Tete Montoliu - Catalonian Fire

Styles: Piano Jazz 
Year: 1991
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 57:25
Size: 132,0 MB
Art: Front

( 7:37)  1. Sweet Georgia Fame
( 7:35)  2. A nightingale sang in Berkeley Square
( 8:54)  3. Blues for Perla
(10:22)  4. Falling in love with love
( 8:08)  5. Old folks
( 4:52)  6. Au privave
( 9:52)  7. Body and soul

Tete Montoliu spent most of his career recording for various European-based record labels, with some of his best work appearing on Steeplechase, such as this trio session with bassist Niels Pedersen and drummer Tootie Heath. Montoliu chose his rhythm section well, because both of these musicians respond well to an aggressive pianist like their leader, providing both strong support and lively interplay. The program is dominated by standards, including a rather abstract take of "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" and an extended workout of "Falling in Love With Love" with a Latin rhythm. "Old Folks" starts with an unusual solo introduction that is both eerie and playful; Pedersen's countermelody is sparse and effective. Montoliu's sole original, "Blues for Perla," also stands out. The date concludes with a freewheeling exploration of Charlie Parker's "Au Privave," with the leader occasionally leaning toward an avant-garde sound in places. Recommended. ~ Ken Dryden https://www.allmusic.com/album/catalonian-fire-mw0000233581

Personnel: Piano – Tete Montoliu; Bass – Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen; Drums – Albert Heath

Catalonian Fire

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Ben Webster, Don Byas - Ben Webster Meets Don Byas

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2014
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 36:55
Size: 85,0 MB
Art: Front

(7:04)  1. Blues for Dottie Mae
(5:46)  2. Lullaby to Dottie Mae
(6:08)  3. Sunday
(5:47)  4. Perdido
(3:00)  5. When Ash Meets Henry
(9:07)  6. Caravan

This early-'70s meeting between two giants of the tenor sax (both of whom by this time were living in Europe on a permanent basis) is full of memorable moments. The styles of Ben Webster and Don Byas provide a distinct contrast (though Byas was also a swing-influenced saxophonist, he was heavily into bop as well), yet they mesh very well together. On their opening improvised "Blues for Dottie Mae," Webster's big toned swing tends to dominate, though Byas' boppish lines dart around at lightning speeds; Tete Montoliu's bluesy piano provides the perfect support. The roles are evened out a bit more on a swinging take of "Sunday." The evenly matched tenor battle continues with a rousing "Perdido" and very swinging "Caravan." Bassist Peter Trunk introduces Byas' "Lullaby to Dottie Mae," an easygoing reworking of the timeless ballad "Body and Soul," which features a rapid-fire solo by Byas. Webster's turn in the solo spotlight is his own ballad "When Ash Meets Henry," in which he is accompanied only by Trunk's well chosen basslines. Also present on the date is drummer Albert "Tootie" Heath. Sadly, this LP was a bit of a swan song for both tenor saxophonists; Byas died in the year prior to its 1973 release, while Webster died the following year, though he taped at least one more album following this one. ~ Ken Dryden https://www.allmusic.com/album/ben-meets-don-byas-mw0000188808

Personnel:  Tenor Saxophone – Ben Webster, Don Byas; Bass – Peter Trunk; Drums – Albert Heath; Piano – Tete Montoliu

Ben Webster Meets Don Byas

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Cannonball Adderley Quartet - Cannonball Takes Charge

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1959
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 52:53
Size: 122,1 MB
Art: Front

(5:32)  1. If This Isn't Love
(5:34)  2. I Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out To Dry
(4:16)  3. Serenata
(3:39)  4. I've Told Ev'ry Little Star
(7:03)  5. Barefoot Sunday Blues
(5:10)  6. Poor Butterfly
(6:55)  7. I Remember You
(7:48)  8. Barefoot Sunday Blues - Alternate Take
(6:52)  9. I Remember You - Alternate Take

