John Lewis - Delaunay's Dilemma/The Garden of Delight (EmArcy, 1988)

This post is by Dan

John Lewis (p); Marc Johnson (b); Howard Collins (g)

Recorded October 2, 1987

Delaunay's Dilemma/The Garden of Delight may be easily overlooked in John Lewis' extensive discography. Recorded in Japan and only available either on LP or as a German CD, it probably flew under the radar of many American jazz lovers. Even now, it does not appear to be available from streaming services. That's a shame because musically it is superb, and the digital sonics are stunning. 

The album has an intimate, chamber-jazz feel to it. Bassist Marc Johnson had recorded with Lewis going back to 1981 and appeared on Lewis' Kansas City Breaks album (Finesse, 1982), which Scott reviewed earlier. His work on bass perfectly complements Lewis' keyboards. Guitarist Howard Collins completes the trio, contributing a clean, discrete accompaniment. 

The tunes are mostly familiar repertoire for the Modern Jazz Quartet, several composed by Lewis himself. I'm especially fond of "A Cold Wind is Blowing," first recorded on the MJQ's Odds Against Tomorrow album in 1959. "Django" is also here along with "Concorde." Lewis returns to his roots with the first and last tracks, titled "...And in the Beginning" and "There Was the Blues," respectively.

With John Lewis, you can always expect elegance, perhaps signified by his wardrobe on the album cover. Delaunay's Dilemma/The Garden of Delight delivers the type of bluesy elegance that made Lewis and the MJQ jazz legends.

Charlie Haden - Etudes (Soul Note, 1988)

This post is by Dan

Charlie Haden (b); Paul Motian (d); Geri Allen (p)

Recorded September 14 and 15, 1987

In retrospect, Charlie Haden's band with Paul Motian and Geri Allen was one of the best piano trios of the 1980s. It was a working band with three studio albums and multiple live recordings within a ten-year span.

Etudes is a masterpiece! It features a great program of compositions from within and outside the group. The group interplay and soloing are epic. And the sound is excellent, both digital and analogue. Howard Mandel's sleeve notes are detailed and informative. Even the back cover photo, taken by Haden's wife Ruth Cameron, fits with the upbeat mood of the album and the personalities of the players. 

The album kicks off with a gorgeous rendition of Ornette Coleman's "Lonely Woman." It's one of the composer's most intriguing tunes. Haden and Motian are perfectly paired partners who make rhythmic support interesting on its own. Allen cautiously introduces melodic variations during her solo as Motian spurs her to elaborate. After Haden's solo, Allen returns to wind things up. This is almost 10 minutes of jazz at its best.

Allen's "Dolphy's Dance" comes next, showing off her skills as a writer and performer. The rest of the program is composed by either Haden or Motian, except for the inclusion of a Herbie Nichols tune, "Shuffle Mongomery," which Allen tackles spritely. 

"Fiasco," composed by Motian, is a great example of free group playing. Haden does his usual trick of disrupting the proceedings, suspending any expectations of meter or chord progression. Allen responds nicely with sharp ideas, always delivered tastefully. Her playing throughout the program on Etudes demonstrates her enormous talent, not so much in terms of speed or pyrotechnics, but rather her originality of expression. She's consistently throwing in phrases or accents that I've never heard from anyone else. 

Etudes is one of many albums that showcase Geri Allen's prodigious talent. It's also one of the best piano trio records of the decade.  

Alex Cline - The Lamp and the Star (ECM, 1987)

This post is by Dan

Alex Cline (d, perc); Aina Kemanis (vo); Nels Cline (vo); Jeff Gauthier (vn, vla, vo); Hank Roberts (vc, vo); Wayne Peet, p, org); Eric Von Essen (b); Susan Rawcliffe (didjeridu)

Recorded September 1987

Alex Cline is the twin brother of Nels Cline. Born in 1956, the brothers pursued different musical paths while still collaborating on particular projects. Nels co-produced The Lamp and the Star with his brother. 

According to guitarist Nels, Alex “is a very serious guy, and his music is very measured and slow to unfold. It has a certain kind of ethereal or even monastic quality to it sometimes, and that’s Alex." 

The Lamp and the Star displays the ethereal/monastic quality of Alex's work. I find this type of music to be very absorbing and should not be confused with "new age" music. As is true of Steve Tibbetts' albums, Alex Cline's works explore composition and improvisation differently than typical jazz albums. One could find peace, spiritual enlightenment, and balance by allowing this music in. It also sounds terrific, in large part because of the virtuosity of the band.

