Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify.
On November 26, 1961, saxophonist Stan Getz and his relatively new quartet with Steve Kuhn, John Neves, and Roy Haynes performed at New York’s Village Gate. The show was professionally recorded, possibly for eventual release, but was soon forgotten and the tape languished in the vaults for almost 58 years. Now available for the first time, the recording, “Getz at the Gate,” and this quartet both serve as a sort of ‘road not taken’ for Getz. Having just returned from living in Europe, Getz assembled a new quartet and was exploring a slightly more modern and aggressive sound with this group. By 1962, though, Getz’s album, “Jazz Samba,” with guitarist Charlie Byrd was released and the ensuing bossa nova boom dictated the course of his career for the next few years.
Very few journeys have been as adventurous and unpredictable as the musical path Avishai Cohen has been walking for the last twenty plus years. Ever since the highly acclaimed Israeli bassist/composer became a bandleader, his recordings have shown a constant evolution. His previous outing became his most commercially successful so far and introduced him to a pop audience that for the most part wasn’t even aware of his vast catalog and work. His new CD, “Arvoles,” (‘trees’ in the ancient Ladino language) is very different in tone and feel. “It’s a reflection of my world over the last couple of years,” he explains, showing “another part of my personality.” It’s a collection of mostly original compositions recorded with Israeli drummer Noam David and Azerbaijani pianist Elchin Shirinov.
Also this week, pianist David Kikoski, who has taken deep dives with everybody from Randy Brecker to Roy Haynes to the Mingus Big Band during his three-plus decades on the scene, offers up “Phoenix Rising”;
Latin Grammy-winning percussionist, composer and writer Avishai Cohen releases his seventh album, “Songs of the Firebird,’ a set of songs that serve as the soundtrack to his new book of short stories;
and Japanese pianist Yoko Miwa gathers up her trio mates for her eighth recording, “Keep Talkin’.”