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Jazz/Blues

'The Essential Van Morrison' Release on Legacy Recordings [REVIEW]

'The Essential Van Morrison' (Legacy Recordings) lovingly meanders from his early pre-punk 1960s days in Them ("Gloria") and his mystical hippie period ("Astral Weeks") to his "Moondance" break-out and "Tupelo Honey" stardom onward to such beloved albums as 'Veedon Fleece' (1974), 'Wave Length' (1978) and a host of exquisite '80s, '90s and '00s projects. It's the first such look-back and signals what promises to be one of the most important and culturally satisfying rollout projects yet.
By Mike Greenblatt

  • Erroll Garner, 'The Complete Concert By The Sea,' Sony Legacy/Octave (REVIEW)

    One of the best-selling jazz albums of all-time, 'Concert By The Sea' (1956) by the Erroll Garner Trio, has now been digitally re-mastered into 'The Complete Concert By The Sea' (Sony Legacy/Octave), a three-CD box with 11 previously unreleased tracks and rare post-set interviews with pianist Garner, acoustic bassist Eddie Calhoun [1921-1993] and drummer Denzil DaCosta Best [1917-1965].
    By Mike Greenblatt

  • Blogarrhea: The Mysterious Mangelsdorff!

    Aah, the mysterious Mangelsdorff! He grew up in Frankfort, Germany, soon mastering guitar and violin but it was on trombone where he made his mark. Since the Nazis banned jazz, he played "patriotic" music at first. In the 1950s, he finally flowered into one of the most unique 'bone men due to his furthering and refining of multiphonics. This meant playing the equivalent of chords and/overtone effects on an instrument that heretofore could only be blown one note at a time. Ornette Coleman, of course, took it one step further and called it harmolodics. Mangelsdorff would literally sing into his trombone which created a secondary note atop or below the note he'd play. Therefore, he could harmonize with himself. The effect was almost psychedelic.
    By Mike Greenblatt