New Releases Spotlight: Week of February 16, 2015

This week in The Music Lounge, music director Paul Abella features new music from three legends of Jazz…

First off, ECM recently released what I am assuming are Kenny Wheeler’s last recordings.  Wheeler passed away last year leaving an impressive body of work, both with Dave Holland’s groups of the 80’s, but also on his own.  It was a pleasure to see Songs for Quintet come into the station, and an even bigger pleasure to hear it.  Wheeler’s lyrical phrasing, beautiful choice of notes and wit are in abundance, even at the late stage of his life when this was recorded.  While it lacks the star power of Wheeler’s classics like "Deer Wan" or "Gnu High," the playing (especially Wheeler’s) is as strong as ever.

Eddie Henderson is the latest heavyweight to record for NYC’s Smoke Sessions label.  Collective Portrait was recorded at Smoke, and it features an all-star cast, with George Cables on keyboards, Carl Allen on drums, Doug Weiss on bass and the one and only Gary Bartz on the alto sax.  Bartz lights a fire underneath Henderson whenever they’re both on stage together, and massive props to Henderson, who covers all facets of his career, from funky, Rhodes driven jams to standards to an explosive take on Freddie Hubbard’s "First Light."

Finally, legendary drummer Tootie Heath has just put out a second disc with bassist Ben Street and The Bad Plus’ Ethan Iverson on piano.  This disc is called Philadelphia Beat, and it gives just about as full of a picture of a musical life as you could expect one disc to do.  If you’ve only heard Iverson with The Bad Plus, you’re in for a big treat.  The explosive and somewhat avant-garde style that Iverson uses with his best known group is replaced here with a nuance and self-restraint that you might never otherwise guess that he had.  Ben Street has always been a very grooving bass player and that doesn’t change here.  What might be the most surprising part of this disc is the versatility that Heath shows off, from second line tambourine on "Con Alma" to straight up relaxed funk on a pretty cool version of Donna Summer’s "I Will Survive."

Next week, Paul will be back as he profiles three discs from up-and-coming heavyweights Vijay Iyer, Rez Abbasi and Chicago’s own Scott Hesse in The Music Lounge.