Bassist John Lee runs Jazz Legacy productions and he has been releasing some fantastic recordings. I just purchased three and they all have their own musical personality, yet the thing all three recordings have in common (in addition to extraordinary music) is that they are all excellent examples of straight-ahead, swing, swang, swingin’ jazz:
- Pianist Benny Green has been a long time (well, not that long ’cause Benny is a young man) favorite of mine because of his musical and historical knowledge of the music, his deep, deep love and respect for the music and because he always puts his own stamp on whatever he does. Benny’s new release (available only as a pre-order unless you purchase right from Jazz Legacy’s website – available 4/12/11) is titled Source and Benny pays tribute to some of his mentors he learned from along his journey to becoming one of today’s most respected musicians in the jazz world. Benny’s partners on this album are two of my favorite people with the last name of Washington – bassist Peter and drummer Kenny. If Peter and Kenny listed everyone they have performed with, the paper trail would go from NYC to L.A. (at least)! Another bonus – Benny wrote the wonderful liner notes, giving the CD an intimate “feel.” The music always speaks for itself and is the main reason we buy it, so do yourself a favor and…buy it!
- Trombonist Michael Dease is a a new discovery (for me) and I stumbled upon his recording the same day I visited the Jazz Legacy website to buy Benny’s CD. I listed to a few samples from the website and fell in love with Michael’s sound. John Lee describes Michael’s sound in the liner notes: “it sounded like J.J. Johnson and Frank Rosolino had reincarnated as one cat (with a little Curtis Fuller thrown in for good taste”). Michael’s trio on this recording is a true “A Team” of musicians: pianist Cyrus Chestnut, bassist Rufus Reid and drummer Gene Jackson. Special guests join Michael, too: Claudio Roditi, Roy Hargrove, Eric Alexander, and Mark Whitfield, just to name a few. Also a couple of the “very young” lions of jazz: saxophonist Sharel Cassity and a young guitarist named Yotam (I’ve enjoyed playing Yotam’s CD on my radio show on KRML; Yotam is a very talented young man). Do yourself a favor once again and…buy it! 
Oh , and the title of this CD is Grace.
- Last, but of course, not least, veteran pianist Monty Alexander has a new one out and as far as a star rating – 5,000 stars! The recording is titled Uplift and features Hassan Shakur on bass and either Herlin Riley or Frits Landesbergen on drums. The tracks are from live concerts all over the world, recorded between 2007 and 2010 and if you’ve ever had the good fortune to hear Monty live (I have), you know that Monty swings his you-know-what off and this recording is a great representation of the music Monty brings to the world. Your jazz collection will thank you for adding this one to it!
Jazz Legacy does a great job of packaging the CDs and I love their informative liner notes. Kudos to John Lee and the rest of his team for using a larger-size font so you can actually read the liner notes. Some beautiful photography, too by Tom Haynes. So, now it is time for you to check out Jazz Legacy Productions.
Yours in jazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz,
Marla
