Which albums do you recomend for piano trio jazz blues?

[petros]

I admire the blues playing of Wynton Kelly, Oscar Peterson, Red Garland, Gene Harris, Monty Alexander, Horace Silver and Bobby Timmons. Which albums do you recommend for piano trio jazz blues?

[petros]

Red in Bluesville
Red Garland Trio

Night Train
Oscar Peterson Trio

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

He's not to everybody's taste, but I dig Meade Lux Lewis. Most of the tracks on "Cat House Piano" are with Red Callender and Jo Jones.

[Dr Dave]

Tommy Flanagan's "Ballads And Blues."

Mike LeDonne's "To Each His Own"

[Pete C]

Les McCann's Pacific Jazz work, if you can find it. Unfortunately, this is going for $50 used on Amazon:



A Verve collection is readily available.

Kenny Drew didn't focus on blues per se, but he was mighty funky, and should appeal to a Wynton Kelly fan. I think his best work was done with NHOP for Steeplechase.

Phineas Newborn's Harlem Blues is a great album:

[graypencil]

I'd tossin Oliver Jones, Henry Butler, and Mack Rebennack ( Dr John ) as well.

[Mike Schwartz]

As a huge Gene Harris fan, there's a Concord CD that came out about a year ago called "Live At Otter Crest" recorded quite some time ago in front of an audience somewhere in the Pacific NW

On that one Gene is MEAN!

[eric feng]

I highly recommend Hank Jones,though I don't
know the name of the album,I once heard a great jazz
blues tone from him.That style is a little more "developed"
than Oscar Peterson's work.It is amazing that what he
could do on seemingly simple blues progressions.

[Mike P]

All Blues - Ray Bryant

[chuckyd4]

You cant get much more bluesy than Bobby Timmons. Check out some of his Riverside dates - if you have a subscription to Emusic, most of them are available for download there.

[Bill Barton]

The Atlantic/Rhino 2-CD Les McCann set Relationships has some great trio stuff, plus a slew of collaborations (as you might gather from the title.) I've always found disc two to be pretty much forgettable except for the material with Lou Rawls, but disc one is a mother. If you can find it at a bargain price, well worth checking out.

[Capt. W./TX.]

The Wynton Kelly set titled "Kelly Blue" will be worth your while.

Also: Hampton Hawes was a great blues player in a bop mold; his 50's albums for Contemporary Jazz always featured several blues pieces. Most of them are are still available-thru the Fantasy/Milestone website and (probably) at the DoubleTime Jazz website as well.

The Junior Mance set (on OJC) titled "Junior's Blues" is wonderful. And the Oscar Peterson "Night Train" album is one of my all-time favorite OP sets-a joy forever!

There's a Ray Bryant solo album from the late 50's titled "Alone With The Blues"; I've yet to hear it, but I've never seen anything but good reviews.

[J Lee]

Junior Mance, "Softly As in a Morning Sunrise" (Enja)
Mance, "Junior Mance and His Swinging Piano" (Verve)
+ the earlier Mance recommendation is a really great album too
Red Garland, "A Garland of Red" (my fave of his trio albums)
Gene Harris (as 1/3rd of The Three Sounds), "Feelin' Good) (for example) -- or even that It Club date they released a while back is just fine (not the original Three Sounds, but Harris unleashes some OK stuff)
Wynton Kelly, "Piano"

I totally agree with the Les McCann recommendations. See the above posts for more details on what's actually available. Loads of the Les McCann stuff, esp. on Pacific is great. Some of the classic sides are on the Atlantic box, like "Col. Rykken's[sp?] So. Fried Chicken" etc. I don't believe there's a lot of rereleases of this stuff; however a date including Turrentine and Blue Mitchell, I believe, used to be out on CD, a live date at the Jazz Workshop. Some *astounding* McCann piano on that one.

I was listening to a Ramsey Lewis trio record last night -- different, less outwardly virtuosic than McCann but a great player. I guess "The In Crowd" is still the one to look up, although his version of Charles Brown's "Merry Christmas Baby" on one of the Christmas albums is great, especially if you're a CB fan.

Ray Charles, "The Great Ray Charles" is a no-brainer -- no vocals, great as Mr. Charles may sing, just pure piano in a small group setting.

