Milt Jackson, Ray Brown and Stanley Turrentine exhibit Real Jazz

Times change. The great mid and late 20th century jazz generation is now represented on numerous LP recordings, CD reissues, and newly released digital live recordings. Thankfully so. Most previously known "rare recordings" by the Bebop leaders, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell and Dizzy Gillespie, are available in the mp3 format since at least ten years, and releases of the following generation of veterans' live appearances are to follow.

Real Jazz is a good representation of mainstream jazz. It features an all-star group with supreme bassist Ray Brown, vibraphone expressionist Milt Jackson with pianist Cedar Walton and drummer Mickey Roker, and steamy tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine on three tracks. The live recording was made in 1978 in mono, and is unfortunately on the short side being only half-an-hour long. It is originally a part of Brown's tape collections of his live performances in Europe in the 70s and 80s. This was recorded on cassette, and the quality is even in digital less than studio standard. But the fluid music, which ought to be the primary attention here, compensates any technical shortcomings, and the album can be considered of historical worthiness.

The set starts with "Here's That Rainy Day", a thoughtful and lyrical introduction by Jackson, and continues to "If I Were A Bell". The sounds by Walton and Jackson are carefully harmonized for bell effects. "The Way You Look Tonight" is a fast-bop show for both Turrentine and Jackson, with that grandly steady and soothing pulsation by Brown and Roker underneath. Two originals conclude the set, "Sugar" by Turrentine and "Milton's Blues" by Jackson. All improvisations are exemplary 'Real Jazz', relaxed listenings in the deeply rooted tradition which all these gentlemen have absorbed, developed and passed on. The short interviews with Ray Brown and Milt Jackson between the tunes are interesting details. Roughly at the same time with this recording, Denmark experienced the height of its own wave in the same genre, which is now a part of the past as well. Kenny Drew, Ed Thigpen and Niels-Henning Ørsted-Pedersen, among others stood for a scene in Copenhagen, which due to Thigpen's recent passing now has turned the page for the next generation of jazz greats.