TONY SCOTT — Tony Scott (1967-2004) RM | Serie LP Reproduction | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

 Tony Scott's 1967 self-titled album for Verve is a good example of what makes him such an interesting but frustrating artist. After branching out from mainstream jazz in the 1950s, clarinetist Scott began exploring ethnic and folk music. Here listeners find him switching between straight-ahead standards and avant-garde, Eastern-influenced melodies. The result is utterly schizophrenic and ultimately makes for a frustrating listen. That said, Scott is a phenomenal musician and -- when he sticks to the experimental stuff -- is quite compelling. Matt Collar   Tracklist & Credits :

BEN WEBSTER – 1946-1951 | The Chronogical Classics – 1253 (2002) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

This volume in the Chronological Classics Ben Webster series is a fascinating slice during a wildly transitional period for the saxophonist. In the years between 1946-1951, Webster made numerous jumps as evidenced by these tracks, from the glorious jumping big swing of "The Jeep Is Jumpin'" while he was with Bill De Arango to the searing bebop of "Dark Corners" (with some blazing guitar work by De Arango) to the small-combo hard bop of "Randle's Island" to the bluesy, near soul-jazz balladry of "You're My Thrill." In Webster's company are some masters to be sure, including Maynard Ferguson, Al Haig, Big Sid Catlett, Bill Coleman, Benny Carter, Tony Scott, Buster Moten, and Gerald Wiggins, to name a few. This is varied set in terms of style, but these performances (and sound) are consistently fine.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa'<-
Tracklist :
1 The Jeep Is Jumpin'  2:57
Duke Ellington / Johnny Hodges
2 I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)  2:56
Duke Ellington / Paul Francis Webster
3 Dark Corners 3:02
Ben Webster
 4 Mister Brim 3:15
Bill DeArango
 5 Frog and Mule 3:09
Ben Webster
 6 Spang 2:41
Ben Webster
7 Doctor Keets 3:16
Ben Webster
8 Park and Tilford Blues 3:18
Ben Webster
9 As Long As I Live 2:25
Harold Arlen / Ted Koehler
10 All Alone 2:57
Irving Berlin
11 Blue Belles of Harlem 2:57
Duke Ellington
12 Turn It Over 2:38
Bennie Moten
13 That Dit It 2:47
Bennie Moten
14 Best Friend Blues 3:08
Bennie Moten / Bessie Smith
15 Baby You Messed Up 2:20
Bessie Smith
16 Randle's Island 3:16
Ben Webster
17 Old Folks 2:55
Dedette Lee Hill / Willard Robison
18 King's Riff 3:14
Ben Webster
19 You're My Thrill 3:06
Sidney Clare / Jay Gorney

SARAH VAUGHAN – 1949-1950 | The Classics Chronological Series – 1166 (2001) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

This fourth installment in the Classics Sarah Vaughan chronology demonstrates her extraordinary versatility during the first stages of a fully blossoming artistic maturity. Four exquisite sides with the Joe Lipman Orchestra are followed by an MGM session in duet with crooner Billy Eckstine, backed by Lipman's Orchestra and strings. Given the fact that it was Eckstine who gave Vaughan her first break in showbiz, the pairing has a special charm. Aside from this MGM deviation, Vaughan was a Columbia recording artist during this time period. By far the best jazz on this disc was recorded on May 18 and 19, 1950, with accompaniment by pianist Jimmy Jones and his band. The front line of Miles Davis, Benny Golson, Budd Johnson, and Tony Scott, backed by the rhythm section of Jones, bassist Billy Taylor, J.C. Heard, and either Mundell Lowe or Freddie Green, matches the vocalist's every nuance to perfection. The combination of Miles Davis and Sarah Vaughan is a marvel not to be missed. There is some confusion between discographies regarding various brassy big band sides, as some tracks are credited both to the Norman Leyden Orchestra (with Bud Powell at the piano!) and to Mitch Miller & His Orchestra. Miller, of course, was no stranger to modern jazz, having also participated in some of Charlie Parker's With Strings sessions. Whoever actually headed the band, Sarah Vaughan's "Perdido" is delightful and invigorating. This interesting disc closes with a wild surprise in the form of "De Gas Pipe She's Leakin' Joe," a campy calypso spoof on the topic of suicide, so atypical of Sarah Vaughan that it could easily fool almost anyone in a blindfold test. The word again is "versatility." arwulf arwulf  
Tracklist + Credits :

