Jazz For Record Store Day, Part 2

I had really hoped to post maybe a review a day this week of these Record Store Day releases, but that just wasn't in the cards. For one thing, I was too busy listening to them. (I received advance CDs, not vinyl, just so you know. CD editions of all of these will also be released on April 26.)

Anyhow, here are the other three that will be available this weekend. 

Art Tatum

Jewels In the Treasure Box: The 1953 Chicago Blue Note Jazz Club Recordings

(Resonance) www.resonancerecords.org

Pianist Art Tatum is one of those jazz musicians who is talked about reverently, praised for his technique, but isn't the type of player that gets the same kind of adulation as a Charlie Parker, John Coltrane or Miles Davis. Maybe some people know his version of "Willow Weep for Me," which jumps back and forth between languid and breakneck in a matter of bars, yet still remains lyrical. The technique he displays can make you swoon. (If you've heard Rahsaan Roland Kirk's The Case of the Three-Sided Dream in Audio Color, you've heard a sample of this Tatum classic.)

There is already a lot of Tatum out there, thanks in a big part to Norman Granz, who took the pianist into the studio and recorded 124 tracks, released over 14 albums. Impressive as that is, this newly released batch of sets from Chicago's Blue Note jazz club is equally as staggering. Frank Holzfeind, owner of the Blue Note, recorded Tatum during an August 1953 stay at the club, and the tapes have sat in storage since then. 

Rather than playing alone, Tatum was working with a trio by then, a setting that lifts up his unique style, proving that it's not something that he could only do on his own. Hearing him speak between songs too brings the legend of Tatum to life, making him more than simply a portrait on an album cover. Everett Barksdale (guitar) and Slam Stewart (bass) fill out the group. Their material is made up well known standards like "Night and Day," "Don't Blame Me" and "Tea For Two." Tatum also takes a solo break to play his unique version of Dvoȓák's "Humoresque." 

The songs seem to follow a similar arrangement: Tatum introduces the theme and takes a solo, followed by Barksdale, and them Stewart, who in his signature approach, vocalizes along with his bowed bass. It might be a formula, but it's a formula that slays every time, because the way this trio works is magic. Sometimes they move in tandem, like the original King Cole Trio, sometimes Tatum sprawls all over his keyboard without losing direction. This elastic approach to time sounds like the foundation on everything that followed him in jazz. 

Sun Ra
At The Showcase: Live In Chicago 1976-1977

(Jazz Detective/Elemental) www.elemental-music.com

At the same time, the question could come up about whether the world needs yet another live Sun Ra set. Once his homebase, Chicago been cursed by Ra during a 1973 concert when the bandleader thought an object thrown at a security guard was meant for him. But three years later, the bad mojo was gone and they took the Windy City by storm, returning a year and half later to slay them even further.

The 1977 set appears first and it is the superior (and longer) one. "View From Another Dimension" crossfades hand drums and mellow tenor into free electric keyboards that cue some equally free horn wails. But Ra's version of the New Thing is tempered by the hard swing of tunes like "Synthesis Approach" and "Ankhnaton." This was a stellar night for the band.

In February 1976, the Arkestra drew more on their interstellar journeys, with "Theme of the Stargazers," "Space is the Place" and the prophetic "Greetings from the 21st Century." Half the set is taken up by "The Shadow World" which, following chants of "Calling Planet Earth," features Ra duking it out with electronic keys before the group joins for a tight blend of free blowing and ensemble passages.  Marshall Allen gets a chance to blow it out viciously, followed by Ahmed Abdullah on trumpet. During "Theme of the Stargazers," guitarist Dale Williams finds the missing link between Jimi Hendrix and James Blood Ulmer. If only there was another set recorded that night.

Ultimately it seems like the answer is yes - the world can use another live Sun Ra album, due in large part to superior sound quality and the creative sparks that flew from the stage of the Jazz Showcase, a venue that didn't normally host groups as outre at this. 

Yusef Lateef

Atlantis Lullaby - The Concert from Avignon

(Elemental) www.elemental-music.com

Yusef Lateef didn't like having the word "jazz" affixed to the music he played, which might be understandable when you consider the breadth of what he might play in one set. This live recording from July 1972 includes a long workout on old sawhorse "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You" which leads into the 25-minute epic "The Untitled" where mood and dynamics shift so dramatically, it could have come from the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Earlier in the set, drummer Albert "Tootie" Heath sets down his sticks to play the Indian flute in a duet with bassist Bob Cunningham. The quarter also cuts loose with some soul in "Eboness." 

Kenny Barron completes the quartet on piano, and he was also responsible for "The Untitled." Although the different passages offer suspense things get a bit repetitious, staying in one mood without using it to create stronger ideas. "A Flower," Lateef's flute duet (this time with Barron) is heavy on vibrato but also a little light on movement. On the other hand, the bluesy "Yusef's Mood" and the Trane-like title track deliver solid action.