This beautiful, Latin-themed album by bass superpower Ron Carter almost can stand in as a Stephen Scott showcase, for the young pianist’s verve and finesse are in evidence from start to finish. Carter reserves plenty of solo room (and a number of melody statements) for himself, however. Drummer Harvey…

The great Ron Carter continues his intermittent love affair with Brazilian music, joined by a somewhat unlikely cast of characters. Guitarist Bill Frisell delivers yet another of his superb sideman performances, including a pinpoint harmonic dissection of “Goin’ Home,” Carter’s bossa nova adaptation of Dvorak’s “New World Symphony.” The…

Ronnie Foster’s debut album Two Headed Freap is a set of contemporary funky soul-jazz from the early ’70s, which means it sounds closer to the soundtrack of a lost blaxploitation flick than Back at the Chicken Shack, Pt. 2. Foster certainly does display a debt to Jimmy Smith, but…

“Let me begin by saying that this is not the greatest jazz album you’ve ever heard.” So states critic/DJ Harry Abraham in the liner notes on the back of Sweet Revival, Ronnie Foster’s second album as a leader. Abraham was obviously trying to deflect criticism that this record is,…

This Blue Note CD reissue is a rarity in its own way for it features the R&Bish singer Marlena Shaw in a more spontaneous setting than usual with a trio led by pianist George Gaffney at the 1973 Montreux Jazz Festival. It is not too surprising that Shaw found her greatest successes in pop/soul music…

For 1973’s dynamite Realization and Inside Out, trumpeter Eddie Henderson reassembled most of the legendary Herbie Hancock sextet he’d been part of. In 1975 after leaving Capricorn for Blue Note, he kept elements of that group together for Sunburst, his label debut, with some major changes: George Dukeplayed keyboards in place of Hancock; bassist Paul Jackson was replaced by Alphonso Johnson, and…

Switching over to Blue Note, which was then reaping a fortune with Donald Byrd’s R&B outfit, Eddie Henderson pursued a harder, earthier, more structured, funk-driven sound on his first album, while maintaining some of his marvelously spacier instincts for spice. Henderson continued to keep several components of the Herbie…

Like any other installment in Blue Note’s Cover Series, Portrait of the Isley Brothers: Harvest for the World finds a contemporary jazz artist — in this case, Ronnie Laws — reinterpreting an entire pop or soul album as a jazz album. Laws decided to cover the Isley Brothers’ popular…

Ronnie Laws’ performs eight songs associated with the late, great saxophonist Eddie Harris. In some spots Laws (whose other recordings are in the worlds of jazz-funk and pop) closely copies his early inspiration, but when he tries to sound like himself, he comes across as a fine improviser. Laws…

Ronnie Laws has always been an R&B-oriented saxophonist miscast in the jazz world, starting with his early association with the rapidly declining Blue Note label. His debut album (reissued on CD) has a couple of decent melodies (the opening “Always There” is the most memorable), some soulful tenor and…