The recording of Cannonball Takes Charge was sandwiched in between two events that would help earn Cannonball Adderley a permanent place in jazz lore. Just the day before the album’s first session, he participated in the completion of Miles Davis’s seminal Kind of Blue. Five months after Cannonball Takes Charge was finished, he had Riverside producer Orrin Keepnews record his newly formed quintet at the Jazz Workshop in San Francisco which helped launch his career as one of the leading proponents of “soul jazz.” But what about the album made in between these two momentous occasions? Cannonball Takes Charge ’s concept was a common one: the altoist is the lone horn in a quartet performing a program made up primarily of standards. The results are anything but routine though, and show that 1959 was a very good year for Cannonball Adderley.  The opening tune, “If This Isn’t Love,” kicks off the proceedings on an ebullient note with Adderley playing an infectious solo that can brighten even the gloomiest day. Things reach a more melancholic note only on “I Guess I’ll Hang My Tears Out To Dry” which features a fine ballad performance by the alto saxophonist. “Barefoot Sunday Blues,” the lone original composition, points to the gospel and soul-inflected jazz that would become Adderley’s calling card. The final selection, “I Remember You,” produces his finest performance on the album. Adderley is able to coax a five-chorus improvisation out of the standard’s changes that is always interesting and full of romantic lyricism. On the piano bench is Wynton Kelly who plays with the utmost of taste throughout. He makes his best impression when he dips in to a more earthy vibe on his last solo chorus of “Barefoot Sunday Blues” and in his work on “Poor Butterfly.” Joining Adderley and Kelly are Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb on four tracks, and Percy and Albert Heath on the rest. As an added bonus, this 2002 CD reissue adds alternate takes of “Barefoot Sunday Blues” and “I Remember You” that are well worth listening to. Adderley would rarely revisit the territory he covered in Cannonball Takes Charge in the years to come. His subsequent work on Riverside increasingly began to follow a formula: albums recorded live with the altoist’s working band. In 1961 though, Adderley would record another quartet album, Know What I Mean? , in which he managed to surpass the lofty heights achieved on Cannonball Takes Charge. ~ Robert Gilbert https://www.allaboutjazz.com/cannonball-takes-charge-julian-cannonball-adderley-capitol-records-review-by-robert-gilbert.php

Personnel: Cannonball Adderley - alto saxophone; Wynton Kelly - piano; Paul Chambers, Percy Heath - bass; Jimmy Cobb, Albert Heath - drums

Cannonball Takes Charge

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Cecil Payne - Zodiac

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1968
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 41:51
Size: 96,1 MB
Art: Front

( 7:00)  1. Martin Luther King, Jr. / I Know Lowe
(10:53)  2. Girl, You Got a Home
( 4:25)  3. Slide Hampton
( 7:07)  4. Follow Me
(12:23)  5. Flying Fish

It’s impossible to talk about this album without acknowledging the spectre of death that hangs over it not only is it the third entry in Strata-East Records’ Dolphy Series, a collection of archival recordings from some of the label’s close associates honoring the recently deceased multi-instrumentalist, but it is actually dedicated to two members of the band, Wynton Kelly and Kenny Dorham, who died in between the recording sessions and its release. The point is driven home even further by the fact that the album begins with a tribute from Payne to the fallen Martin Luther King, Jr., a piece that acts as a de facto solo for Dorham his playing all rosy elegance and regal warmth before shifting into the lighter (though equally coolly-paced) “I Know Love,” a showcase for Payne’s sax. While not the most somber jazz track ever recorded, this opening suite is a low-key and mournful way to open the affair, but thankfully the album really picks off and shows these musicians more in their element the rest of the way. “Girl, You Got a Home” is a funky piece, beginning very soulfully with some tight interplay among the rhythm section of Kelly, bassist Wilbur Ware and drummer Albert Heath. 

