SONNY CRISS — Sonny Criss Plays Cole Porter (1956-1990) Serie We Love Jazz | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Tracklist :
1    I Love You 4:13
Cole Porter
2    Anything Goes 3:12
Cole Porter
3    Easy to Love 3:16
Cole Porter
4    It's All Right With Me 3:10
Cole Porter
5    In the Still of the Night 4:19
Cole Porter
6    Love for Sale 2:43
Cole Porter
7    Night and Day 4:43
Cole Porter
8    Just One of Those Things 2:48
Cole Porter
9    What Is This Thing Called Love? 5:43
Cole Porter
10    I Get a Kick Out of You     2:46
Cole Porter
Credits :
Alto Saxophone – Sonny Criss
Bass – Buddy Clark
Drums – Lawrence Marable
Piano – Sonny Clark
Vibraphone – Larry Bunker

BILLY ECKSTINE AND HIS ORCHESTRA – 1946-1947 | The Chronogical Classics – 1022 (1998) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Following up their excellent set of Billy Eckstine's 1944-1945 sides, Classics' has now brought together more of the bandleader's prime bebop-era material on this disc of 1946-1947 material. Once again, Eckstine is backed by some of the day's top players, namely Miles Davis, Fats Navarro, Kenny Dorham, Sonny Stitt, Gene Ammons, and Art Blakey. The highlights abound, including an update of Eckstine's early-'40s hit with the Earl Hines band, "The Jitney Man"; excellent readings of "Without a Song" and "In the Still of the Night"; and a riveting go at Dizzy Gillespie's bop classic, "Oo Bop Sh'bam." Presaging his subsequent fame as a grand ballad singer, the collection also features early orchestra cuts like "My Silent Love" and "All the Things You Are," all featuring the singer's lush baritone against some slightly cloying string charts. Finally, the show ends in intimate fashion, as Eckstine takes up the trombone -- don't worry, he sings too -- in a small combo featuring tenor saxophonist Wardell Gray. A pure delight. Stephen Cook  
Tracklist + Credits :

BILLY ECKSTINE – 1947 | The Chronogical Classics – 1142 (2000) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

By his own admission, Frank Sinatra owed a lot to Billy Eckstine and Al Hibbler, radically stylized singers with deep, honeyed voices. While some prefer Hibbler's more eccentric approach, Eckstine was the archetypal romantic postwar crooner, widely imitated during a period when the recording industry and the record-buying public became increasingly obsessed with star vocalists. Dozens of likely suspects, most famously Perry Como, Sinatra, and Eckstine, were soon able to cash in on this trend. In the case of Eckstine, who had earlier courted bankruptcy leading an exciting band fortified with such innovative jazz musicians as Fats Navarro, Gene Ammons, and Art Blakey, the commercial undertow eventually drew him off into a fluffy netherworld of increasingly jazzless pop music. An overview of his recording activities during the spring and summer of 1947 paints a slightly grim picture of this sugary embalming process. Although the seven-piece band backing him on four selections recorded in April of that year contained Sonny Criss, Wardell Gray, and a bassist by the name of Shifty Henry, the players are there solely to provide a cushion for Eckstine's epiglottal warbling. A few of the next eight tracks, with "vocal overdubbed on studio band," still retain some measure of authentic jazz levity, particularly Eckstine's own composition, simply titled "Blues." Yet the records he began making for the MGM label in May of 1947 are all too indicative of where a sizable portion of the music business was heading. Drenched in sentimental syrup, with Sonny Burke's orchestra augmented by a string section, these are mostly dreary torch songs, even if jazz elements still peek out from under the arrangements. Eight sides cut in July and August 1947 are swamped in the pop lagoon with Hugo Winterhalter's string-burdened 24-piece orchestra. It is good that Eckstine was able to experience some measure of financial security, but it's easy to see why Slim Gaillard so enjoyed parodying this overbearing confectionary combination of Hollywood production and Eckstine's relentless vibrato. arwulf arwulf  
Tracklist + Credits :

WARDELL GRAY – 1950-1955 | The Classics Chronological Series – 1463 (2008) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

