JAZZ COLLECTOR

Famed for his horn’s forlorn, anguished cry, Norwegian saxophonist JAN GARBAREK is synonymous with Manfred Eicher’s Munich-based ECM label. Although 77-year-old Garbarek is still with the company today, he was an important figure in establishing the ECM brand in its infancy. Now reissued on vinyl, Afric Pepperbird (★★★★

ECM), his 1970 debut for the label, proves to be far edgier than many of the saxophonist’s later releases. Fronting a quartet including guitarist Terje Rypdal, Garbarek navigates a path somewhere between avant-garde music and modal jazz-rock a la Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew, with viscerally exciting results. The intense title tune and fiery Beast Of Kommodo are the best cuts.

Garbarek’s forceful playing on

Afric Pepperbird reveals no sign of the aching bittersweet lyricism that had become his hallmark by the time he recorded Luminessence (★★★★

ECM), his 1975 collaboration with KEITH JARRETT, also reissued on vinyl. Jarrett didn’t play on the album but composed three pieces orchestrated for strings functioning as a lush framework for Garbarek’s effusive sax improvisations. The first two numbers are deeply melancholic but the third and longest, the 15-minute title track, is livelier and brighter although it can’t suppress Garbarek’s innate lugubriousness. Nevertheless, a terrific reissue of an album much overlooked by some of Jarrett’s most earnest fans.

Anyone who’s read ART PEPPER’S shocking autobiography Straight Life will know that despite being a great jazz musician, the California-born alto saxophonist and “Cool School” doyen wasn’t the nicest of people. Heroin addiction and chronic alcoholism played a big part in shaping his behaviour, while several stretches in prison derailed his career. One of his greatest albums, 1960’s Smack Up (★★★★ Contemporary/craft Recordings), was recorded before Pepper faced imprisonment for the second time for drug offences. Sounding glorious on audiophile vinyl, it reveals Pepper at the top of his game with a quintet including pianist Pete Jolly and trumpeter JACK SHELDON.

The latter musician can be heard collaborating with fellow crooner and horn maven CHET BAKER on

Set In Perfect Harmony: The Lost Album (★★★ Jazz Detective), a previously unreleased studio session from 1972. At the time, Baker had taken a sabbatical from the jazz world due to heroin addiction but his friend Sheldon persuaded him to return to the studio. After the death of the record’s producer in 1973, the album was canned but now, thankfully, sees daylight as a limited-edition RSD vinyl release. Showcasing the two men’s contrasting approaches to singing and playing trumpet, it’s an absorbing listen.

Another exclusive RSD vinyl release is Atlantis Lullaby: The Concert In Avignon (★★★★ Elemental), which captures the revered multiinstrumentalist YUSEF LATEEF in France in 1972 fronting a quartet featuring pianist Kenny Barron.

Alternating between flute and two saxophones, Lateef journeys through different musical landscapes, from intense modal jazz and swinging soul jazz to softly meditative Easterntinged music.

Lateef famously played in CANNONBALL ADDERLEY’S band between 1962 and 1964. The Florida-born alto saxophone giant is celebrated by two superlative limited-edition RSD double vinyl releases capturing him on stage in the European country nicknamed “L’hexagone.” Burnin’ In Bordeaux: Live In France 1969 (★★★★

Elemental) features Joe Zawinul on piano and includes excellent renditions of his classic compositions Walk Tall and Mercy Mercy Mercy. By the time Poppin’ In Paris: Live At L’olympia 1972 (★★★★★ Elemental) was recorded, Zawinul had left to form Weather Report and was replaced by another keyboard maven, George Duke, writer of Black Messiah, the album’s sensational opening cut. The excellent-sounding concert reveals the versatility of Adderley’s then band, as it seamlessly switches from exploratory avant-jazz to fusion, hard-bop, swing, and gospel-funk. “Sensationnel,” as they say in France.

MAL WALDRON lived in Paris in the 1960s. A versatile musician whose career took him from hard bop to jazz’s outer limits, he was the house pianist at Prestige Records in the 1950s. Focusing on his output from that era is Four Classic Albums (★★★★ Avid), which offers an excellent introduction to the New Yorker’s music, combining the terrific but largely overlooked albums Mal 1, Mal 2, Left Alone (a heartfelt tribute to his former employer “Lady Day”) and Mal 4. Saxophonists John Coltrane and Jackie Mclean contribute stellar cameos.

Waldron patented a spare, almost minimalist piano style, which was the complete antithesis of the florid pyrotechnics that sprang from the fleet fingers of ART TATUM, one of jazz’s most virtuosic musicians. A previously unreleased set of performances capturing Tatum and his trio at Chicago’s Blue Note Club in 1953 is released as Jewels In The Treasure Box (★★★★ Resonance), initially available as an exclusive RSD 3LP package before going on general sale in CD form. It’s an incredible archival discovery giving the listener a front-row vantage point from which to admire Tatum’s phenomenal talent.

Moving to contemporary releases, Chicago-born CHRIS POTTER, whose credits range from Pat Metheny to Steely Dan, is widely perceived as one of contemporary jazz’s greatest tenor saxophonists. On Eagle’s

Point (★★★★ Edition) he leads a formidable supergroup of sidemen (Brad Mehldau, John Patitucci, and Brian Blade), who offer inspirational support throughout. Highlights include the lyrical ballad Aria For Anna and the deeply atmospheric Málaga Moon with its yearning sax melody.

Ancient Relics (★★★★ Deluge Records) is the second album by

New Zealand saxophonist LUCIEN JOHNSON, who proffers a sumptuous showcase of Pharoah Sanders-inspired spiritual jazz featuring fellow “Kiwi,” harpist Natalia Lagi’itaua Mann, whose cascading glissandi evoke the sound and spirit of Alice Coltrane.

With his credits ranging from Prefab Sprout to Radiohead, ex-loose Tubes saxophonist MARK LOCKHEART boasts an eclectic resume. His latest opus Smiling (★★★ Edition) is a fascinating foray into jazz-rock utilising the skills of a twelve-piece ensemble featuring noted trumpeter Laura Jurd.

Veteran UK vibraphonist ROGER BEAUJOLAIS impresses with Bags Of Vibes (★★★★ rogerbeaujolais. com), a tasteful homage to his hero, mallet maestro and Modern

Jazz Quartet co-founder Milt “Bags” Jackson. Beginning with the selfpenned tribute, Blues For Bags, Beaujolais’ quartet, augmented by guitarist Jim Mullen, interpret several of Jackson’s signature numbers, including a wonderful reworking of the iconic

MJQ tune, Django.

The vibraphone is also an integral element in the distinctive post-bop sound of the London quartet EMPIRICAL, who return with Wonder Is The Beginning (★★★★

Whirlwind), their first album in eight years. Featuring guest artists Alex Hitchcock and Jason Rebello, the group shows why their long absence has made the UK jazz scene a poorer place. Among the highlights is She Moves, spotlighting Lewis Wright’s shimmering vibes.