Capitol Sessions, The - Mike Melvoin & Charlie Haden/Bill Henderson

Advantages: Reinvigorated Davis, awesomely funky, with a superb band.
Disadvantages: You're kidding right?

...boxer who destroyed all of his opponents, and lived life in the fastest of the fast lanes. Cars, women, fine clothes, newspaper headlines, and a nation that baulked as a negro stood at the pinnacle of his profession. There was an awful lot for Miles to identify with. The energy on this record is palpable. A tangible electricity flows through the 2 tracks that make up the standard edition release. Davis was never just Davis though, in the early days of be-bop he was in the shadows of Charlie 'Yardbird' Parker, with the birth of cool jazz it was Davis and Gil Evans and his quintet with Coltrane, Bill Evans, 'Cannonball' Adderley, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb. Later came the groundbreaking quintet sitting alongside Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams, Ron Carter, Wayne Shorter and perhaps most importantly of all, in the producer's booth... Read review

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Advantages: Great jazz tunes from the Golden Age
Disadvantages: None

...of microphones was to he left, the other two the right. Mostly, they didn't fail, so the company was left with two good master discs. In order not to waste them, they would produce record pressings from both masters, labelling them up to differentiate the two masters. Apparently a jazz historian found out about this and was able, by tracking down two records of the same performance, but produced from the different masters, to re-master them as a brand new stereo release, using the original recordings. The St Louis Shuffle from Fletcher Henderson is a good example of the St Louis style of jazz, combining jazz and blues. Actually, Fletcher Henderson did more than this, he really put his own mark on this, by a variety of musical techniques and instruments. Based on this tune, I think he was robably more genuinely experimental than people like Charlie... Read review

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Advantages: Catchy Tunes and "Bad Luck Sammie"
Disadvantages: VERY hard to find!!!!

...I took me months to find this album! I’d heard a song called “Bad Luck Sammie” and it was so catchy I’d spent months singing it, so I decided that I HAD to buy the album. Easier said than done. Banda Macho was The Figgs second album (the first being “Low Fi at Society High”) and it was released on Capitol Records. As Capitol is a major a major label, I thought it would be easy to track down! As my local indie record store claimed it didn’t exist I ended up searching second hand US websites and eventually found it for the princely sum of $3! The Figgs are Mike Gent (guitar, vocals), Pete Donnelly (bass), Guy Lyons (lead guitar) and Pete Hayes (drums). They play a kind of summery punk/pop although with the emphasis firmly on pop. Think a cross between Green Day and Soul Asylum with a bit... Read review

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