Much of the mood is shaped by the voice of Aina Kemanis, who offers wordless vocals over the instrumental ensemble. Not all is peaceful, as climaxes appear now and then. There is little soloing, per se, although specific instruments at times move to the forefront, especially Eric Von Essen's bass, Wayne Peet's piano, and Jeff Gauthier's violin. Alex Cline's huge percussion kit provides a wide range of bells, gongs, woodblocks, and cymbals in addition to traditional drums.

The Lamp and the Star is the first of a sequence of similar works on the Nine Winds and Cryptogramophone labels. Those albums are listed below. The Lamp and the Star is the only one in the series on ECM. The Clines oversaw the recording in Los Angeles, and ECM took over the digital mixing and mastering in Oslo. Both LP and CD versions were released, both with the same program of music. 

Montsalvat, Nine Winds, 1992

Sparks Fly Upward, Cryptogramophone, 1998

The Constant Flame, Cryptogramophone, 2000

Cloud Plate, Cryptogramophone, 2001

Continuation, Cryptogramophone, 2008

For People in Sorrow, Cryptogramophone, 2011 - This album contains a DVD of the live performance, which is stunning. Alex Cline's reimagination of the classic album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago should not be missed by anyone with an interest in Cline's work or the AEC.

Tom Harrell - Stories (Contemporary, 1988)

This post is by Scott and Dan

Tom Harrell (tr, flgn); Bob Berg (ts); John Scofield (g); Niels Lan Doky (p); Ray Drummond (d); Billy Hart (d)

Recorded on January 26 and 27, 1988

Our earlier post for Tom Harrell's Moon Alley praised his compositions. We could have selected almost all of Harrell's 80s recordings; they are uniformly good. For example, Sail Away (Contemporary, 1989) is exceptional and something of a breakout album for Harrell. Likewise, Play of Light, recorded in 1982 but not released by Blackhawk until 1986, is very strong. But we like Stories from 1988 the best.

Why? Again, there is the matter of Harrell's writing. "Rapture" is revisited from the Moon Alley session along with three other compositions to fill side 1 of the LP. Side 2 has two longer pieces: "Story" at 13:34 and "Viable Blues" at 9:25. "Viable" is the only basic blowing tune, and it sounds like a jazz standard. Solos from Billy Hart and Ray Drummond are featured. The other pieces aren't necessarily cerebral; just tuneful and tasteful. It's not easy to figure out why Harrell's tunes are so joyful and complete. But we don't really need to know as long as our ears are happy.

Bob Berg plays a major role in the success of Story. His ensemble work creates a perfect blend with Harrell's two horns, and his solos are both forceful and lyrical as the situation dictates. John Scofield also appears on three of the six cuts, contributing a bluesy solo on "The Water's Edge" and joining in on "Story" and "Viable Blues." Danish pianist Nils Lan Doky makes the best of his solo opportunity on "Viable Blues."

Clearly, the decade was a good one for Harrell, establishing him at the forefront of jazz. Story is solid evidence of the health and wellbeing of jazz in the 1980s 

Jack DeJohnette's Special Edition - Audio Visualscapes (Impulse, 1988)

This post is by Scott

Jack DeJohnette (d, kybds); Gary Thomas (ts, fl, b cl); Greg Osby (as, ss); Mick Goodrick (el g); Lonnie Plaxico (el b, b)

Recorded on February 01 - 03, 1988 

When it was released, Audio Visualscapes was recognized for its excellence by critics and listeners. For example, Downbeat selected it as their album of the year. But, for whatever reason, it seems like people no longer hold it in such high esteem, and it's long out-of-print.

Regardless of its current critical status or availability, I think Audio Visualscapes continues to be a powerful statement of exciting and creative music. 

From this listener's perspective, it's easily one of DeJohnette's finest releases.

Julius Hemphill - Julius Hemphill Big Band (Elektra Musician, 1988)

This post is by Scott

Julius Hemphill (as, ss); John Purcell (as, ss, fl); John Stubblefield (as, ss, fl); Marty Ehrlich  (as, ss, fl); J. D. Parran (bs, fl); David Hines (tr); Rasul Siddik (tr); Vincent Chancey (frhn); Frank Lacy (tb); David Taylor (b tb); Bill Frisell (g); Jack Wilkins (g); Jerome Harris (el b); Ronnie Burrage (d); Gordon Gottlieb (perc); K. Curtis Lyle (speaker, 1 trk only); Darrold Hunt (cond, 1 trk only)

Recorded in February 1988 

Tremendous.

