Phases & Stages

Cannonball Adderley

Bill Evans

Lionel Hampton

Rahsaan Roland Kirk

Oscar Peterson

Sonny Rollins

Nina Simone

Jazz Icons’ third DVD series features another seven jazz giants preserved live for the ages. While American TV networks virtually ignored the incomparable musicians who fueled the golden age of jazz, European television was quick to embrace these musical titans. Captured between 1958 and 1975, these performances are invaluable documentations. Most visually compelling of the series is Roland Kirk in his pre-Rahsaan days, multiple reeds dangling from his neck. Playing three to five instruments simultaneously, he’s an astounding one-man horn section. Cannonball Adderley’s horn line is pretty damn impressive, too, with brother Nat and Yusef Lateef joining the altoist with young pianist Joe Zawinul. They smoke through both of their hard bop sets. Saxophone colossus Sonny Rollins (returning to Austin’s Bass Concert Hall May 3), blows up a storm in both a pianoless trio and a quartet, highlighting a fertile period in his illustrious career. Nina Simone takes no prisoners in two riveting sets of largely original material that reflect the civil rights consciousness of the times. Oscar Peterson fronted one of the greatest piano trios of all time with bassist Ray Brown and drummer Ed Thigpen. Hardly breaking a sweat, they swing with faultless precision. Hunched over his piano, Bill Evans is characteristically introspective and impressionistic on five different dates from 1964 to ’75, the last two of which are the only sets to appear in color. Revered saxman Lee Konitz on one track is a pleasant surprise. The odd man out is vibraphonist/bandleader/showman Lionel Hampton, whose entertaining and swinging big-band concert from 1958 is decidedly old-school when viewed in the company of all the other modernists in this collection.

This article appears in October 24 • 2008.