Ware is in especially fine form on this track, tying together the disparate passages of the piece by grounding the more ponderous moments in a deep funk, while Kelly’s playing is especially ear catching in the way he stabs at his piano like it’s an organ. After the first two tracks take up nearly twenty minutes, the four-minute “Slide Hampton” feels almost impossibly brief, a feeling that’s enhanced by its quick, jittery, and infectious rhythm, driven by some really dexterous work from Kelly. The final track, “Flying Fish,” may be the album’s highlight, a Caribbean-inspired composition that casts the rhythm section as flighty ground for both Payne and Dorham to vamp on. The track is oddly danceable for something released on Strata-East, maybe the most fun moment ever for the label, and relentlessly uptempo. Though this release may be in part defined by the deaths that preceded it, it’s clear that the recording process was actually a lot of fun for everybody, as their enthusiasm and energy jumps right out of the speakers. This is one of the first Strata East records I really got into and is still one of my favorites, a must-hear for any fans of the flightier moments of Dorham or Kelly’s career, and a fitting tribute for both master musicians. https://lightintheattic.net/releases/3745-zodiac

Personnel:  Cecil Payne, baritone, alto saxophone; Kenny Dorham, trumpet; Wynton Kelly, piano, organ; Wilbur Ware, bass; Albert Heath, drums.

Zodiac

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Yusef Lateef - The Gentle Giant

Styles: Saxophone And Flute Jazz
Year: 1972
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 37:33
Size: 88,6 MB
Art: Front

(6:39)  1. Nubian Lady
(2:23)  2. Lowland Lullabye
(9:01)  3. Hey Jude
(4:33)  4. Jungle Plum
(3:41)  5. The Poor Fishermen
(3:50)  6. African Song
(2:13)  7. Queen of the Night
(5:10)  8. Below Yellow Bell

Yusef Lateef's music from the early '70s commands large doses of both appeal and skepticism. At a time when funk and fusion were merging with the intensely volatile and distrustful mood of the U.S., Lateef's brand of Detroit soul garnered new fans, and turned away those who preferred his earlier hard bop jazz or world music innovations. Thus The Gentle Giant is an appropriate title, as Lateef's levitational flute looms large over the rhythm & blues beats central to the equation. Kenny Barron's Fender Rhodes electric piano is also a sign of the times, an entry point introducing him to the contemporary jazz scene, and on that point alone is historically relevant. The post-Bitches Brew, pre-Weather Report/Headhunters time period is to be considered, and how this music put Lateef in many respects to the forefront of the movement. While inconsistent and at times uneven, there's more to praise than damn in the grooves and unique musicianship he offers with this small ensemble of focused and singular-minded players. At once funky and cool, Barron's "Nubian Lady" sets the tone out of the gate, the tune totally trumping Herbie Mann's Memphis Underground/Push Push style. The similar-sounding "Jungle Plum" is more danceable, simpler, and less attractive. While "Aftican Song" is also in this vein, it is less about the continent in the title as it is reflective of the era, and a slower number. Perhaps that actual title and the sleigh bell-driven "Below Yellow Bell" could have been reversed, for it is more Afrocentric, with Lateef's wordless vocal counterpoint closer to sounds of the savanna over a baroque rhythm & blues. "Hey Jude," under-produced to the point of inaudibility at the outset (the caveat given is "do not adjust the playback level on your audio equipment, readjust your mind"), busts out on the incessantly repeated "na na" chorus with the Sweet Inspirations doing the honors. The other tracks lay low, as Lateef and Al "Tootie" Heath's flutes and Kermit Moore's cello go into late-night mode for "Lowland Lullabye," "The Poor Fisherman" explores the leader's interest in Asian sounds with call and response, and "Queen of the Night" is a two-minute shortie with Eric Gale's modulated guitar mixing up meters of 4/4 and 3/4 in a slightly macabre way. This recording was produced in the middle of Lateef's commercial crossroads phase that started with the Atlantic label issue Yusef Lateef's Detroit in 1969 and ended in 1977 with the CTI release Autophysiopsychic. Though these tracks are potent reminders of how jazz was willfully being manipulated by the record companies Creed Taylor in particular this album is clear evidence of how great a musician Yusef Lateef was, but not in the context of his best music. ~ Michael G.Nastos https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-gentle-giant-mw0000193408

