Chris M. Slawecki

Bill Wyman Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings Collector’s Edition Box Set Proper American 2011

From all accounts, founding member Bill Wyman resigned from the m: Rolling Stones in 1992 because he was weary of the frantic pace of life as bassist for “The World’s Greatest Rock ‘n’ Roll Band.”

Wyman’s bass provided the band’s solid rhythmic foundation and he seemed rather comfortable with his corresponding image as “the quiet Stone.” His bass seems more often felt than heard throughout the Stones’ catalog, with two glorious exceptions: his rubber-band line stretches then catapults “Miss You” into a seamless convergence of dance and rock, and where would “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” be without Wyman’s stomping, prowling low-end growl? Left to share crumpets, most likely, with Eleanor Rigby…

It was a long time coming, but for singer Erin Dickins, recording her debut solo album Nice Girls (Champagne Records, 2010) proved well worth the wait.

Several musical lifetimes ago, Dickins was a founding member of m: Manhattan Transfer and appears on their first album, Jukin’ (Capitol, 1971). While she has remained close with m: Tim Hauser, another ManTran founding member, Dickins has since performed and recorded with artists in an impressive range of styles, from m: James Brown to Leonard Cohen, from m: Jaco Pastorius to Bette Midler, and too many others to mention. Not even Dickins remembers them all. “Drummer Ed Shockley used to call me ‘everybody’s everything’ because that is what is required of a studio singer,” Dickins recalls. “Being whatever personality that they were looking for that day…

At its jazz-rock core, Marbin is the Israeli duo of guitarist Dani Rabin and saxophonist Danny Markovitch, sort of a Jewish version of m: Walter Becker and m: Donald Fagen, the essence of m: Steely Dan. Bassist Steve Rodby and drummer m: Paul Wertico, who cumulatively won 18 Grammy Awards as members of the m: Pat Metheny Group, provide the rhythm support for Marbin’s second album and MoonJune debut; Wertico herewith returns the favor of Marbin’s melodic contributions to the drummer’s 2009 release Impressions of a City (Chicago Sessions)…

Miles Davis Quintet: Live in Europe 1967: The Bootleg Series Volume 1 compiles an enormous amount of simply incredible music: three CDs and one DVD spanning five European performances that the trumpeter recorded in late 1967 with m: Wayne Shorter (saxophone), m: Herbie Hancock (piano), m: Ron Carter (bass) and m: Tony Williams (drums)–what was known, even then, as Davis’ second great quintet–as part of a “Newport Jazz Festival in Europe” tour produced by George Wein. (Most of the concert footage in Clint Eastwood’s acclaimed 1988 documentary Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser comes from this same tour.) The CDs cover concerts in Belgium and Denmark, plus a long Paris show; the DVD presents performances in Germany and Sweden…

Saxophonist m: Charlie “Bird” Parker is primarily remembered as an incendiary, revolutionary, improvisatory soloist, but he often expressed his style through composition, and many of Parker’s original tunes became part of the modern jazz canon. Latin Bird, saxophonist T.K. Blue’s label debut for Motema, his ninth release as a leader, reworks eight of Parker’s tunes in Afro-Cuban, Brazilian, Caribbean and related rhythmic styles…