J.M. RECOMMENDS
Jazz Images - Francis Wolff Collection
BLUE NOTE AUDIOPHILE TONE POET SERIES
ECM TOUCHSTONES
Artist of the Month
Ahmad Jamal
One of the most individualistic pianists, composers, and arrangers of his generation, Ahmad Jamal's disciplined technique and minimalist style had a huge impact on trumpeter Miles Davis, and Jamal is often cited as contributing to the development of cool jazz throughout the 1950s. Influenced by such pianists as Errol Garner, Art Tatum, and Nat King Cole, as well as big-band and orchestral music, Jamal developed his own boundary-pushing approach to modern jazz that incorporated an abundance of space, an adept use of tension and release, unexpected rhythmic phrasing and dynamics, and a highly melodic, compositional style evidenced beautifully on the best-selling 1958 offering Ahmad Jamal at the Pershing: But Not for Me..
Label of the Month
ECM Records
About to celebrate its 50th Anniversary, the monumentally influential ECM Records continues to set new directions in music and sound. Founded by producer Manfred Eicher in Munich in 1969 and still under his artistic leadership, ECM (an acronym for Edition of Contemporary Music) became one of the few major labels of jazz scene since the 1970’s. Keith Jarrett’s 1975 live album The Köln Concert is one of the top-selling jazz albums of all time today. Together with Jarrett, Norwegian sax player Jan Garbarek, Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stańko, German bassist Eberhard Weber, American musicians Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, Jack DeJohnette and John Abercrombie are just top of the iceberg when it comes to the names that shaped and glorified the ECM catalogue. ECM has also introduced the West to such notable Eastern European composers as Arvo Pärt, Giya Kancheli, Valentin Silvestrov, and Tigran Mansurian.
CD of the Month
Johnny Hodges - Creamy
Presented here is the complete Johnny Hodges album Creamy (Verve MGV-8136), one of his best small group albums as a leader. In addition to Hodges, many important figures from the Duke Ellington band are also featured here, among them Clark Terry, Lawrence Brown, Jimmy Hamilton, Harry Carney, and the great Billy Strayhorn, who also contributes three compositions. Hodges’ following date as a leader, showcasing a very similar personnel, has been added as a bonus in its entirety.