Reviews that mention Wynton Kelly
January 6, 2018
2017 Ballot
Ken Waxman
This year’s 10 best New Releases listed in descending order one-through-ten.
1. Sophie Agnel/Daunik Lazro Marguerite d’Or PâleFou Records FR-CD 21
2. Jason Kao Hwang Sing House Euonymus EU 03
3. Alexander Hawkins Unit[e] AH 1002/3
4. Heliosonic Tone-tette Heliosonic Toneways Vol. 1 ScienSonic Laboratories SS10
5. Tiziano Tononi & Daniele Cavallanti Nexus Experience Nexus!Rudi Records RRJ1035
6. Arashi Semikujira Trost TR 146
7. Harris Eisenstadt Recent Developments Songlines SGL 1620-2 MORE
October 16, 2017
Wynton Kelly Trio/Wes Montgomery
Smokin' in Seattle: Live at the Penthouse (1966)
Resonance Records HCD 2029
Bill Evans
Another Time: The Hilversum Concert
Resonance Records HCD 2031
During the late 1950s and early 1960s, there were two accepted ways to play Jazz piano: the introspective and the extroverted. Although others followed the same cerebral paths, Bill Evans (1929-1980) was generally considered the exemplar of the first genre. The latter was more difficult to define, but because of his versatility playing ballads and blues plus the constant demand for him as an accompanist, Wynton Kelly (1931-1971) ranks as one of the most proficient players of the era. Oddly enough, despite their differences, the first – and in Kelly’s case most extended – brush with fame came as a member of famous Miles Davis combos of the time. Serendipitously two newly-discovered live sets featuring the stylists have been released, which like film retrospectives allow for a consideration of their respective skill nearly 50 years down the road. MORE
November 27, 2006
And His U.S. State Department Orchestra
BVHaast/Olfert Dapper OD 001
One of the few times American State Department funds were actually spent on something that benefited the world was in 1956-1957 when they bankrolled tours of Latin America, the Near and the Middle East by a newly organized Dizzy Gillespie big band.
Unfortunately despite enthusiastic acceptance and praise abroad, plus a well-received Newport Jazz Festival gig, politicians who obviously felt it was more important to spend taxpayers’ money on nuclear armaments and clandestine spying got the money rescinded and the band broke up. MORE