CHARLIE VENTURA – 1946-1947 | The Classics Chronological Series – 1111 (2000) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Tenor saxophonist Charlie Ventura (born Charles Venturo) was a byproduct of the Chu Berry/Coleman Hawkins methodology of gutsy swing and early bop improvisation. The Classics Chronological Series did the world an enormous favor when they reissued Ventura's earliest recordings as a leader and followed suit with this fascinating second volume of rare material. Back in Los Angeles during the spring of 1946, Ventura -- still billed on record as "Charlie Venturo" -- paired up with master clarinetist Barney Bigard in front of a rhythm quartet anchored by bassist Red Callender. Two of the four sides waxed on this occasion feature an unidentified male vocalist who sings wistful ballads without doing too much damage. Four sides recorded for the Black & White label in May of 1946 are particularly satisfying for the exchange of ideas between "Venturo," alto saxophonist Charlie Kennedy, trumpeter Red Rodney, pianist Teddy Napoleon, guitarist Allan Reuss, drummer Nick Fatool, and once again bassist Red Callender, who is sometimes called upon to introduce the melody by himself. On September 6, 1946, "Venturo" began a 13-month engagement with the National record label in New York. This was a turning point in several ways: the spelling of the leader's name was altered for the first time to read "Ventura"; the ensemble was expanded to an unprecedented 18 pieces; and Lily Ann Carol, a smooth vocalist with bop touches, was added on two ballads, "Either It's Love or It Isn't" and "Please Be Kind," backed by two instrumentals, a captivating "Misirlou" and a brassy treatment of "How High the Moon." On Ventura's next session for National, more vocals, both cute and romantic and decorated with little bits of bop-flavored scat, were inserted. The rest of the material from this second big-band date features the leader's mellifluous saxophone and, on "Annie, Annie Over," trombonist Bennie Green and the marvelous bop clarinet of Aaron Sachs. This segment of the Ventura chronology closes with a smart bop session featuring Charlie Ventura's American Sextet. After Buddy Stewart sings a sweet ballad and executes a briskly bopped scat routine very closely patterned after the records being made at that time by Babs Gonzales, Ventura slowly pours out "Blue Champagne" and tears into a fiery jam called "Stop and Go." This one track is worth the cost of the entire CD, as Ventura wails along with trumpeter Charlie Shavers, trombonist Bill Harris, and an explosive rhythm section driven by bassist Chubby Jackson and drummer Dave Tough, who was living out the final months of a very turbulent life. It's worth having the entire album just to hear how Tough handles his cymbals on this last cut. arwulf arwulf  
Tracklist + Credits :

LUCKY MILLINDER AND HIS ORCHESTRA – 1947-1950 | The Classics Chronological Series – 1173 (2001) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

This third volume of Lucky Millinder's complete works in chronological order brings together for the first time three Deccas from October 1947, 12 sides recorded for Victor between January and November 1949, and 12 titles waxed for the King label during the year 1950. Millinder is remembered as a shrewd bandleader who accurately assessed the prevailing trends in popular entertainment during the late '40s. His strategy seems to have involved a wide range of musical styles, a spectrum reflected in this grab bag compilation. Millinder clearly tailored the material to fit each record label and its assumed audience. Of course, Victor was selling to a more generalized public while King's clientele was predominately Afro-American. Listening through all 25 tracks is quite an experience. There is coy, bluesy jazz and there is jazzy blues sung by saucy, soulful Annisteen Allen. There's a surprise appearance by rowdy Myra Johnson, famous for her work with Fats Waller during the early '40s. There are crooners who exude oily sentimental ballads. There are several jump tunes on which Millinder himself sings boisterously along with the band. And there are just three instrumentals, groovy as can be but only three. "Bersark [sic] Boogie" is a progressively structured, pleasantly manic woogie set in a minor mode. The rocking, rolling "D Natural Blues" is really "Do the Hucklebuck," itself a pilfering of Charlie Parker's "Now's the Time." By January of 1949 half of the white bands in the country were making money off of this tune, so Mr. Lucky decided to get himself a piece of the action. (Naturally, nobody was paying Bird any royalties.) "Awful Natural" is a very cool piece of blues featuring the elegant clarinet of Tony Scott. Lucky Millinder's orchestra, in fact, was peppered with outstanding players like trumpeter Lamar Wright, trombonist Tyree Glenn, guitarist Danny Barker, drummer Art Blakey, and a formidable team of saxophonists including Rudy Powell (Musheed Karween), Bull Moose Jackson, Ike Quebec, Frank Wess, Paul Quinichette, Seldon Powell, John Hardee, and Numa "Pee Wee" Moore. While more uniformly satisfying Millinder retrospectives surely exist, the Classics Chronological Series provides an overview that is necessary for an accurate appraisal of this amazing all-purpose jazz/pop/R&B orchestra and the individuals who kept it going during a transitional time when many other big bands fell apart at the seams. arwulf arwulf  
Tracklist + Credits :

