MILES DAVIS / JOHN COLTRANE – COPENHAGEN, MARCH 24, 1960
Great live material from one of the most important pairings
in modern jazz – recorded during the last months that John Coltrane was working
with the Miles Davis Quintet! Davis and Coltrane are working here on a live
date from Copenhagen in March of 1960 – playing on 3 long tunes that really let
both players open up and unfold in their own unique solo explorations. Titles
are all familiar ones from the Davis book – "So What", "All
Blues", and "On Green Dolphin Street" – but the extended renditions
offer more than a few surprises that make them well worth having. (Limited
numbered edition and 180 gramn clear vinyl pressing) ~ Dusty Groove
CUONG VUTRIO / PAT METHENY - CUONG VU TRIO MEETS PAT METHENY
Cuong Vu joins guitarist, composer, and bandleader Pat Metheny with a
trio led by longtime Pat Metheny Group trumpeter Cuong Vu. The album comprises
five tunes written by Vu plus one by Metheny and one by Andrew D'Angelo. The Cuong Vu Trio includes Stomu Takeishi on bass and Ted
Poor on drums. Metheny says of his record with the Trio, "This project is
something that Cuong and I have talked about doing for years. For as much as I
loved what Cuong has brought to my bands along the way, I always wondered what
it would be like to join his group for a project, to see what I might be able
to offer those guys. Cuong came up with a great set of tunes for the project,
and we all met in NYC for a few days and recorded this music quite quickly and
spontaneously." Vu, who first heard a cassette of Metheny's Travels as a
teenager and credits it for leading him into a career in music, adds: "Pat
came to the session and killed it, taking us to different territories. We (the
Trio) assimilated his sound into ours and made music that still felt uniquely
ours." The trumpeter has played with a wide range of artists, including
Laurie Anderson, David Bowie, Dave Douglas, Myra Melford, Cibo Matto, and
Mitchell Froom.
JOE BAER MAGNANT GROUP – LIMINAL SPACES
There's nothing liminal about the sound of the Joe Baer
Magnant Group – as these guys have found a very special space of their own –
which they occupy beautifully in a haunting blend of guitar and Fender Rhodes!
The two instruments are used spatially, and chromatically – in ways that are
different than any sort of funky combination of the two – instead with this
really strong sense of tone that takes us back to the important Gary Burton
albums on RCA – even though there's no vibes at all on these sides. Instead,
Magnant's guitar opens with these wonderful harmonic lines, which are echoed by
the Fender Rhodes of Tony Capriccio – and given subtle rhythmic support by
Chris Lujan on bass and Michael Reed on drums – as they allow the songs to
unfold with both soul and grace. The record features a great reworking of
Stanley Cowell's "Equipoise", which seems especially well-suited to
the approach – as does their take on Satie's "Trois Gnoissiennes" –
and other titles include a version of Mulatu's "Tezeta", plus
"Coagulate", "Liminal Spaces", and
"Poinciana". ~ Dusty Groove
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