Review: Violin extraordinaire and singer Andrew Bird teams up with an Americana icon, whose star has risen and is continuing to rise - Madison Cunningham. Bird says of Cunningham that she is one of the most talented musicians he's ever encountered. Together they've covered the 1973 album Buckingham Nicks - Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham's pre-Fleetwood Mac LP and done a brilliant job of it. Buckingham Nicks was a flop commercially when it was released and despite the duo's subsequent success it was never remastered or re-released digitally, so hard to come by. Thankfully, Cunningham and Bird bring this underrated gem into the limelight and do so in style. "The best reason to cover anyone is that little part of you that thinks you might do it better. This album epitomizes excess and confidence and it only made sense to embody that spirit ourselves," says Bird in a press release. And he's quite right - there's no misplaced arrogance here - they've nailed this homage to a classic.
Review: Clifford Brown is one of history's finest trumpet payers. Here he adds his style to nine engaging tunes recorded in 1955 with the Max Roach Quintet. One of the leading hard bop gangs of the time, tenor saxophonist Harold Land, pianist Richie Powell, and bassist George Morrow all featured and gave rise to these lively and energetic cuts. The likes of 'Cherokee' certainly blow away any cobwebs with the fluid and florid trumpets dancing over sizzling drums, and the more swinging (and excellently named) 'Gerkin For Perkin' is super short but sweet.
Review: Originally released in 2014 and celebrating its ten-year anniversary this year, Cope would serve as the fourth full-length from Atlanta alternative rock outfit Manchester Orchestra. Following on from the breakout success of 2009's Mean Everything To Nothing, and the critical and commercial acclaim awarded to 2011's sombre and expansive Simple Math, primary songwriter Andy Hull sought to restore some of his project's earlier post-hardcore proclivities with this raw, jagged-edged batch of crunching indie-core bangers, all recorded in-house at their (at the time) newly built home-studio. Both self-described as an "unrelenting and unapologetically heavy 38 minutes of rock" and elaborated upon as "Whereas Simple Math was a different palate with each song, a different colour, I wanted this to be black and red the whole time;" utilising their expanded platform and popularity, Cope was the sonic risk necessary to rediscover creative self-fulfilment and deliver some of Manchester Orchestra's darkest, most cathartic, and emotionally charged material to date.
Review: The Original Jazz Classics Series turns its attention here to the one and only Miles Davis, who worked with his quintet for the boldly titled Workin' With The Miles Davis Quintet album. This period back in the mid-50s was a halcyon one for Davis and jazz and for that reason the band is often called one of the best in jazz history. Alongside Davis on his trusty trumpet, John Coltrane was on tenor sax, with piano from Red Garland, Paul Chambers on bass and Philly Joe Jones on the sticks. This new version of this classic record has been remastered from original analogue tapes and been pressed to 180g vinyl so its sounds superb.
Review: Released in 1960 on Riverside, The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery was recorded in just two days at Reeves Sound Studios in New York City. With a small group featuring Tommy Flanagan on piano, Percy Heath on bass and Albert Heath on drums, this album showcases Montgomery's groundbreaking thumb-picking technique and use of octaves. Praised as the pinnacle of his studio work, the album was a game-changer on the US jazz scene and cemented Wes Montgomery as one of the era's most influential guitarists.
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