HERB ELLIS | RAY BROWN SEXTET — Hot Tracks (1976) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Guitarist Herb Ellis was the leader of six of the first dozen Concord releases. This lesser-known set has some fine playing from Ellis, trumpeter Harry "Sweets" Edison, tenor saxophonist Plas Johnson, bassist Ray Brown, drummer Jake Hanna and keyboardist Mike Melvoin although Melvoin's electric piano sounds a bit dated today. As usual the music is uncomplicated, straightahead, swinging and tasteful. Six of the songs are originals by group members which are performed along with Johnny Hodges' "Squatty Roo" and the ballad "But Beautiful." Scott Yanow
Tracklist :
1. Onion Roll (Ellis) - 4:26
2. Spherikhal (Brown) - 4:55
3. But Beautiful (Burke-Van Heusen) - 5:25
4. Blues for Minnie (Brown) - 4:41
5. Bones (Johnson) - 5:54
6. So's Your Mother (Melvoin) - 5:20
7. Squatty Roo (Hodges) - 3:10
8. Sweetback (Edison) - 4:27
Credits :
Herb Ellis - Guitar
Ray Brown - Bass
Harry "Sweets" Edison - Trumpet
Jake Hanna - Drums
Plas Johnson - Saxophone
Mike Melvoin - Keyboards

RAY BROWN — The Best Of The Concord Years (2002) 2xCD | FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Ray Brown was in at the beginning of the Concord Jazz record label in the early '70s, and starting with Brown's Bag in 1975, he recorded a dozen albums as a leader for Concord before departing for Telarc Records in the early '90s. This two-disc compilation, with a running time of almost two hours and 20 minutes, presents 24 selections drawn from 19 Concord Jazz albums recorded between 1973 and 1993, including live performances at the Concord Jazz Festivals, recordings by Brown's trio and the L.A. 4, and a Brown duet with Jimmy Rowles, among other configurations. As a bass player, Brown only rarely solos, so one usually notices the horn players (Harry "Sweets" Edison, Red Holloway, Plas Johnson, Richie Kamuca, Blue Mitchell, Ralph Moore, and Bud Shank), the pianists (Monty Alexander, George Duke, Gene Harris, Art Hillery, and Rowles), or other frontline musicians (guitarists Laurindo Almeida, Herb Ellis, and Joe Pass, violinist John Frigo) before the rhythm section. But even when Brown isn't stepping out, he is maintaining the group's swing, along with drummers John Guerin, Jeff Hamilton, Jake Hanna, Gerryck King, Shelly Manne, Mickey Roker, and Jimmie Smith, and he also wrote a number of the tunes. Brown had done relatively few sessions as a leader in the 30 years of his career prior to his association with Concord, so, while the label owes him a lot, he also was enabled to flourish with the company in a way he had not before, and that is reflected in this well-chosen compilation. William Ruhlmann
Tracklist & Credits :

HOWARD ALDEN + GEORGE VAN EPS — 13 Strings (1991) WV (image+.cue), lossless

One of the strongest guitar-based jazz records of the 1990s, 13 Strings (so named because of the combination of Van Eps' seven-string instrument and Alden's conventional six-stringer) swings with a relaxed confidence born of equal parts experience and sheer mastery. This record marks Van Eps' return to recording after a period of over 20 years, and his playing displays nary a cobweb nor an uncertainty. His comping retains the same pianistic character that it exhibited 40 years previously on Mellow Guitar, and his solo statements reveal an improviser comfortable weaving complicated, multi-voiced lines. Van Eps' former student, Howard Alden, is no less spectacular, and his voice on his instrument is as seasoned as his teacher's. The tracks are broken down into quartet, duet, and solo performances. On the quartet selections, bassist Dave Stone and drummer Jake Hanna, in addition to laying down minimalist grooves that would set any toe to tapping, make important solo contributions of their own, creating memorable, melodic statements whenever the spotlight is handed over to them. Although the guitarists sound wonderful in all settings, the most satisfying moments on this record are their duets, especially the Ray Noble compositions "I Hadn't Anyone Till You" and "The Touch of Your Lips," where the two guitarists really let their musicianship shine (some of the obvious familiarity with this material may be due to the fact that Van Eps worked with Noble in the 1930s). The songs that Alden and Van Eps have chosen are mainly old standards, with four Gershwin songs in contrast to only one original composition, Van Eps' own "Queerology," which receives a ravishing solo guitar treatment from Alden. Despite the age and familiarity of the material, the tracks never seem old hat, not because they are radically deconstructed, but, rather, because the musicians don't seem to play these songs so much as breathe them. Lines, chords, and countermelodies fly with such relaxed ease that the listener is almost duped into believing that this isn't incredibly complicated music, as ornate as any Baroque chamber concerto. This is jazz that is both classic and classy, and 13 Strings is a wonderful demonstration of the talents of four musicians whose self-assured knowledge of the idiom is unparalleled. Daniel Gioffre
Tracklist :
1 Just You, Just Me 5:18
Jesse Greer / Raymond Klages
2 My Ideal 4:13
Newell Chase / Leo Robin / Richard A. Whiting
3 I Hadn't Anyone Till You 5:38
Ray Noble
4 A Beautiful Friendship 6:38
Donald Kahn / Jule Styne / Stanley Styne
5 The Touch of Your Lips 6:24
Ray Noble
6 Ain't Misbehavin' 3:15
Harry Brooks / Andy Razaf / Fats Waller
7 Too Marvelous for Words 5:09
Johnny Mercer / Richard A. Whiting
8 Love Walked In 4:36
George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin
9 Queerology 2:01
George Van Eps
10 How Long Has This Been Going On? 4:19
George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin
11 Mine 4:23
George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin
12 Embraceable You 2:22
George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin
13 Emaline 4:37
Mitchell Parish / Frank Perkins

