In The Ears
I can’t seem to pull anything out of my mailbox these days thats anything less than brilliant! Kudos first to Steve Bellamy and his new label Addo Jazz Recordings! They have three new releases out; Kirk MacDonald: Songbook Volume 1, Fieldtrip: No Destination and Ted Quinlan: Streetscape. All 
of them are wonderful. The best thing about Kirk’s new CD other than the great playing is the fact that its called Volume 1. This would indicate that there are going to be further volumes which would be welcomed by this jazz fan! Pat Labarbera stages it perfectly in his liner notes; “MacDonald needs to be heard on the world stage, I hope this CD will find its way to those who book festivals & tours & will give Canadian musicians of this stature a chance to perform & share their music in places other than their homeland.” This quartet of musicians burns from the get go! I haven’t made my way through the whole Ted Quinlan offering yet because when I got to track 3, Go West I just kept hitting repeat! With instrumental tunes its a real art to convey the title with the sound of the music. This tune conjures up exactly what one would think you’d experience “going West.” Ted Quinlan is a virtuosic guitarist and am looking very forward to hearing the rest of the CD. Fieldtrip is or was a powerful trio but they have added some more fire power here with guitarist Jim Head and saxophonist Kelly Jefferson. I get a kick out of listening to Colin Power (alto sax) and Jefferson go back and forth. Its obvious that they are inspired by one another. In the words of my good friend Chad Eby “who says contemporary jazz can’t swing?”
All of these CDs have been recorded at Humber College’s brand new studios with Steve Bellamy at the helm and the sound quality is superb.
Smalls Live has finally been launched and are out of the gate with 6 fantastic titles. Ian Hendrickson-Smith is the mix engineer for all Smalls Live releases so you know they are going to 
sound incredible. They are working through some kinks on their websites but the stuff is available so go and check them out. I have heard excerpts from all the releases and they all sound killing especially Steve Davis’ release. I heard an alto solo from Mike DiRubbo on that CD that I will not forget! I have yet to receive the releases but when I do I will go on in more detail about them. For those of you that don’t know Smalls Live, its run out of Smalls Jazz Club in New York City under the auspices of my good friend Spike Wilner! Check it out and buy every single one of the CDs, they are all going to be great I can assure you!
I made my regular stop at Silver Platters during my frequent trips to Seattle. I wasn’t really in a CD browsing mood but Im glad I persisted because I came across a couple of things that really got me excited. One that isn’t exactly rare is STANLEY TURRENTINE - Dearly Beloved on Blue Note with Shirley Scott on organ and Roy Brooks on drums. As were all of Stanley’s Blue Note dates this is seriously hard swinging affair. For me the essence of what jazz is supposed to convey and feel like. Great tunes and nice to hear Shirley without the support of a bass player! She is really killing it. The title track is especially cool. Does anyone know of a Stanley T. date on Blue Note that is anything less than spectacular? My second find was one that was unexpected. On my recent tour with Jim Rotondi the name Art Farmer came up quite a bit. Of course I know Art Farmer and have some of his stuff but haven’t ever really keyed in on him. This record is called The Time And Place and its Art’s quintet live at The Museum of Modern Art. The band is Jimmy Heath on tenor, Albert Dailey on piano, Walter Booker on bass and Mickey Roker on drums. The band is really on fire. Seriously going for it and not worried about making mistakes or sounding pretty. Everyone is really blowing and I had always thought of Art as a mellower more subdued trumpeter but on this date he is really hitting it hard! Check it out!