60 Years of Delmark Jazz Celebrated.

Since Bob Koester founded Delmar Records in St. Louis in 1953, Delmark Records has issued many important jazz recordings and over the years has built a catalog ranging from traditional New Orleans and Chicago style jazz to the first albums by members of the Art Ensemble of Chicago. It continues to produce new recordings that cover the entire range of jazz styles. Celebrating its 60 years, Delmark has issued a new compilation Delmark 60 Years Of Jazz that provides a small sampling of the jazz that is available on the label.

The twelve selections cannot convey the full range of jazz that Delmark has issued, but includes selections that range from the modernism of Josh Berman & His Gang reinventing the Austin Hill Gang twenties classic Sugar, as if it was an out-take from Eric Dolphy’s Out To Lunch, to The Fat Babies’ traditionalist revival of Fletcher Henderson’s The Stampede, from this ensemble’s most recent Delmark effort.

The earliest selection here is a 1952 rendition of the trad jazz warhorse, That’s a Plenty by St. Louis trumpeter Dewey Jackson and followed by a bouncy original by the marvelous flautist Nicole Mitchell. An early Lockjaw Davis rendition of Lover from a forthcoming “Honkers and Shouters - Volume 4” is followed by Ernest Dawkins’ straight ahead take on Coltrane’s tribute to Paul Chambers Mr. P.C., and Ira Sullivan backed by the Jim Holman Trio on Benny Golson's Along Came Betty.
 
Free bop can be heard on Rob Mazurek’s Spiral Mercury, Kahil El Zabar’s Ritual Trio on Crumb-Puck-U-Lent, with saxophonist Ari Brown and the late violinist Billy Bang, and Jason Adasiewicz’s vibes led trio on Bees. Other tracks include a strong Red Holloway track with organist Chris Foreman and the great Sonny Stitt tearing into Miles Davis’ Four with Don Patterson on organ and Billy Pierce on drums.

There is a nice balance of recent and older recordings and the more contemporary styled selections strike me as not being too far out and should be accessible to most listeners. For those familiar with Delmark’s blues recordings, this and other samplers may be a way to get introduced to the diverse offerings available.

I received a review copy from Delmark who have a companion sampler relating to Blues that I will post about in a few days. Here is Kahil El Zabar’s Ritual Trio featuring Billing Bang

Rob Mazurek's Pulsar Quartet's Stellar Pulsations

Chicago cornetist and composer Rob Mazurek brings seven compositions to a new recording by his Pulsar Quartet, Stellar Pulsations (Delmark) . Like Mazurek, pianist Angelica Sanchez, bass guitarist Matthew Lux and drummer John Herndon on drums, all are members of the acclaimed Exploding Star Orchestra and bring their talents to the compositions that mix melodic freedom in shifting contexts that range from emphasizing lyricism as well as bring order to what sounds like chaos. In his liner notes, Jeff Parker observes “The music is all about sound: sound as matter, visual sound,sound as motion, sound in motion. This music is four individuals moving together through and within time, creating color that is sound.”

The titles of the seven compositions on Stellar Pulsations refer to the various planets in our solar system although one does not have to be a science fiction disciple to appreciate the performances. Mazurek has a bright tone, although often playing in an introspective manner. Still he is capable of blazing furies as on the opening Primitive Jupiter, with pianist Sanchez’s use of chords and thundering lines adding aural contrast to the leaders play while the rhythm duo rumbles underneath. In contrast Magic Saturn displays a more lyrical side to Mazurek and his quartet with him making very nice use of a mute. 

Spiritual Mars opens in a free manner with the leader floating over the free backing. Drummer Herndon takes a solo break on this before the group rides this out quite energetically. Its perhaps the most ‘out’ performance on Stellar Pulsations. Spiral Mercury, features more vibrant playing with excellent solos form Sanchez and Mazurek, while Spanish Venus has a relaxed feel with more lyricism from the leader’s use of a mute as well as Sanchez’s spare piano. 

Mazurek's imaginative music and the Pulsar Quartet’s mix of lyricism and fire result in the strong, fresh and energetic performances of Stellar Pulsations.

I received a review copy from Delmark Records.  Here is a video of the Pulsar Quartet in performance.