EMILY REMLER – Firefly (1981-1992) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

It sounds very clichéd to say that many of music's best and brightest have lived fast and died young, but it is so true. From Jimi Hendrix to Charlie Parker to Patsy Cline, the 20th century was full of talented artists whose lives were cut short by their self-destructive ways. In an ideal world, Emily Remler would have had a very long career and made it to seventy or eighty; instead, the guitarist used heroin and died of a heart attack at 32. Firefly was Remler's first album as a leader, and it is a promising debut. Joined by pianist Hank Jones, bassist Bob Maize, and drummer Jake Hanna, a 24-year-old Remler delivers an enjoyable hard bop date. The album isn't groundbreaking by early-'80s standards -- although Firefly was recorded in 1981, it sounds like it could have been recorded in 1961. But there is no law stating that every young jazz musician who comes along has to reinvent the wheel, and Remler (whose influences include Wes Montgomery and Herb Ellis) brings a lot of potential to lively, swinging performances of Horace Silver's "Strollin'," McCoy Tyner's "Inception," and Montgomery's "Movin' Along." The New Jersey native also provides two original tunes ("Perk's Blues" and "The Firefly") and pleasantly surprises listeners by unearthing a pretty but lesser-known Antonio Carlos Jobim song titled "Look to the Sky." Unlike "The Girl From Ipanema," "Corcovado," or "One Note Samba," "Look to the Sky" is far from a standard; however, Remler's heartfelt interpretation demonstrates that the Jobim melody deserves to be much better known. With Firefly, Remler's recording career was off to an appealing start -- a career that should have been much, much longer. Alex Henderson  
Tracklist :
1     Strollin' 5:29
Horace Silver
2     Look to the Sky 5:23
Antônio Carlos Jobim
3     Perk's Blues 4:06
Emily Remler
4     The Firefly 4:05
Emily Remler
5     Movin' Along 5:30
Wes Montgomery
6     A Taste of Honey 2:09
Ric Marlow / Bobby Scott
7     Inception 5:09
McCoy Tyner
8     In a Sentimental Mood 7:48
Duke Ellington / Manny Kurtz / Irving Mills
Credits :
Bass – Bob Maize
Drums – Jake Hanna
Guitar – Emily Remler
Piano – Hank Jones

GEORGE VAN EPS / HOWARD ALDEN - Hand-Crafted Swing (1992) CONCORD / FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

The master of the seven-string guitar, George Van Eps, joins the rising young jazz guitarist Howard Alden, which works perfectly in spite of a 45-year difference in age and different approaches to the guitar. Van Eps' chordal style meshes perfectly with Alden's single note lines in part because of the younger man's study of the senior's recordings and Alden's quick ear and gift for harmony. In any case, it was an obvious thrill for Alden to play with the experienced Van Eps, who literally invented the seven-string guitar (also played by Bucky Pizzarelli) and would soon be added to Alden's musical arsenal. The second of four CDs that they would make together prior to Van Eps' death in 1998, they play a mix of popular standards and show tunes from the 1930s, '40s and '50s. Highlights include a lyrical "What's New." a deliberate "I Could Write a Book," and an intricate "All the Things You Are," along with less frequently played chestnuts like the swinging "It's Wonderful." Van Eps is unaccompanied on both of his original compositions, "Lap Piano" and "Forty-Eight." Bassist Dave Stone and drummer Jake Hanna, who sticks to brushes, are present on most of the tracks. by Ken Dryden   
Tracklist:
1 Stompin' at the Savoy 4:12
Benny Goodman / Andy Razaf / Edgar Sampson / Chick Webb
2 What's New? 4:16
Johnny Burke / Bob Haggart
3 It's Wonderful 4:13
Howard Alden / George Van Eps
4 Lap Piano 2:34
George Van Eps
5 I Could Write A Book 4:39
Walter Gross / Jack Lawrence
6 Tenderly 3:36
Paul James / Kay Swift
7 Can't We Be Friends 5:15
Neal Hefti
8 Just in Time 4:18
Betty Comden / Adolph Green / Jule Styne
9 The Nearness of You 6:27
Hoagy Carmichael / Ned Washington
10 Forty-Eight 6:11
Howard Alden / George Van Eps
11 All the Things You Are 1:18
Oscar Hammerstein II / Jerome Kern
12 I Could Write a Book 4:53
Lorenz Hart / Richard Rodgers
13 I've Got a Crush on You 4:58
George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin
14 Moonglow 4:47
Eddie DeLange / Will Hudson / Irving Mills
 Credits
Bass – Dave Stone
Drums – Jake Hanna
Guitar – George Van Eps, Howard Alden

GEORGE VAN EPS / HOWARD ALDEN - Hand-Crafted Swing

 (1992) CONCORD / FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

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