Charles Brown's own trio recordings (with vocals, almost without exception) reveal a stunningly original player....

Hampton Hawes, I second the rec., especially the Contemporary (I believe?) 3-volume "The Trio" records, with stuff like "Blues the Most," "The Pulpit," and so forth. His trio record of gospels and spirituals, "The Sermon" is recommendable as well (only on LP last time I checked, but a new pressing -- wierd move by his label).

Enjoy!

[J Lee]

Originally posted by graypencil
I'd tossin Oliver Jones, Henry Butler, and Mack Rebennack ( Dr John ) as well.

Yeah! Rebennack's an amazing player -- there's a trio album called "Bluesiana Triangle" with Art Blakey and a bassist whose name I can't remember that's pretty sweet.

"The Brightest Smile in Town" is my favorite solo Dr. John album, but "M.R. plays D.J." is the template and prior album. Actually there's a notorious series of ripped-off studio sessions that's been released again and again under different labels and titles that features some very soulful, 1970s pop fusion songwriting (with overdubs of a small band, unfortunately, but you can still make out the original piano track on some versions). I wouldn't recommend supporting the people behind this dastardly effort by purchasing the album (produced against Dr. John's wishes, and without royalties paid to him -- see his autobiography for details), but maybe someone can make you a dupe.

James Booker's "Junco Partner" is a great solo blues piano record as well; almost everything else he's done is worthwhile for a serious blues scholar as well.

[Bill Barton]

Here's a relatively obscure one to keep an eye out for when you check out the yard sales or used vinyl emporiums:

Lou Stein Trio - Live at the Dome, Jan. 17th, 1981 - Dreamstreet DR-106

"Plain Ol' Blues" and "Pow!" from this one (both Stein *originals*) are particularly great.

[stonemonkts]

One of my favorite bluesy jazz pianists is Horace Parlan. The first two sessions represented in the Mosaic box, "Headin' South" and "Us Three" are trio albums with Parlan, Sam Jones, and Al Harewood. A more recent trio recording which is readily available is "Blue Parlan" with Wilbur Little and former Mingus bandmate Dannie Richmond.

[shrugs]

Originally posted by stonemonkts
One of my favorite bluesy jazz pianists is Horace Parlan. The first two sessions represented in the Mosaic box, "Headin' South" and "Us Three" are trio albums with Parlan, Sam Jones, and Al Harewood. A more recent trio recording which is readily available is "Blue Parlan" with Wilbur Little and former Mingus bandmate Dannie Richmond.

Horace Parlan fo 'sho.

Don't forget about Monk. Everthing he played was drenched in blues.

[Lazy River]

MOODS (Japanese Blue Note) The Three Sounds
"Li'l Darlin'" is taken about as slowly as it was ever played. Lots of soulful playing by Gene Harris and super bass by Andy Simpkins. Other tunes: Love for Sale; Things Ain't What They Used To Be; On Green Dolphin Street; Loose Walk; I'm Beginning to See the Light; Tammy's Breeze (a GH original); Sandu.

[Peterdubya]

Oh Man, I was BLASTING Gene Harris at Otter Crest last night, I LOVE that CD.
ANY Gene Harris fits the bill. The Three Sounds with Stanley Turrentine is fantastic too.
Most any Wynton Kelly or Red Garland will fit the bill too.

[Lazy River]

Originally posted by Peterdubya
Oh Man, I was BLASTING Gene Harris at Otter Crest last night, I LOVE that CD.
ANY Gene Harris fits the bill. The Three Sounds with Stanley Turrentine is fantastic too.
Most any Wynton Kelly or Red Garland will fit the bill too.

Ditto to your mention of Wynton Kelly and Red Garland. Another guy I'd add is Art Hillery. I heard him once with Milt "Bags" Jackson, and he was wonderful! Last time I caught Art he was with Teddy Edwards at Jazz-at-the-A-Frame. He and Teddy were big-time buddies from Mississippi. Though Art was born in New Orleans, he (like Teddy) spent his youth in Jackson, Mississippi. Among lots of other stuff, Art is also on Harry "Sweets" Edison's FOR MY PALS, a Pablo CD w/ "Sweets," Buster Cooper (now living in Florida), the late players Curtis Peagler and Andy Simpkins, and one of the Heath bros., Albert "Tootie."