JAZZ COLLECTOR

A soul-jazz pioneer whose infectious piano grooves were imbued with the black church’s sanctified cadences, the late LES MCCANN made his name at Pacific Jazz Records between 1960 and 1964 but enjoyed his biggest commercial triumphs during a later twelve-album spell at Atlantic Records. However, his short time at Limelight, a Mercury subsidiary where he recorded six albums in the mid-60s, is often overlooked. It was during that period that the recordings comprising Never A Dull Moment – Live From Coast To Coast 19661967 (★★★★★ Resonance) were made, capturing the Kentucky-born pianist and his trio at Seattle’s The Penthouse and New York’s Village Vanguard venues. Taped for local radio broadcasts, the two impeccably recorded live shows bring Mccann in his mid-60s heyday vividly back to life. Highlights include the quintessential Mccann track, Shampoo, a rolling churchy groove spotlighting his piano playing’s infectious blustery elan, and the softly glistening ballad Yours Is My Heart Alone, that climaxes with him unexpectedly stroking his piano’s strings like a harp. Like all Resonance releases, Never A Dull Moment, which includes a thick booklet packed with illuminating essays and great photos, is beautifully presented.

Mccann was 12 years older than another great American jazz pianist, RED GARLAND, a stalwart of Miles Davis’s ‘First Great Quintet’ in the mid-to-late 50s. He also enjoyed a parallel solo career at Prestige Records, recording over 20 albums for the label and its Moodsville subsidiary between 1956 and 1962. His second album for the company, 1957’s Red Garland’s Piano (★★★★ Prestige), is back in circulation as a Japanese SHM-CD, a high-fidelity audiophile format. For an ex-boxer who once fought Sugar Ray Robinson, Garland’s touch on the piano is light, airy, and decidedly delicate. He’s joined on the session by bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Art Taylor, all masters of their craft.

Drummer ART BLAKEY, with his vigorous, swashbuckling style, famously led THE JAZZ MESSENGERS, a finishing school for rising young jazz stars that ran for several decades. The band recorded many memorable albums with a far-reaching influence, among them Caravan (★★★★ Craft Recordings), a 1963 outing for the Riverside label. Blakey’s young proteges include Wayne Shorter, Freddie Hubbard, Cedar Walton, and Curtis Fuller, who help create a sonic storm on the opening title track, a high-octane reinvention of a classic Duke Ellington tune featuring an explosive drum solo.

Caravan’s bassist Reggie Workman was a longtime collaborator with the New York pianist/composer MAL WALDRON, whose interesting career ranged from being Billie Holiday’s accompanist to collaborating with

John Coltrane and releasing ECM’S first-ever album (1969’s Free At Last). An adventurous musician noted for his angular style, in 1973 Waldron teamed up with the noted Japanese trumpeter TERUMASA HINO for the terrific Reminscent Suite (★★★★ bbe), originally released exclusively in the Land of the Rising Sun. Reissued in BBE’S J Jazz Masterclass Series, the album features two long-form pieces, both absorbing modal grooves; the intense Waldron-penned title track and Hino’s more lyrical Black Forest.

Another fertile Waldron collaboration, this time a 1995 hook-up with the progressive soprano saxophonist STEVE LACY, shows his prowess in a different setting.

The Mighty Warriors: Live in Antwerp (★★★★ Elemental) is an exclusive Record Store Day LP release that captures the pair in Belgium alongside bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Andrew Cyrille.

The performance, which features reworkings of two Thelonious Monk numbers, is brilliantly arresting.

Often dubbed Brazil’s answer to George Gershwin, the prolific songwriter ANTÔNIO CARLOS

JOBIM played a pivotal role in both the birth of bossa nova and the expansion of the music’s audience in the 1960s. His 1963 debut album, The Composer Of Desafinado, Plays, is brought back to life as The Girl From Ipanema (★★★★ Jazz Samba), a delectable collection of classic Jobim tunes featuring their composer playing guitar and piano against the backdrop of Claus Ogerman’s delicate orchestrations. The music’s beauty, elegance, and delicacy are simply exquisite.

Fellow Brazilian, pianist/arranger OSMAR MILITO, best known by UK cratediggers for his samba-driven 1971 revamp of Herbie Hancock’s Cantaloup Island, offers a dreamy version of Jobim’s Bonita on Viagem

(★★★★ Elemental), his collectible cult album from 1974. Milito’s combination of alluring female background vocals and lush strings with tasteful bossa nova-tinged jazz grooves is reminiscent of Sergio Mendes & Brasil 66, especially on the breezy opener, a revamp of Jimmy Webb’s Up, Up & Away.

Moving to new albums, another Brazilian, piano sensation AMARO FREITAS, returns with Y’Y (★★★

Psychic Hotline), a storytelling narrative about ancestry that was inspired by a journey into the Amazon rainforest. Rejecting orthodox jazz tropes, Freitas creates an immersive musical tapestry coloured by atmospheric keyboards, insectile percussion, and animalistic jungle noises. Among those assisting are flautist Shabaka Hutchings and harpist Brandee Younger.

Different again is guitarist BILL FRISELL’S Orchestras (★★★★ Blue Note), a double live album where his trio (bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Rudy Royston) is augmented by the Brussels Philharmonic on disc one and the 11-piece Umbria

Jazz Orchestra on disc two. All the arrangements are by the veteran composer/arranger Michael Gibbs, who brings a noir-like Bernard Herrmann-meets-gil Evans grandiosity to the proceedings.

The award-winning Switzerlandborn New York singer ANAÏS RENO is also captured in concert on Anaïs Reno Live At Pizzaexpress Live in London (★★★ PXL), a solid showcase whose high points include a languorous Lazy Afternoon and lively spin on Charlie Parker’s

Yardbird Suite.

Finally, AMY GADIAGA, a Parisianborn singer and double-bassist with African ancestry who now lives in the UK, debuts with All Black Everything

(★★★★ Jazz Re:freshed), a fivetrack mini-album that seamlessly interweaves jazz, soul, Latin, and African musical threads. The title track is the killer cut of what is a lively, engaging debut overflowing with promise.