Personnel:  Yusef Lateef - tenor saxophone, flute, bamboo flute, pneumatic bamboo flute, oboe, bells, tambourine;  Eric Gale - guitar (tracks 3 & 7);  Neal Boyar - vibraphone, chimes (track 3);  Chuck Rainey - electric bass (tracks 3 & 7);  Albert Heath - drums, flute (tracks 1, 2, 4-6 & 8);  Jimmy Johnson - drums (tracks 3 & 7);  The Sweet Inspirations - backing vocals (track 3);  Kermit Moore - cello (track 2);  Kenny Barron, Ray Bryant - piano, electric piano (tracks 1, 4, 6 & 8);  Bob Cunningham, Sam Jones - bass (tracks 1, 4, 6 & 8);  Bill Salter - electric bass (tracks 1, 4, 6 & 8);  Ladji Camara - African percussion (track 1, 4, 6 & 8)

The Gentle Giant

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Sonny Red - Breezing/A Story Tale/The Mode/Images (2-Disc Set)

Sonny Red (as), Blue Mitchell (tp), Yusef Lateef, Clifford Jordan (ts), Barry Harris, Tommy Flanagan, Ronnie Matthews, Cedar Walton (p), Grant Green (g), Bob Cranshaw, Art Davis, George Tucker (b), Albert 'Tootie' Heath, Elvin Jones, Jimmy Cobb (d).

Inspired by Charlie Parker and then Jackie McLean, the widely experienced, Detroit-born altoist Sonny Red, nee Sylvester Kyner (1932-1980) was an archetypal Motor City bopper, who, like many of his confreres there, also absorbed the blues-drenched lines of pianist Bud Powell. Forthright, direct, unpretentious, a skilled soloist with a strong feeling for the blues, he played and recorded with some of the finest jazzmen around.

The presence here of such luminous talents as, most notably, pianist Barry Harris, along with fellow pianist Tommy Flanagan, trumpeter Blue Mitchell, saxophonists Clifford Jordan and Yusef Lateef, and guitarist Grant Green left no doubt about his stature among them. Despite this and the fact that he also worked with such marquee names as Art Blakey, Kenny Dorham, Donald Byrd, Curtis Fuller and Paul Quinichette, he never quite made the breakthrough his skills suggested he would and his recordings have been difficult to find.This collection of quartet, quintet and sextet settings brings together four albums he made for the Jazzland label during one of the most productive spells of his career and shows why he was held in such esteem by his contemporaries.

Album: Breezing/A Story Tale/The Mode/Images (Disc 1)
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 78:53
Size: 180.6 MB
Styles: Saxophone jazz
Year: 2012

[5:02] 1. Brother B
[4:03] 2. All I Do Is Dream Of You
[5:33] 3. The New Blues
[4:36] 4. Ditty
[6:27] 5. 'teef
[6:06] 6. Breezin'
[4:43] 7. A Handful Of Stars
[2:52] 8. If There Is Someone Lovelier Than You
[3:52] 9. Cumberland Court
[4:50] 10. A Story Tale
[5:39] 11. You're Driving Me Crazy
[3:27] 12. Defiance
[6:02] 13. Prints
[5:02] 14. Hip Pockets
[5:16] 15. They Say It's Wonderful
[5:16] 16. If I Didn't Care

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Album: Breezing/A Story Tale/The Mode/Images (Disc 2)
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 77:05
Size: 176.5 MB
Styles: Saxophone jazz
Year: 2012
Art: Front

[4:21] 1. I Like The Likes Of You
[4:36] 2. Bye, Bye Blues
[6:34] 3. Never, Never Land
[4:19] 4. Ko-Kee
[6:34] 5. Images
[4:51] 6. Blues For Donna
[5:22] 7. Dodge City
[6:16] 8. Moon River
[5:38] 9. Super-20
[8:53] 10. The Mode
[8:33] 11. Blue Sonny
[5:15] 12. The Rythm Thing
[5:46] 13. Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered


Breezing-A Story TaleThe ModeImages(Disc 1)(Disc 2)

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Tete Montoliu Trio - Tootie's Tempo

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1976
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 51:32
Size: 119,0 MB
Art: Front

(9:49)  1. Invitation
(5:42)  2. Lover Man
(5:45)  3. Some Other Blues
(9:31)  4. Time For Love
(8:00)  5. Lament
(5:31)  6. Tootie's Tempo
(7:11)  7. Darn That Dream

