The Listening Guide
🎶 The listening guide: five albums, released during the past twelve months, chosen around a weekly theme 🎶
Since the late fifties and early sixties — when greats like Sonny Rollins, Bill Evans, and John Coltrane performed and were recorded there — New York’s Village Vanguard has been a club of global renown. Widening ever so slightly our window of consideration, we look at five recently-released albums of music captured live at the legendary club: from contemporary piano greats to outstanding saxophonists and guitarists. Support Stephens via Bandcamp, Clayton and Batiste via the Blue Note and Verve stores respectively, and both ECM releases via the label shop.
Dayna Stephens – Right Now . . . Live at The Village Vanguard
Gerald Clayton – Happening: Live at the Village Vanguard
Jon Batiste ‎– Chronology Of A Dream: Live At The Village Vanguard
Ethan Iverson Quartet With Tom Harrell ‎– Common Practice
Album of the Week
Our NQ Jazz Album of the Week hears renowned saxophonist Chris Potter playing absolutely everything: drums, guitar, bass, percussion, and woodwinds. ‘There is a Tide’ was recorded over a six week period of lockdown, and Potter described the one-man experience as being ‘very absorbing and rewarding’. Check out the project via the Edition Records website.
Classic Album
Recorded in December 1970, Hubert Laws’ Afro-Classic was the flautist’s second album for CTI records, and featured such greats as Ron Carter on bass, Bob James on electric piano, arrangements from Don Sebesky and technical input from Rudy Van Gelder. The fifty-year-old album contains a wonderful mix of jazz, classical, and funk elements, with fantastic playing and sensitive production.