BABS GONZALES – 1947-1949 | The Classics Chronological Series – 1124 (2000) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Confronted with a new, harmonically advanced music filled with rhythmic complexities, white audiences and entertainers were only able to cope with bebop by treating it as though it were a novel alternative to pig Latin. If anyone supplied the fuel for this trivialization it was Slim Gaillard and Babs Gonzales, great musicians who were also bizarre characters who invented their own forms of funny scat language. In these vintage Blue Note sides by Babs' Three Bips and a Bop, you can hear exactly where Charlie Barnet got the idea for "Bebop Spoken Here." The originals, of course, sound much better than the silly attempts of bop imitators. Babs' Blue Note vocal arrangements were by pianist Tadd Dameron, and Rudy Williams poured a whole lot of soul into his alto saxophone. "Play Dem Blues" seems to have a little bit of "Ornithology" built into its opening line. "Running Around" is a sudden switch to straight vocal ballad style. Babs sings about heartbreak. The band has been reduced to piano, bass, and guitar. With "Bab's Dream," listeners are back in full bop language mode, with reams of scat unfolding in every direction. Dameron takes fascinating solos during this easygoing minor romp, and on his own "Dob Bla Bli." Special mention should also be made of the exceptionally solid bassist Art Phipps. "Weird Lullaby" stretches out Babs' bop scat lingo to the point where listeners seem to be hearing a serenade sung by a character actor imitating a visitor from Mars. Moving over to the Apollo label, Tony Scott blows an authentic bop clarinet, Phipps continues to act as an upright axis, and Roy Haynes carries the entire band on his back. In December of 1948, Babs lined up a session with Manor, an important label in the development of early modern jazz. With a front line of James Moody, Dave Burns, and Bennie Green, this is a steamy little band. Precision arrangements make for surprisingly intricate runs. Moody sounds particularly stoked. If anyone comes looking for vestigial Fats Waller in "Honeysuckle Bop," forget about it. The reference seems to have been purely poetic. If this bop workout was somehow based upon the changes to Waller's "Honeysuckle Rose," the camouflage is so successful that nobody could ever sort it out. Jumping to Capitol Records in 1949, Babs is once again surrounded by awesome musicians: J.J. Johnson, a well-oiled Sonny Rollins, Erroll Garner's brother Linton, and Jack "The Bear" Parker. Art Pepper really cooks on "The Continental," which is one of Gonzales' most successful performances. Gonzales' voice has deepened and he seems to be growing tougher by the minute. "St. Louis Blues" is masterfully restructured and augmented with fluent bop embellishments. Hearing Don Redman and Sonny Rollins side by side with Wynton Kelly and Roy Haynes in back is a treat not to be missed. A fascinating slice of vintage bop culture, packed with restless creative energy. arwulf arwulf  
Tracklist + Credits :

ZOOT SIMS | AL COHN | TONY SCOTT - East Coast Sounds (1956-1999) RM | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Zoot Sims and Al Cohn made many records together in small-group settings, but this isn't one of their better-known dates, though it is a rewarding one. These 1956 sessions recorded for the Jazzland label and reissued under Fantasy's limited-edition OJC imprint feature tenor saxophonist Sims (who doubles on alto sax) and Cohn (playing baritone sax on most of the selections) with clarinetist Tony Scott (who doubles on tenor), trumpeter Joe Wilder, and trombonist Urbie Green rounding out the front line. Either Marty Paich or Dick Hyman (neither of whom play on these pianoless charts) contributed the arrangements, all of which fall into the cool category. Though they include quite a few pieces by well-known composers, most of them are lesser-known works, such as George Gershwin's "Treat Me Rough," Vernon Duke's "I Like the Likes of You," and Richard Rodgers' "Where's That Rainbow?" Bassist Trigger Alpert gets some solo time as well and contributed one original, the loping "Trigger Fantasy." Recommended. Ken Dryden  
Tracklist :
1     Treat Me Rough 2:50
George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin    
2     Looking at You 4:20
Cole Porter    
3     Love Me Tomorrow (But Leave Me Alone Today) 4:51
George Duke / John Latouche    
4     Trigger Happy 2:28
Tony Scott    
5     Tranquilizer 4:28
Dick Hyman    
6     I Like the Likes of You 4:08
Vernon Duke / E.Y. "Yip" Harburg    
7     I Wish I Were in Love Again 3:35
Lorenz Hart / Richard Rodgers    
8     I Don't Want to Be Alone Again 3:28
Johnny Mercer / Jimmie Smith    
9     Trigger Fantasy 5:24
Trigger Alpert    
10     Where's That Rainbow? 3:35
Lorenz Hart / Richard Rodgers
Credits :
Alto Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone – Zoot Sims
Arranged By – Dick Hyman (pistas: 1, 5, 9, 10), Marty Paich (pistas: 2, 3, 6, 7), Tony Scott (pistas: 4, 8)
Bass – Trigger Alpert
Clarinet, Tenor Saxophone – Tony Scott
Drums – Ed Shaughnessy
Producer – Orrin Keepnews
Tenor Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone – Al Cohn
Trombone – Urbie Green
Trumpet – Joe Wilder

