Norm Amadio has long been regarded as one of this country's finest jazz pianists.
In a career that now spans six decades he has performed and/or recorded with a star-studded roster of artists that includes such legendary figures as Miles Davis, Stan Getz, Peggy Lee, Chet Baker, Lester Young and Zoot Sims.
He has distinguished himself not just as a pianist and accompanist but as a bandleader and as a music director for many radio and television shows.
He has been a mover and a shaker in the Canadian music community since the years immediately following the end of the Second World War when he began drawing together many of his contemporaries for performances and late night jam sessions at venues in and around greater Toronto.
And at 81 Amadio is still a going concern, as evidenced by his latest offering, a nine-song set recorded in September of this year with some of this country's finest jazz instrumentalists and vocalists.
Entitled simply Norm Amadio and Friends, the exceedingly delightful record was produced by Prince Edward Island-based producer Andrew A. Melzer who also wrote seven of the nine songs here and co-wrote the other two, one of them with award-winning tunesmith Marc Jordan.
This is an album of many shades, colours and textures, all of them pleasing.
There are elements of several different styles of jazz here, from swing and be-bop to Latin jazz and cafÉ jazz. There are also some fine jazz ballads. The mix strikes a good balance between the traditional and the contemporary, between the upbeat and the laidback.
Most of the tracks on this set, which is distributed by Panda Digital, are instrumentals, but four feature guest vocalists Jackie Richardson and Jordan, each of whom is on two tracks.
The players featured on the album are all top drawer.
In addition to Amadio, who remains a force to be reckoned with at the keyboard, the lineup includes horn player Guido Basso on trumpet and flugelhorn, sax player Phil Dwyer and guitarist Red Schwager, all of whom we had the good fortune of attracting to the P.E.I. Jazz and Blues Festival last summer.
Norm Amadio and Friends includes three vintage bonus tracks, all recorded by Amadio in 1966 with his trio, which featured bass player Bob Price and drummer Stan Perry. One of those tracks, You're The One For Me, features a fine vocal performance by Tommy Ambrose.
This set is easy on the head and good for the soul. Choice offerings include I Love You That Way, The World Is Going To The Dogs, 'Round The Bend, All I Need Is You, Out Of The Cool and You're The One for Me.
(Rating: 3 ½ stars out of 5)
In August of 1992, Nirvana headlined the much-touted Reading Festival in the U.K., delivering an intense, high-energy performance many fans view as one of the high points of their brief but hugely successful career.
That concert has just been released on DVD in all its glory, coming out in not one but two versions, a DVD-only package and a limited edition CD plus DVD Deluxe Edition.
The DVD, the mere thought of which will likely make some fans go weak in the knees, features 25 songs, among them such classic Nirvana offerings as Smells Like Teen Spirit, All Apologies, About A Girl, Come As You Are and Blew.
While Nevermind accounts for the bulk of the material on this DVD, there are bits and pieces from throughout the band's career, including material like Dumb, tourettes and the aforementioned All Apologies, which had yet to be released on any of the band's albums at that point.
Kerrang Magazine ranked Nirvana's performance at Reading at number one on its 100 Gigs That Shook The World list. Many of their fans, I suspect, will agree after viewing this video, which is a full-fledged frontal assault on the senses, led by the late, great Kurt Cobain.
The Reading show has also been released in CD-only format and on vinyl. If you've got any money left after Christmas and Nirvana was one of the bands that rocked your world you'd do well to pick up this set.
(Rating: 3 stars out of 5)
Doug Gallant, a reporter with The Guardian,
writes his music review column for
The Guardian every week. He welcomes comments at dgallant@theguardian.
pe.ca or 629-6000, ext. 6057.
