Cool jazz for hot summer nights, part 2

July 2, 4:57 PMMiami Jazz and Blues ExaminerBob Weinberg

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Cool vibes: Gary Burton works mallet magic. (Photo: Ted Kurland and Associates)

Here are some additional recent jazz releases to keep you chilled out during the summer swelter. Check out my last post for part 1, and let me know what you spin to keep cool, other than the ceiling fan.

Gary Burton, Pat Metheny, Steve Swallow and Antonio Sanchéz: Quartet Live (Concord). Like twin Popsicles, flavorful refreshment can be found in the playing of co-leaders Gary Burton and Pat Metheny, two of the coollest instrumentalists in modern jazz. Burton's chiming, four-mallet vibraphone mastery and Metheny's yearning, big-sky guitar tone make for perfect summer listening. On this live 2007 set, captured at the venerable jazz club Yoshi's in Oakland, longtime comrades Burton, Metheny and bassist Steve Swallow revisit tunes from their impressive catalog and invite next-generation drummer Antonio Sanchéz along for the ride. The ensemble buoyantly interprets tunes by colleagues such as Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett and Carla Bley, as well as durable melodies from Burton, Metheny and Swallow. Featuring some searing leads from Metheny, an edgily syncopated take on Burton's sassy "Walter L" represents one of the first tunes the vibist and the then-18-year-old guitarist jammed on together in the '70s. Burton's band had recorded an entire album of Bley's songs, and the two included here — the gorgeous "Olhos de Gato" and the bubbly "Syndrome," the latter featuring some dynamic soloing from the preternaturally spry and toneful Burton —  provide highlights. The set caps off with a fresh read of the Metheny staple "Question and Answer" that shows just how astouding these musicians are — maybe even better — some 35 years after their initial collaborations.

Freddie Hubbard: Without a Song — Live in Europe 1969 (Blue Note). These live vault recordings of trumpet great Hubbard, who passed away in December 2008, are intriguing for several reasons. Previously unreleased (with one exception), the tracks document Hubbard's December 1969 European tour with a quartet that comprised jazz giants Roland Hanna on piano, Ron Carter on bass and Louis Hayes on drums. This was a transitional time for the trumpeter and flugelhornist, who was at the end of his somewhat shaky tenure with Atlantic Records, but had not yet entered the extremely successful CTI phase of his career (his smash album Red Clay would be recorded a month later, in January 1970). Most of these selections comprise standards, and not even the group improv "Space Track" hints at the funky, contemporary-jazz direction Hubbard was heading. Instead, what you hear is one of the most technically adept and soulful trumpeters to ever lift the instrument to his lips, blowing bright and beautiful at the peak of his powers. The band drives hard without straining, and the recording also serves as a reminder of Hanna's melodic genius. Hubbard's playing, as always, was cool as fresh bedsheets.

Jane Bunnett: Embracing Voices (Sunnyside). Canadian saxophonist and flutist Bunnett first encountered Grupo Vocal Desandann in 2000, when she was filming a documentary of her collaborations with Cuban artists on the island. The 10-member vocal choir, whose roots meld Haitian and Cuban ancestry, knocked her sideways. Bunnett finally had the chance to work with the singers again last year, when she brought the group to Alberta to record. The results can be heard on the excellent Embracing Voices. While Desandann remain the primary focus of a few tracks, on others, they operate as a lush, vocal chorus, almost functioning like a string section. Bunnett also brought in some local talent: The careworn, Billie Holiday-like vocals of Molly Johnson and the textured spoken-word performance of Telmary Diaz provide contrast to crystal-voiced singer Kellylee Evans, who penned lyrics to some of Bunnett's compositions. The opening "Sway" features Evans and Desandann conjuring a palm-tousling tropical breeze.

Steve Kuhn Trio WIth Joe Lovano: Mostly Coltrane (ECM). As a young up-and-comer, pianist Kuhn had a chance to work for three months with John Coltrane soon after the iconic saxophonist left the employ of Miles Davis. Kuhn has since gone on to a stellar career, his recordings for the ECM label prized among heavy jazz fans. No question, his short tenure with Trane left a mark. On Mostly Coltrane, the pianist acknowledges the depth of that influence, as he interprets a handful of Trane's more melodic offerings, and taps the spiritual essence that fueled everything the saxophonist played. Joined by trio mates David Finck on bass and Joey Baron on drums, and the great Joe Lovano on tenor, Kuhn nimbly and emotionally dives into Trane's songbook. The opening tracks, "Welcome," "Song of Praise" and "Crescent," make for a particularly adept portrait of an ever-questing artist, which is filled out with some covers that Trane made his own and some of his later, more-abstract works, . Lovano is simply masterful, never falling into slavish imitation of one of jazz's most distinctive tenor voices, but evoking his presence with lush, bluesy lines and occasional tour-de-force overblowing, all of which is played with immense feeling. Kuhn's crystalline tone and emotional complexity prove once again why he's so revered, and his two originals, the solo-piano pieces"With Gratitude" and "Trance," seem like heartfelt odes to the master.