Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify.
The first week of March in 1963 was a busy one for John Coltrane. He was in the middle of a two-week run at Birdland and was gearing up for the famed “John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman” album, which he recorded on March 7. The day before, he and his classic quartet with McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones cut a complete album’s worth of material, including several original compositions that were never recorded elsewhere. At the end of the day, Coltrane took the reference tapes home with him where they remained untouched for the next 54 years. Impulse Records approached the family about finally releasing this lost album, which they have now done as “Both Directions at Once: the Lost Album.”
The Bob Mintzer Big Band collaborates with New York Voices for the first time on “Meeting of Minds.” The combination of the dynamic writing styles Bob Mintzer and Darmon Meader produces a very dense yet very fresh sonic palette. The repertoire draws on the Great American Songbook from the 1930s and 1940s, with subtle harmonic and rhythmic nuances in the arrangements that blend together to deliver an engaging musical journey. In addition to the wonderful arrangements, the album showcases over a dozen powerful improvised solos from some of the top musicians in the world.
Also this week, the brilliant pianist and composer Shamie Royston presents her second release as a leader, “Beautiful Liar”.
Internationally renowned jazz guitarist and oud virtuoso Amos Hoffman and world class pianist/composer Noam Lemish team up on “Pardes,” offering an inspired blend of jazz, North African and Latin rhythms, and melodies from various Jewish communities across the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
Charles Lloyd & the Marvels unveil their second release “Vanished Gardens,” with guest vocalist Lucinda Williams.