On this show a mix of releases including Elton Dean Quartet, Miles Davis, Larry Coryell, Borah Bergman & Hamid Drake, Lee Morgan, Claus Ogerman with Bill Evans and also with Michael Brecker, and Albert Mangelsdorff. Peter Brötzmann, Fred Van Hove, & Han Bennink.
Elton Dean Quartet – Oasis – On Italian Roads (Live at Teatro Cristallo, Milan, 1979) (British Progressive Jazz)
On Italian Roads marks the only official release of Dean with the all-star quartet of Keith Tippet on piano, Harry Miller on bass, and Louis Moholo-Moholo on drums. As it stands, that alone would be cause for celebration, but the high quality of the performance sets this one even further apart.
Miles Davis – If I Were A Bell – Relaxin’ With The Miles Davis Quintet (Prestige)
Recorded in 1956 and released in March 1958. Two sessions on 11 May 1956 and 26 October in the same year resulted in four albums—this one, Steamin’ with the Miles Davis Quintet, Workin’ with the Miles Davis Quintet (featured later in the show) and Cookin’ with the Miles Davis Quintet. These four albums are considered to be among the best performances in the whole hard bop subgenre. The album was remastered by Rudy Van Gelder in 2005 for Prestige Records.
Larry Coryell – Improvisation On Robert De Visee’s Menuet II – The Restful Mind (Vanguard)
Coryell on acoustic and electric guitars, along with three of the four members of the band Oregon, who were also recording for Vanguard at the time: Ralph Towner appears on guitar, Glen Moore on bass, and Collin Walcott on percussion. The album includes improvisations on two compositions by the French Baroque composer Robert de Visée, an adaptation of Maurice Ravel’s “Pavane pour une infante défunte” (here translated as “Pavane for a Dead Princess”), and four Coryell originals.
Borah Bergman & Hamid Drake – Lonely Woman – Reflections (Soul Note)
Recorded March 23, 1995 at Context Studios, New York – released 1996
Lee Morgan – Domingo – Lee Morgan Vol.3 (Blue Note)
His third album. It was recorded on March 24, 1957 and features performances by Morgan, Gigi Gryce, Benny Golson, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Charlie Persip.
Bill Evans – 1st Movement (Moderato) – Symbiosis (MPS)
Bill Evans again with an orchestra arranged and conducted by Claus Ogerman recorded in 1974 and released on the MPS label. It was the third orchestral album by Evans and Ogerman following Plays the Theme from The V.I.P.s and Other Great Songs and Bill Evans Trio with Symphony Orchestra (1965). Portions of the 2nd Movement were used on the soundtrack of the 2004 film Sideways and in the 2021 film Judas and the Black Messiah.
Claus Ogerman & Michael Brecker – Cityscape – Cityscape (Mosaic)
One of Ogerman’s most successful works, because of the overlap between the extended harmonies of jazz and the chromaticism of the late German Romantic polyphony. Brecker’s improvisations seem to grow naturally out of the background, and the relationship between the jazz band and orchestral strings works very well.
Bill Evans – Blue Interlude – Bill Evans Trio With Symphony Orchestra (Verve)
Although dismissed by some critics, this CD, with arrangements by Claus Ogermann, is very lovely. Evans was very proud of this album. Ogermann’s charts are sweetly romantic rather than overbearing, and this gives Evans and his trio (with bassist Chuck Israels and drummer Grady Tate) room to manoeuvre.
Peter Brötzmann, Fred Van Hove, Han Bennink plus Albert Mangelsdorff – The End – The End (FMP)
Recorded Live August 28 – 29, 1971, Free Music Market at the Quartier Latin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Miles Davis – Trane’s Blues – Workin’ with The Miles Davis Quintet (Prestige)
Different Noises 