Red Mitchell Archive
Brad MYERS & Michael SHARFE – Sanguinaria (Hopefulsongs) – Colloquy
Brad MYERS & Michael SHARFE – Sanguinaria (Hopefulsongs) – Colloquy 13214, 59:49 (1/30/17) ****½: (Brad Myers – guitar/ Michael Sharfe – doublebass/ Dan Dorff Jr. – drums/ Tom Buckley – drums/ Marc Wolfley – percussion/ Dan Karlsberg – melodica) Outstanding arrangements for guitar & bass duo rooted in classic jazz and midwestern Americana aesthetic. The new release Sanguinaria (Hopefulsongs) by well-established Cincinnati musicians Brad Myers and Michael Sharfe makes an immediate visual impression. A perfectly-rendered botanical illustration of the bloodroot plant is framed on the lower half of all six panels of the fold-out sleeve. On the cover, the subterranean root emerges into leaf and flower. Dabs of watercolor and a couple of industrious ants add detail. It is among the most striking images I have ever seen on a CD and is suggestive of a special artistic care and purpose. Mr. Myers explains in the liner notes the choice of the image as a metaphor for the duo format. “The plant sometimes produces a rare double flower… and when pierced or broken, it bleeds a reddish sap, which accounts for its Latin name.” There are multiple meanings here – that which is hidden, nourished over time, vulnerable to destruction, […]
Jim HALL (guitar) & Red MITCHELL (bass) – Valse Hot: Live at the Sweet Basil 1978 – ArtistsShare
Jim HALL (guitar) & Red MITCHELL (bass) – Valse Hot: Live at the Sweet Basil 1978 [TrackList follows] – ArtistsShare 0148, 50:00 (10/7/16) ****½: Unreleased recordings of a memorable 1978 encounter between Jim Hall and Red Mitchell. I never had the chance to see Red Mitchell play in person. A couple of years after his death in 1992, I found myself standing in his house on the occasion of a house concert, staring at his bass. There it was, a 200-year-old German-made instrument, rather battered and noble-looking. I really wanted to pluck the low string, for unlike any other bass, it was a low C. For a bassist, it was close to the Holy Grail. With Mitchell, one of the giants of the art form, gone, it is rewarding to get a lost recording and to once again hear the most distinctive instrumental voice in jazz played in Mr. Mitchell’s inimitable style, his bass tuned like a cello to C-G-D-A. The session on document here is a Red Mitchell/ Jim Hall duo performance at the Sweet Basil from back in 1978, a recording of which had previously been issued, a highly sought-after item in the LP days. Other analog tapes […]
Red Mitchell And Friends – “What I Am” – Caprice Records
This session may have some historical interest to jazz fans.
The Songs Of Bobby Troup – Bethlehem Records mono
An appealing and approachable performer.
Stereotypes Audio
Cembal d’amour
Pure Pleasure / Speakers Corner
Cedille