ART FARMER - The Many Faces of Art Farmer (1964-2006) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Tracklist :
1     Happy Feet 4'43
Tom McIntosh
2     Hyacinth 5'02
Dennis Sandole
3     Ally 6'51
Tom McIntosh
4     Minuet in G 4'51
Tom McIntosh
5     All About Art 4'45
Sergio Mihanovich
6     People 5'18
Jule Styne
7     Saucer Eyes 4'54
Randy Weston
8     Summertime 4'48
George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin
9     Bess, You Is My Woman 3'06
George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin
10     I Loves You Porgy 4'59
George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin
11     I Got Plenty of Nothing 2'51
George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin
12     Bess, Oh Where Is My Bess 2'17
George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin
13     Redhead Woman 2'24
George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin
14     My Man's Gone Now 3'25
George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin
15     It Takes a Long Pull to Get There 2'51
George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin
16     It Ain't Necessarily So 3'10
George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin
17     There's a Boat That's Leaving Soon for New York 3'13
George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin
Credits :
1-7: New York, 1964.
Art Farmer Quintet :
Alto Saxophone – Charles McPherson
Bass – Ron Carter (pistas: 2, 4, 7), Steve Swallow (pistas: 1, 3, 5, 6)
Drums – Bobby Thomas
Flugelhorn – Art Farmer
Piano – Tommy Flanagan
- Bonus Album -
8-17: Mundell Lowe Septet: Porgy & Bess: New York, July 16 & 17, 1958
Don Elliott - Mellophone, Vibes
Tony Scott - Clarinet
Ben Webster - Tenor Sax
Mundell Lowe - Guitar
George Duvivier - Bass
Osie Johnson - Drums

BILLIE HOLIDAY – The Complete Billie Holiday On Verve 1945-1959 (1992) 10CD BOX-SET | APE (tracks+.cue), lossless

This is a rather incredible collection: ten CDs enclosed in a tight black box that includes every one of the recordings Verve owns of Billie Holiday, not only the many studio recordings of 1952-57 (which feature Lady Day joined by such jazz all-stars as trumpeters Charlie Shavers and Harry "Sweets" Edison, altoist Benny Carter, and the tenors of Flip Phillips, Paul Quinichette and Ben Webster). Also included are prime performances at Jazz at the Philharmonic concerts in 1945-1947, an enjoyable European gig from 1954, her "comeback" Carnegie Hall concert of 1956, Holiday's rather sad final studio album from 1959, and even lengthy tapes from two informal rehearsals. It's a perfect purchase for the true Billie Holiday fanatic. Scott Yanow

Disc 1:

Jazz at the Philharmonic Concerts 1945-1947, 

1952 Los Angeles Studio Session

Disc 2:

1952 Los Angeles & New York Studio Sessions, 

1954 Jazz Club USA Concert - Germany

Disc 3:

1954 Jazz Club USA Concert (conclusion), 

1954 Los Angeles & New York Studio Sessions, 

1955 New York Studio Session

Disc 4:

1955 Rehearsal at Artie Shapiro's Home

Disc 5:

1955 Los Angeles Studio Sessions

Disc 6:

1955 Los Angeles Studio Session (Conclusion),

1956 Rehearsal at the Duftys' Home

Disc 7:

1956 New York & Los Angeles Studio Sessions

Disc 8:

1956 Carnegie Hall Concert, 1957 Los Angeles Studio Sessions

Disc 9:

1957 Los Angeles Studio Sessions

Disc 10:

1957 Newport Jazz Festival, 1958 Seven Ages of Jazz Concert, 

1959 New York Studio Sessions with Ray Ellis

Notes: Includes a 220-page book with liner notes, photographs, reproductions 

of Billie Holiday's Verve album covers, and extensive interviews with 

Oscar Peterson, Jimmy Rowles, Harry "Sweets" Edison and Barney Kessel. 