Don Cherry - Art Deco (A&M, 1989)

This post is by Dan

Don Cherry (tr); James Clay (ts); Charlie Haden (b); Billy Higgins (d)

Recorded August 27, 28 and 30, 1987

This remarkable album reunites three members of the original Ornette Coleman quartet, which debuted in the late 1950s. The saxophone chair is occupied by veteran Texas tenor, James Clay, who typically plays in a style bearing little resemblance to Ornette's. It is fascinating to hear him tackle the challenges of Coleman's early music. Clay is also featured on the more conventional material - "Body and Soul" and "I've Grown Accustomed to Your [sic] Face."  Charlie Haden and Billy Higgins also contribute original tunes and are given their featured spots.

The high point of the album for me is Don Cherry's title tune, programmed first. After a short fanfare, the rhythm section kicks in behind the leader who plays a simple but very cool theme. The solos are separated by a return of the fanfare each time. "Art Deco" has been covered by numerous other artists, including Enrico Rava, Ryan Kisor, Frank Lowe, Avishai Cohen, Dave Ballou, and Carlos Ward. Vocalist Sheila Jordan even supplied lyrics to the tune. For me, it's a jazz classic.

As the cover photo shows, Cherry plays a small horn, known as a pocket trumpet. This instrument paired with Ornette's plastic alto sax helped to define the sound of Coleman's first groups. 

Art Deco was produced by John Snyder as part of A&M's Modern Masters Jazz Series. A sign of the times, this series sought to ride the resurgent wave of jazz in the 1980s. In contrast to many labels that focused on restoring traditional jazz, A&M recorded albums by Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor, Art Blakey, Gerry Mulligan, Max Roach, and Dizzy Gillespie. Not all of these albums received critical acclaim, but the label's heart was in the right place. 

Of course, like most jazz-related projects, the Modern Masters series only lasted a couple of years. But at least we got Don Cherry's wonderful Art Deco (and Multikulti from 1990) and a few other gems. 

Helen Merrill, Gil Evans - Collaboration (EmArcy, 1988)

This post is by Dan

Helen Merrill (vo); Gil Evans (arr); Steve Lacy (ss); Phil Bodner (fl, afl, bcl); Chris Hunter (fl); Wally Kane (bcl); Jerry Dodgion (fl, ss); Roger Rosenberg (bcl); Danny Bank  (fl); Lew Soloff (tr); Jimmy Knepper tb); Shunzo Ono (tr, flg); Dave Taylor (btb); Joe Beck g); Jay Berliner (g); Gil Goldstein (p, kybd); Harry Lookofsky (vn, tvn); Lamar Alsop (vn, vla,); Theodore Israel (vla); Harold Bolletta (vla); Jessy Levy (vco); Buster Williams (b); Mel Lewis (d); 

Recorded August 19, 25 and 26, 1987

In 1956, 25-year-old Helen Merrill recorded her second album, Dream of You, backed by the orchestral arrangements of Gil Evans. Dream of You followed the eponymous Helen Merrill and continued a series of outstanding albums on Emarcy. Her unique voice offered an alternative to the popular white female jazz singers of the time, including June Christy, Chris Connor, Anita O'Day, and others. These women were all "cool" long before that term entered the hipster vocabulary. 

Thirty years later, Merrill and Evans reunited to record Collaboration, covering almost all the same tunes that appeared on Dream of You. Although Dan Morgenstern claims in his sleeve note that Collaboration is not a re-creation of Dream of You, it comes close. The main differences have to do with maturity. Merrill's voice becomes that of a worldly woman, not an ingénue, and Evans' orchestrations gain grandeur and detail compared to the 1956 session, which was the first full album he had ever arranged. 

As befits Merrill's style, songs are carefully articulated and slowed down as much as possible without becoming dirges. She doesn't just sing the words; her voice is a member of the orchestra. 

Likewise, Evans is not just an arranger of a backing orchestra. His "voice" is distinctive, in large part by his choice of horns. Flutes and brass are frequently paired, and he favors soprano sax and bass clarinet as reeds rather than the traditional saxophones (alto, tenor, and baritone). This album excels largely because of his arrangements, which caress and support Merrill's haunting vocals. 

Collaboration is about collaboration between two veterans of jazz who revisited their first meeting 30 years earlier. Give this whole album a listen. It's one of the best jazz vocal albums of the 1980s.