band of Ellington alumni and associates — tenor saxophonist Ben Webster, pianist Billy Strayhorn, bassist Wendell Marshall, and drummer Jo Jones — through four of his own... Read More

Zev Feldman’s devotion to Bill Evans borders on evangelism — and the flock is growing. While prepping 2023’s Treasures: Solo, Trio & Orchestra Recordings, the Resonance Records co-founder dropped into Crooked Beat Records in Alexandria, Virginia, only to learn the shop had pre-ordered 30 copies — an eye-popping tally for a niche archival set. “We’ll have 300 people around the block,” owner Bill Daly reported. “Your Bill Evans records — everybody wants them.”... Read More

Film music specialist LaLaLand Records continues its series of comprehensive 007 reissues with the score that set the musical template for the entire series.  I continue my deep dive into the story behind the creation of this iconic piece of 60s pop culture with a detailed assessment of this important restoration and reissue.  Barry, Bassey and Bond - nobody does it better…

My thesis is that music written for the ensemble of two violins, one viola, and one cello constitutes the musical art form that most nearly approaches perfection, both in its past achievements and its present possibilities. The greatest minds and most perceptive dispositions find in the literature and performance of string-quartet music an endlessly self-renewing source of wonder and delight. The string quartet is a most felicitous meeting of potential and realization.

Film music specialist LaLaLand Records continues its series of comprehensive 007 reissues with the score that set the musical template for the entire series.  Take a deep dive into the story behind the creation of this iconic piece of 60s pop culture, and a detailed assessment of this important restoration and reissue.  Barry, Bassey and Bond - nobody does it better…

Some of the most glorious moments in music history owe to a glitch in the mainframe — those fleeting, thrilling ruptures where the real shit breaks through. Case in point: Cadence Records, and its short-lived but seismic sister label, Candid Records.From 1952 to 1964, Cadence mostly trafficked in vanilla fare — Andy Williams’ supper club ballads, the Everly Brothers’ clean-cut harmonies, the Chordettes trilling “Mr. Sandman” and “Lollipop.” There were outliers, sure:... Read More

If my previous Tracking Angle review — on the new Pharoah Sanders Izipho Zam reissue — framed Strata-East within so-called spiritual jazz, this trio of new vinyl pressings should shake loose any such pigeonholing.(That’s the storied, forward-thinking jazz label, founded by trumpeter Charles Tolliver and pianist Stanley Cowell in 1971, whose new affiliation with Mack Avenue produced that Izipho Zam (My Gifts) reissue — read all about it. As the newly partnered... Read More

Here are the final six (of a total of a dozen) choral settings of extraordinary value, most of them unaccompanied (a-cappella). The settings are from Medieval times to our era, but are not necessarily in chronological order.

The Qobuz playlist is here: https://play.qobuz.com/playlist/25258347

Here are the first six (of a total of a dozen) choral settings of extraordinary value, most of them unaccompanied (a-cappella). The settings are from Medieval times to our era, but are not necessarily in chronological order.

The Qobuz playlist is here: https://play.qobuz.com/playlist/25258347

Today, the audiophile market is a goldmine for vinyl consumers. Whether it's Analogue Productions’ commemoration of Atlantic Records’ 75th anniversary or WMG’s Because Sound Matters venture, the pressings these and other companies are releasing have, for the most part, set a new sonic standard for timeless albums— in some cases outdoing originals. Reissue specialist Rhino Records, which it could be argued started the vinyl reissue ball rolling in the late... Read More

One of the most important - and least known - artifacts of 1970s jazz/rock fusion, Neil Ardley's Harmony of the Spheres, arrives in an exceptional AAA limited edition reissue from fledgling label Analogue October Records in the UK. I delve into the background and history of this groundbreaking record, assess the new reissue, and talk in detail with label founder Craig Crane about how this project came together, and his future plans for this label - one to watch.

Here are my reviews of three new Resonance Records offerings: Charles Mingus’s In Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts, Kenny Dorham’s Blue Bossa in the Bronx: Live from the Blue Morocco, and Freddie Hubbard’s On Fire: Live from the Blue Morocco. All three are due out on Record Store Day, April 12; you can pre-order them now.It’s not Charles’ Mingus’s final set of performances, but it’s close. On June 2 and 3, 1977, the Angry Man of Jazz was nearing the end of the... Read More

This latest batch of Original Source releases shows that Deutsche Grammophon has been listening to collectors of this series who have been clamoring for more chamber and instrumental music.  Here we have two such peaks of the 70s catalogue in superb performances, plus two blockbuster orchestral releases that will seriously put your system through its paces.  All in all it’s a list of releases I am salivating over - and you should be too!

Tracking Angle contributors Michael Johnson and Mark Ward sit down to discuss the music of French composer Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) in anticipation of the upcoming DG Original Source box set release of the composer’s Complete Orchestral Works performed by Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Read More

The third volume of the Blue Note Review, limited to 2,000 copies and entitled Truly Madly DeepLee Morgan is devoted to the music of the trumpeter Lee Morgan. Included in the box set is a Tone Poet style reissue of his 1967 recording, Sonic Boom, a reissue of a 45 RPM single of two tunes from his Charisma album, here 3 LP sides, also on a CD, of contemporary, artists playing Morgan compositions or music associated with him and a "never before released... Read More

A highly prized and rare 1957 recording featuring violinist Michèle Auclair and pianist Jacqueline Robin-Bonneau performing Debussy and Ravel Sonatas for violin and piano released in mono only on a 10" disc is joined on this new The French Record Company release by a previously unreleased performance of a Roussel sonata for violin and orchestra recorded during the same 1957 recording session. What's more, during his research for the release, the label's... Read More

By 1972, Yes was no longer fighting to prove themselves within the progressive rock scene. With Fragile having sold 500,000 copies in America alone and “Roundabout” being their first Top 20 hit, they earned the privilege to work without interference from the head honchos at Atlantic. When it came time to work on a follow-up album at London’s Advision Studios in the spring of 1972, the taste of commercial success didn’t lobby the members of Yes to try to recapture the... Read More