Of 10 CDs contained in the set, 8 are of studio and concert 

recordings, including her Carnegie Hall debut concert, Jazz At The 

Philharmonic recordings, Lady Day's last recording session, and 2 

unissued alternate takes. The other 2 CDs contain rehearsal sessions.

Personnel includes: 

Billie Holiday (vocals)

Willie Smith, Benny Carter (alto saxophone)

Illinois Jacquet, Wardell Gray, Charlie Ventura, Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Flip Phillips (tenor saxophone)

Howard McGee, Buck Clayton, Charlie Shavers, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Roy Eldridge (trumpet) 

Trummy Young (trombone)

Red Norvo (vibraphone)

Milt Raskin, Ken Kersey, Oscar Peterson, Sonny Clark, Billy Taylor, Jimmy Rowles, Wynton Kelly, Tony Scott, Mal Waldron (piano)

Freddie Green (guitar) 

Tiny Grimes, Barney Kessel, Herb Ellis (electric guitar) 

Charles Mingus, Curly Russell, Al McKibbon, Ray Brown, Red Mitchell, Milt Hinton, Joe Benjamin (bass) 

David Coleman, J.C. Heard, Alvin Stoller, Ed Shaughnessy, Cozy Cole, Jo Jones (drums).

Producers include:

Norman Granz, Ray Ellis, Leonard Feather, Leroy Lovett, Tony Scott.

Compilation producer: Phil Schaap.

Includes liner notes by Buck Clayton, Phil Schaap, Bob Porter, and Joel E. Siegel.

THE COMPLETE BILLIE HOLIDAY ON VERVE, 1945-1959 won the 1994 Grammy Award for "Recording Package," "Album Notes" and "Historical Album.").

TONY SCOTT – Music For Yoga Meditation And Other Joys (1968-1998) RM | Verve By Request | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

With a title and front cover like this, one would expect 1968's Music for Yoga Meditation and Other Joys to have come out on an obscure San Francisco label run out of the back room of a natural foods store and feature amateurish players no one had ever heard of before or since. Yet, this duet album between clarinetist Tony Scott -- a former hard bop player in the '50s who had become drawn into world music and a style that can only be called proto-ambient -- and sitar player Collin Walcott is actually not just a lifestyle curio, but a musically interesting lifestyle curio. Strip away the Age of Aquarius trappings (although the liner notes are good for an ironic giggle) and Music for Yoga Meditation and Other Joys is not dissimilar to what Alice Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders would get up to over the next decade: long, flowing melodies and one-chord drones colored by elements of Indian classical music and other world music influences. The nine tracks explore a surprising variety of moods and tonalities given the self-limiting instrument lineup, and though this is too twee and hippie-ish to be called jazz, ambient and space rock fans will be fascinated by it. Stewart Mason

Tracklist :

1. Prana – Life Force

2. Shiva – The Third Eye

3. Samadhi – Ultimate Bliss

4. Hare Krishna – Hail Krishna

5. Hatha – Sun And Moon

6. Kundalina – Serpent Power

7. Sahasrara – Highest Chakra

8. Triveni – Sacred Knot

9. Shanti – Peace

Credits :

Clarinet – Tony Scott 

Sitar – Collin Walcott

TONY SCOTT - Music For Zen Meditation And Other Joys [1965] FLAC

Music For Zen Meditation And Other Joys is a 1965 album by Tony Scott that he recorded the year before. The album also features Shinichi Yuize and Hozan Tamamoto. This CD was released as a Verve Master Edition on 29 July, 1997.

Tracks

1. Is Not All One?

2. The Murmuring Of The Mountain Stream

3. A Quivering Leaf, Ask The Winds

4. After The Snow, The Fragrance

5. To Drift Like Clouds

6. Ze-zen (Meditation)

7. Prajna-Paramita-Hridaya Sutra (Sutra Chant)

8. San-zen (Moment Of Truth)

9. Satori (Enlightenment)

Shinichi Yuize: Koto
 Hozan Tamamoto: Shakuhachi.
Tony Scott: Clarinete

O Púbis da Rosa