Recording of the Month

Ryan Truesdell: Shades of Sound: Gil Evans Project Live at Jazz Standard Vol.2

Truesdell, conductor; 23-piece orchestra

Outside in Music 2014/2025 (reviewed as CD). 2025. Truesdell, Dave Rivello, prods.; James Farber, Tyler McDiarmid, Geoff Countryman, engs.

Performance ****½

Sonics ****½

Ryan Truesdell launched his Gil Evans Project in 2012 with Centennial. It contained 10 Evans arrangements, including two original Evans compositions, that had never been recorded. The project was made possible by the fact that Truesdell had been granted access to the Evans family archives. Evans was a towering figure who had been responsible for some of the greatest recordings in the history of jazz, like his own Out of the Cool and Miles Davis's Sketches of Spain. Evans died in 1988, and Centennial was something the jazz world never expected to have again: a brand-new Gil Evans record. Truesdell assembled a large orchestra containing many of the best jazz musicians in New York and used an eminent engineer, James Farber.

Alison Krauss & Union Station: Arcadia

Down The Road Records (16/44.1 FLAC, Qobuz). 2025. Alison Krauss & Union Station, prod.

Performance *****

Sonics ****

When singer/fiddler Alison Krauss was a teenager with a solo album under her belt, she teamed up with some fellow musicians to form Union Station. Starting in 1989, Rounder Records released the band's albums regularly—seven of them including the soundtrack to Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?—ending with 2011's Paper Airplane. Although they continued to play together, most notably in a 2014 tour with Willie Nelson, Krauss and Union Station didn't make it back into the studio for 14 years.

Now Rounder Records' founders have a new label, Down The Road Records, and Krauss and the band have finally reteamed for another album and a major tour.

Joe Henderson: Multiple

Milestone/Craft CR 00845 (LP). 1973/2025. Orrin Keepnews, prod.; Elvin Campbell, Al Vanderbilt, engs.

Performance ****½

Sonics ****½

The essence of jazz is supposed to be the free-flowing exploration of ideas and expressions. Yet hardcore fans of the music have the unnerving habit of supporting and denigrating the work of the same player from record to record. Artistic growth is often seen as a negative. Even devoted fans might not follow an artist who veers off into a stylistic direction they abhor. The classic example is Miles Davis, who went through several artistic reinventions during his long career. Many of those who love Kind of Blue recoil from Dark Magus, On the Corner, or You're Under Arrest. So-called fusion—adding influences from rock and/or funk—is most often the villain in these judgments.

After starting out as a hard-bop devotee in the early 1960s, with such classic Blue Note sessions as Page One, Our Thing, and Inner Urge, Joe Henderson grew curious about funk, about adding it to his jazz mix. In 1973, on Orrin Keepnews's Milestone label (now owned by the Concord Music Group), Henderson cut Multiple, one of the highlights of his discography.

Mozart: Horn Concertos

Alec Frank-Gemmill, B-flat horn; Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Nicholas McGegan, cond.

BIS-2635 (reviewed in native 24/96). 2024. Thore Brinkmann, prod.; Brinkmann, Håkan Ekman, engs.

Performance *****

Sonics ****½

When I recollect the soundtrack to my acid-tinged summer of 1967, several LPs stand out: The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's you-know-what, The Rolling Stones' Their Satanic Majesties, Richie Havens's Mixed Bag, and Dennis Brain's equally famed recording of the Mozart Horn Concertos, with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Herbert von Karajan. Though all of them sounded potent and execrable, in equal parts, through our starving–ex-student record players, neither the Mozart's monophonic provenance nor the too-distant sound of Brain's horn could diminish the joy it brought me...

How wonderful it is to revisit these tuneful, often jolly concertos played by a superb horn virtuoso, Alec Frank-Gemill, backed by the Swedish Chamber Orchestra conducted by one of the world's most distinguished period-practice authorities, Nicholas McGegan.

Elvis Costello: King of America & Other Realms

UMG 602488514378 (6 CDs). 2024. Costello and Henry "T Bone" Burnett, original album prod., Costello, Steve Berkowitz, reissue prods.; William Berry Jackson, David Dominguez, Larry Hirsch, Mark Linett, others, engs.

Performance ****½

Sonics ****

By the mid-1980s, Elvis Costello was in dire need of a change in musical direction. As he recounts in the extensive new liner notes, he was "playing in a band that suddenly sounded like four strangers." Seeking inspiration, he decided the path forward was to use his own name, Declan MacManus, in the credits and to indulge his love and respect for American music.

Faces at the BBC, Complete BBC Concert & Session Recordings 1970–1973

Rhino R2726026 603497827824 (8 CDs/1 Blu-ray). 2024. Rob Caiger, prod.; Nick Robbins, Dave Corbett, engs.

Performance *****

Sonics ***½

The record business was awash in money and power. Vinyl LPs were still five bucks, and while the pressings could be suspect, the music-buying public still snapped them up en masse. Even in that world of gatefolds, inserts, and textured covers, Faces' Ooh La La remains an impressive sleight of hand. Made up of remnants from two other bands—The Small Faces and The Jeff Beck Group—the band's five colorful louts could have been musical world-beaters, but in the end were more interested in having a good time.

Miguel Zenón: Golden City

Zenón, alto saxophone; eight others

Miel Music MZ10 (CD). 2024. Zenón, prod.; Ryan Streber, eng.

Performance ****½

Sonics ****½

In the current, not-so-new millennium, there have been very few jazz musicians more decorated than Miguel Zenón. Among the many accolades he has received are Grammy awards and nominations, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a MacArthur Fellowship (known as the "Genius Grant"). He has lived at or near the top of the major jazz polls for years on his instrument, the alto saxophone.