Tete Montoliu's sixth release for Steeplechase is a very rewarding studio date, with the blind pianist being accompanied by bassist Niels Pedersen and drummer Albert "Tootie" Heath. Fans of hard bop will enjoy the extended opener, "Invitation," which gives each of the musicians an opportunity to solo. The fireworks continue with a lively interpretation of "Lover Man," which starts with Montoliu's virtuoso solo introduction. John Coltrane's "Some Other Blues" is also fertile ground for the trio's improvisations, as is J. J. Johnson's pretty ballad "Lament." The pianist turns on the afterburners as he launches his furious original "Tootie's Tempo." The closer is a rich arrangement of "Darn That Dream." This CD is highly recommended, as are all of Tete Montoliu's recordings for Steeplechase. ~ Ken Dryden https://www.allmusic.com/album/tooties-tempo-mw0000768959

Personnel:  Tete Montoliu – piano;  Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen - bass;  Albert Heath - drums.

Tootie's Tempo

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Warne Marsh - Back Home

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 65:23
Size: 149.7 MB
Styles: Saxophone jazz
Year: 1986/2000
Art: Front

[5:11] 1. Leave Me
[5:37] 2. See Me Now, If You Could
[5:04] 3. Two Not One
[4:53] 4. Big Leaps For Lester
[7:59] 5. Back Home
[5:27] 6. Heads Up
[8:07] 7. Good Bait
[4:27] 8. Rhythmically Speaking
[7:22] 9. Joy Spring
[4:42] 10. Big Leaps For Lester (Alt. Take)
[6:30] 11. Good Bait (Alt. Take)

Warne Marsh, Jimmy Halperin – tenor saxophone; Barry Harris – piano; David Williams – bass; Albert Heath – drums.

Recorded and originally released on vinyl in 1986 (a year and a half prior to Marsh's death), Back Home was reissued on CD by Criss Cross in 2001, with three alternate takes and a previously unheard version of Clifford Brown's "Joy Spring." Together with pianist Barry Harris, bassist David Williams, and drummer Albert "Tootie" Heath, the tenor master and Tristano disciple works through a set of tunes that, in true Tristano fashion, are built entirely upon the harmonic foundations of popular standards. The sole exceptions are "Joy Spring" and Tadd Dameron's "Good Bait." Mark Gardner's liner notes wrongly identify "I Got Rhythm" as the source for "Rhythmically Speaking"; the latter is actually derived, oddly enough, from "Little Willie Leaps." On four tracks Marsh is joined by fellow tenorist and Tristano student Jimmy Halperin, age 27 at the time of the recording -- over 30 years Marsh's junior. The two-tenor pairing recalls Marsh's '50s collaborations with Ted Brown. Marsh's peculiar linear logic and behind-the-beat phrasing are the aural equivalent of well-aged scotch, and his rapport with Barry Harris represents a felicitous union of straight bebop and one of its most enigmatic tributaries, the Tristano school. ~David R. Adler

Back Home mc
Back Home zippy

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Albert Heath, Ben Street & Ethan Iverson - Philadelphia Beat

Styles: Jazz, Post-Bop
Year: 2015
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 50:25
Size: 115,9 MB
Art: Front

(4:24)  1. Bag's Groove
(3:50)  2. Reets and I
(3:44)  3. I Will Survive
(4:49)  4. Concorde
(6:15)  5. Memories of You
(3:04)  6. Con Alma
(3:02)  7. Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme
(3:30)  8. Bye-Ya
(4:52)  9. Everything Must Change
(4:09) 10. Speak Low
(3:19) 11. Pentatonic Etude
(5:22) 12. Bakai

