The Proper Angle
Artist: Charles Fambrough

Bassist Charles Fambrough gathered together a rather impressive lineup of young greats (including on various cuts trumpeters Wynton Marsalis and Roy Hargrove, saxophonists Branford Marsalis and Joe Ford, keyboardist Kenny Kirkland, drummer Jeff Watts, and three percussionists) for a set of tricky hard bop originals. The interplay between the two... Read More

Present Tense
Artist: Bobby Watson
Community Score: 10.00

After a period of time, Bobby Watson's Horizon became one of the top hard bop-oriented regular bands of the early '90s. Comprised of the leader on alto and occasional soprano, trumpeter Terell Stafford, pianist Edward Simon, bassist Essiet Essiet, and drummer Victor Lewis, Horizon performs "I Got It Bad," "Minority," and ten originals by group... Read More

The Story of Neptune
Artist: Tony Williams

The Tony Williams Quintet has two obvious assets that put it ahead of most acoustic jazz bands: Williams's powerful and consistently creative drumming and his compositional talents. On this group's fifth Blue Note recording, the drummer contributed the three-part "Neptune," essentially a feature for his drums, a more memorable original, "Crime... Read More

A Jazz Collection
Artist: Herbie Hancock
Youngblood
Artist: Elvin Jones

Although this superior set features three of the top Young Lions (tenors Joshua Redman and Javon Jackson and trumpeter Nicholas Payton), along with the fine bassist George Mraz, drummer Elvin Jones, 64 at the time, sounds like the youngest member of the group. The well-rounded CD has individual features for Redman ("Angel Eyes"), Payton ("Body... Read More

Tokyo Live
Artist: Tony Williams

This live two-CD set, one of the last recordings by the Tony Williams Quintet before it disbanded, is a fine retrospective of the group's music. All but the Beatles' "Blackbird" are originals by the drummer/leader, and the 11 lengthy performances (only two songs clock in at less than nine minues and 51 seconds) give one a strong idea as to how... Read More

In Europe
Artist: Elvin Jones
Community Score: 10.00

Recorded live at a jazz festival in Germany, In Europe represents a typical Jazz Machine live performance, three selections from the group's regular repertoire where the musicians get plenty of room to stretch out, fueled by Jones' propulsive polyrhythms. "Ray-El," written by Elvin's brother Thad Jones, is a medium tempo blues number featuring a... Read More

Straight Up
Artist: Eric Alexander

Tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander finished second in the 1991 Thelonious Monk sax competition, and shows why throughout these eight tracks. He has a full, bright, impressive tone, excellent facility and command of the instrument and is steadily developing a personal sound. While the tracks vary in quality, most are at worst competent and at best... Read More

Rain or Shine
Artist: Jodie Christian

This set by Chicago pianist Jodie Christian has both strong and weak moments. Easily the low point is the Art Ensemble of Chicago's Roscoe Mitchell's playing on oboe during "Song for Atala" (way out-of-tune) although his work on soprano ("Coltrane's View") and alto ("Mr. Freddie") is better. Christian has a couple trio numbers ("Yardbird Suite"... Read More