The sum of Wardell Gray's output from late in the summer of 1950 through mid-January 1955 amounts to 23 tracks, nine of them drawn from a live blowing session and the rest from three different studio dates. While Classics 1463 is not a painstakingly complete overview of Gray's performing history during the last five years of his short life, it does contain his primary work from a period which is notably lacking in recorded evidence. Captured live at the Hula Hut Club in Los Angeles on August 27 1950, "Jazz on Sunset" (recognizable as Denzil Best's "Move") and "Kiddo" (also known as Charlie Parker's "Scrapple from the Apple") were each recorded in four segments representing flip sides of 78 rpm platters cut on a portable recording apparatus. The ensemble, which had a front line that included Clark Terry, Dexter Gordon and Sonny Criss, was billed as the Wardell Gray Jazz Concept. "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" makes for a wild capper as the words to the old tune are sung by Damita Jo Du Blanc, a Texas-born R&B vocalist whose Discovery records release, "Until the Real Thing Comes Along," would achieve the status of a hit single a few months later. Surrounded by wildly improvising beboppers, she rides the lyrics to a more or less logical conclusion under conditions which must have been pleasantly challenging for her.
The next ten titles are examples of early modern West Coast jazz at its most intriguing. In January 1952 the Wardell Gray Sextet worked up six sides for Prestige, including "Jackie" and "Farmer's Market," attractive compositions which achieved national recognition after vocalist Annie Ross set quirky words to the melodies and intricately woven improvisations. Also recorded for Prestige in February 1953, "The Man I Love," "Lavonne," "So Long Broadway," and "Paul's Cause" are less well known as they were issued under the name of vibraphonist Teddy Charles & His West Coasters. The combination of minds is intriguing as Gray's session mates included alto saxophonist Frank Morgan and pianist Sonny Clark. Wardell's final studio recording session took place in Chicago in January 1955 with a group anchored by baritone saxophonist Tate Houston and a playlist that included Oscar Pettiford's "Blues in the Closet." Theories abound as to the circumstances surrounding Gray's sudden death, which shocked the jazz community four months later. When it occurred, he was scheduled to appear with Benny Carter's band at the African American-owned and operated Moulin Rouge, a short-lived venture remembered as the first racially integrated casino ever to open in Las Vegas. Hours after he failed to appear for the gig, Gray's corpse was found by the side of a road in the desert. Although his neck had been broken and foul play was clearly indicated, no autopsy was performed. The idea that he suffered a bad tumble during or after a heroin overdose seems unlikely given his well-documented stand against narcotics abuse. More plausible explanations include unresolved gambling debts or a simple straightforward hate crime. arwulf arwulf
All Tracks & Credits :

SONNY CRISS - Mr Blues Pour Flirter (1963-2000) Jazz In Paris 23 / RM / FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

 Sonny Criss was relatively inactive as a leader in the first half of the 1960s, though he did produce outstanding music during two trips to Paris. The latter visit in 1963 resulted in these studio sessions, originally released by Brunswick and reissued in complete form (with three unreleased tracks) by Polydor, before reverting to the initial version on this Verve CD reissue. Powered by some of France's finest musicians, including guitarist Rene Thomas, bassist Pierre Michelot, drummer Philippe Combelle and pianist Georges Arvanitas, the hard bop alto saxophonist mixes it up with a set which contains classic jazz compositions, standards and an original. Arvanitas switches to organ for a peppy take of "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" and Criss' two part blues "Early and Later." But the leader's best solo comes during the smoking interpretation of "On Green Dolphin Street." Arvanitas' introductory vamp to the softly played "God Bless the Child" hints at "One for My Baby (and One for the Road)" before Criss makes his entrance. Highly recommended! by Ken Dryden  
Tracklist :
1     Don't Get Around Much Anymore 6:16
Duke Ellington / Bob Russell
2     This Can't Be Love 3:29
Lorenz Hart / Richard Rodgers
3     Early and Later, Pt. 1 4:20
Sonny Criss
4     Early and Later, Pt. 2 4:36
Sonny Criss
5     Once in a While 3:41
Michael Edwards / Bud Green
6     St. Louis Blues 5:01
W.C. Handy
7     Day Dream 4:42
Duke Ellington / John Latouche / Billy Strayhorn
8     On Green Dolphin Street 3:28
Ned Washington
9     God Bless the Child 6:07
Billie Holiday / Arthur Herzog, Jr.
Credits :
Alto Saxophone – Sonny Criss
Double Bass – Pierre Michelot
Drums – Philippe Combelle
Guitar – René Thomas
Organ – Georges Arvanitas (faixas: 1, 3, 4, 6)
Piano – Georges Arvanitas (faixas: 2, 5, 7 to 9)
Nota :
Recorded 1963 in Paris on April 22 (5, 6, 7), April 23 (1, 3, 4) and April 25 (2, 8, 9).
Reissue of the Brunswick LP 87 519.  