Eighty years of fragrance are those of Albert "Tootie" Heath , judging by the quality of the game basted in a trio with the plan of Ethan Iverson and the bass of Ben Street , a game now in its third and most successful hand, voted in the rules unwritten of the jazz school in Philadelphia. A Magisterium, to Heath, formed on lightness, taste subtraction, it said in decades of acquaintances at the top of the history of jazz (asArt Farmer to Yusef Lateef , as Dexter Gordon to John Coltrane, down to Anthony Braxton and Roscoe Mitchell ...) This trio seems to deepen the attitude of Iverson to break down to a minimum the syntax of the standards: where with the Bad Plus pianist uses the art of a baroque masked, with an overload of dynamics, here on the contrary he seems even to dry the pasta of the agreements, insisting on a melodic cantabile whose irregularities mention with continuous syncopations and thin contour colors. The bank that the low Street is able to offer the pianist stands out tonally sense that rhythm, chasing osmosis perfectly realized. The percussion of the great Heath start dancing and lead with extraordinary skill, suggesting unexpected openings, ironic asides, punctuation scathing. It is a different way short of remaking the classic feel of this formula, in a path that draws Iverson still following in the footsteps of a genealogy piano: John Lewis , Lennie Tristano ,Bud Powell , Thelonious Monk , Mal Waldron .

There is the scent of Modern Jazz Quartet in several episodes, the initial "Bag's Groove" to an enchanting "Concorde" which cites the beginning Heath the "I'm an Old Cowhand" rollinsiana. The Powell-Monk line (so to speak ..) passes through the beauty of "Reets and I" up to a luxury "Bye-Ya" which pays tribute to Heath Art Blakey and feels ... An alienating treatment is reserved the cult of the album "I Will Survive," loved by Iverson to the point of even sing live (heard years ago in trio Billy Hart ): here the theme is announced by a whirlwind of color scales and slightly dissonant harmony. But think now not too speculative transactions: the music remains clear and fresh, even in the simple magic tricks. How to confirm the literal reading of "Everything Must Change," with reference to that of Mal Waldron of almost thirty years ago, and the Afro-Cuban of "Bakai" which closes the program.  Libretto of very well done CD, with introductions to individual pieces of Iverson , vintage photos of Tootie with Hi-Tones and Bee-Boppers and other current, taken to the mythical Clef Club next door to friends Buster Williams , Mickey Roker , Sam Reed. ~ Stefano Merighi  https://www.allaboutjazz.com/philadelphia-beat-albert-tootie-heath-ethan-iverson-ben-street-sunnyside-records-review-by-stefano-merighi.php (Translate by Google)

Personnel: Albert Tootie Heath: drums; Ethan Iverson: piano, electric piano; Ben Street: bass.

Philadelphia Beat

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Albert Heath, Ethan Iverson & Ben Street - Tootie's Tempo

Styles: Jazz, Post-Bop
Year: 2013
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 47:09
Size: 108,5 MB
Art: Front

(3:42)  1. The Charlston
(4:52)  2. Charade
(2:18)  3. Danube Incident
(5:39)  4. Stompin At The Savoy
(6:12)  5. Violets For Your Furs
(4:04)  6. The Intimacy Of  The Blues
(5:07)  7. How Insensitive
(3:44)  8. Fire Waltz
(1:46)  9. Cute
(4:28) 10. It Should Have Happened A Long Time Ago
(5:12) 11. Tootie's Tempo

At 78 years old, Albert “Tootie” Heath is certainly a link to jazz history. This is due to both his lineage as the youngest of the three jazz-playing Heath brothers and his many accomplishments as a musician on his own. Here, pianist Ethan Iverson and bassist Ben Street join Heath, and the results are as satisfying as a visit with a favorite old uncle. The music is straight-down-the-middle bebop with a strong emphasis on ballads and relaxed midtempo gems. Ever the gentleman, Heath plays here with subtlety and elegance, setting his tempos and throwing in little rhythmic wrinkles rather than banging away on solos. Just listen to his playing on “The Intimacy of the Blues,” the title track, and “Cute” to see what we mean. The often-pensive material here ranges from a fun, un-flapper-like version of “The Charleston” to the lovely theme from the film Charade to an earthy take of the bossa nova classic “How Insensitive.” Then things do pick up for a robust version of “Fire Waltz.” It's highly recommended for fans of classic jazz. ~ Itunes Reviews https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/tooties-tempo/id676272985

Personnel:  Bass – Ben Street;  Drums – Albert Heath;  Piano – Ethan Iverson

Tootie's Tempo

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