Delmark CD Re-issues - end of April, 2009 (all previously released material, now back in print)
- Eric Alexander - Mode For Mabes (Delmark DE 500)
Jazz tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander firmly established himself as a mature voice even though he was only 27 years of age when he recorded Mode For Mabes in 1997. It was his fourth Delmark CD and critics were already comparing him to the mightiest and most soulful of classic tenor players like Dexter Gordon and George Coleman. Mode For Mabes features a three-horn frontline with trumpeter Jim Rotondi and trombonist Steve Davis reminiscent of Art Blakey's Messengers which gives the band the fullness of a small big band. Mabes, of course, is the ever-soulful pianist Harold Mabern who drives the Messengers-like title track. Other highlights include the greasy “Sugar Ray" and a cover of Coltrane's classic “Naima". - Ira Sullivan presents Lin Halliday - Where Or When (Delmark DE 468)
Lin Halliday was one of those Underground Heroes that never got his just due. He played tenor sax on the Chicago jazz scene for more than twenty years when he passed in January of 2000. From a review of this 1993 session Owen Cordle writes: “All of Halliday's solos are masterful (ditto Sullivan's), but his swirling turn on “Dear Old Stockholm," his slightly askew musings on the title tune, and his fragmented, congested lines on “Pent-Up" stand out. This is a poignant comeback you hope will continue on into the bigtime." - Down Beat Multi-instrumentalist Ira Sullivan plays tenor sax and trumpet and could be considered co-leader. Jodie Christian, Larry Gray and Robert Barry provide marvelous rhythm section support. - Art Hodes - Up In Volly's Room (Delmark DE 217)
The title refers to the first Chicago jazz clarinetist Volly DeFaut, a former member of the famous New Orleans Rhythm Kings, who also recorded with Jelly Roll Morton, Muggsy Spanier and the Gene Goldkette Orchestra. Russian-born jazz pianist Art Hodes is the leader for these 1972 recordings which also feature Truck Parham, bass; Barrett Deems, drums; and on two songs Nappy Trottier, trumpet and George Brunis, trombone. “...a mellow, understated set of recordings, but the feel and group sound is so cohesive and gently swings with those ol' New Orleans rhythms that I keep coming back to it time and time again." -DISCoveries Volly DeFaut passed away in 1973 making these his very last recordings. - Blues Before Sunrise (various artists) - Live, Volume One (Delmark DE 699)
For 38 years radio program host Steve Cushing has aired Blues Before Sunrise, the “Blues Heritage Showcase". It started out on Chicago's public radio station WBEZ then in the early 90s went international via satellite syndication. On October 20, 1996 Blues Before Sunrise held a benefit concert at Chicago's B.L.U.E.S. to help purchase the satellite time needed to keep the show on the air. The music on this CD is hair bristling proof of the constancy of the post-war blues sound and of the vitality of the ever-fruitful Chicago scene. Featuring Jimmy Burns, Billy Boy Arnold, John Brim and Big Wheeler. 13 songs including “I'm Ready", “Ice Cream Man", “Streetwise Advisor", “You're The One" and “Leaving Here Walking".
DELMARK NEW Jazz and Blues RELEASES - end of May, 2009 - It Ain't Over! (various artists) - Delmark Celebrates 55 Years of Blues (Delmark DVD 1800, CD DE 800)
Delmark's 55th anniversary blues bash at Buddy Guy's Legends on March 7, 2008 featured most of Delmark’s local blues roster, a Delmark Day proclamation from Mayor Daley and a Grammy Hall Of Fame Award for the groundbreaking Hoodoo Man Blues album. Live performances by Lurrie Bell, Tail Dragger, Zora Young, Jimmy Johnson with Dave Specter, Aaron Moore, Little Arthur Duncan, Eddie Shaw, Shirley Johnson. DVD contains 14 tracks, 80 minutes Stereo, Dolby and DTS 5.1 audio. CD is 11 tracks 67 minutes. - Eddie C. Campbell - Tear This World Up (Delmark DE 799)
Eddie C. Campbell brings his unmistakably individual, engaging and memorable verve and variety and his command of the Chicago blues tradition to Tear This World Up, his most fully realized chapter in a highly regarded discography which has generated covers by Lynyrd Skynyrd and Lee Atwater and a Christmas staple. Eddie has long been a master of classic Chicago blues, but always his own man, turning out venues worldwide with funk and rock & roll as well as blues, all with his rich, wide-ranging vocals, the trademark reverb-drenched sound of his vintage metallic purple Fender Jazzmaster guitar and creative songwriting. - Nicol Mitchell's Black Earth Strings - Renegades (Delmark DE 587)
Nicole Mitchell’s Black Earth Strings (BES), rides at the forefront of jazz, new music and creative improvisation. Mitchell’s “rough and edgy” aesthetic rebels from the flowery sweet flute and string stereotype the runs rampant in jazz, which makes Renegades an appropriate title for the project. On Renegades, Mitchell’s compositions bring African rhythms, contemporary sounds and swinging improvisation to a chamber music setting. Mitchell’s BES concept started in 1997, but this is the group's first commercial recording. The CD features Nicole Mitchell on flute, alto flute, piccolo, Renee Baker violin, viola, Tomeka Reid cello, Joshua Abrams bass, gimbre and Shirazette Tinnin drumset and percussion. - Josh Berman - Old Idea (Delmark DE 588 )
For a decade jazz cornetist Josh Berman has been a mainstay of the post-Vandermark generation of Chicago improvisers, a wide circle of ambitious musos who meet up in varied ad hoc or fixed settings: a circle including all the players in Josh’s group Old Idea. He’s already recorded some—as, say, part of a quartet on Chicago-Luzern Exchange alongside tenor saxophonist Keefe Jackson, with Jackson’s big and small bands Project Project and Fast Citizens, with Jason Adasiewicz’s quintet Rolldown and Rob Mazurek’s Exploding Star Orchestra. Old Idea is Josh's debut CD as leader. With Keefe Jackson, tenor sax; Jason Adasiewicz, vibes; Anton Hatwich, bass; Nori Tanaka, drums.
For more information contact All About Jazz.