HUBERT FOL / MICHEL DE VILLERS / SONNY CRISS - Saxophones à Saint-Germain des Prés (2001) Jazz In Paris 55 / RM / FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Tracklist :
1    Hubert Fol–    A Fine Romance 3:19
Written-By – Dorothy Fields, Jerome Kern
2    Hubert Fol–    They Can't Take That Away From Me 3:38
Written-By – Ira And George Gershwin
3    Hubert Fol–    You Go To My Head 5:27
Written-By – Haven Gillespie, J. Fred Coots
4    Michel de Villers–    Cat On The Stairs 2:06
Written-By [Prob.] – Michel de Villers
5    Michel de Villers–    These Foolish Things 2:45
Written-By – Harry Link, Holt Marvell, Jack Strachey
6    Michel de Villers–    I Only Have Eyes For You 2:18
Written-By – Al Dubin, Harry Warren
7    Michel de Villers–    Penitas De Amor 2:36
Written-By [Prob.] – Michel de Villers
8    Sonny Criss–    Mighty Low 3:49
Written-By – Milt Buckner
9    Sonny Criss–    Don't Blame Me 2:49
Written-By – Dorothy Fields / Jimmy McHugh
10    Sonny Criss–    Black Coffee 2:44
Written-By – Paul Francis Webster, Sonny Burke
11    Sonny Criss–    We'll Be Together Again 2:59
Written-By – Carl Fischer, Frankie Laine
12    Sonny Criss–    Early And Later (Part 1) 3:22
Written-By – Sonny Criss
13    Sonny Criss–    Early And Later (Part 2) 2:41
Written-By – Sonny Criss
14    Sonny Criss–    Blues Pour Flirter Nº 2 5:07
Written-By – Sonny Criss
Credits :
Alto Saxophone – Hubert Fol (faixas: 1 to 7), Sonny Criss (faixas: 8 to 14)
Baritone Saxophone – Michel de Villers (faixas: 4 to 7)
Double Bass – Alix Bret (faixas: 4 to 7), Jean-Marie Ingrand (faixas: 1 to 3), Michel Gaudry (faixas: 8 to 11), Pierre Michelot (faixas: 12 to 14)
Drums – Bernard Planchenault (faixas: 4 to 7), Jean-Louis Viale (faixas: 1 to 3), Philippe Combelle (faixas: 8 to 14)
Guitar – René Thomas (faixas: 12 to 14)
Piano – Henri Renaud (faixas: 8 to 11), René Urtreger (faixas: 1 to 3)
Piano, Arranged By – André Persiany (faixas: 4 to 7)
Piano, Organ – Georges Arvanitas (faixas: 12 to 14)
Tenor Saxophone – Maurice Meunier (faixas: 4 to 7)
Trombone – Charles Verstraete (faixas: 4 to 7)
Vibraphone – Géo Daly (faixas: 4 to 7)
Nota :
Recorded in Paris on January 18, 1956 (1-3), in 1954 (4-7), on October 10, 1962 (8-11) and in April 1963 (12-14)
Reissue of the Barclay EP 74 016 (1-3), Decca EP 450 511 (4-7), Polydor EP 27 004 (8-11) and Polydor EP 27 049 (12-14)