Larry Kart

Irving Berlin: A Hundred Years (CBS). Assembled to pay tribute to Berlin`s 100th birthday, this two-record set is such an odd blend of valuable vintage performances, forgettable oddities and just...

Out at Last (Space Ship Love; Tee-Ni-Chi). Space Ship Love, which consists of Chicago guitarist Sam Thomas and vocalist Maja Rios, plus a shifting but able supporting cast, is an...

Eddie (Eddie Rabbitt, RCA). Eddie Rabbitt is back. This hot, pop-oriented LP is characterized by very tight instrumentation, mostly-fast songs and Rabbitt`s Elvis-ish vocal approach. Beginning with the sizzling ''She`s...

I Hear a Rhapsody (Don Friedman; Empathy). Admirers of the late Bill Evans ought to be aware of Don Friedman`s music. Remembered by some as the best of the first...

Easily Slip Into Another World (Henry Threadgill; Novus). Saxophonist-composer Henry Threadgill`s previous album, ''You Know the Number,'' was one of last year`s major jazz events, and this album surely will...

Don Byas on Blue Star (Emarcy; 69.23). Certainly among the greatest and most personal of all the Coleman Hawkins-influenced tenor saxophonists, Don Byas settled in Europe in 1946 and lived...

The Individualism of Gil Evans (Verve; 68:23). Evans, the celebrated composer-arranger-pianist who died Mar. 20, could have no better memorial than this recently reissued album. It preserves, in significantly more...

Dancing in the Dark (Sonny Rollins, Fantasy). Hopeful doubt is the mood each new Sonny Rollins album seems to inspire in longtime fans of the great tenor saxophonist, as one...

Tribute to Benny Goodman (Jess Stacy, Atlantic). Recorded in 1954 and 1955 and long out-of-print, pianist Jess Stacy`s Goodman salute makes a welcome return on Atlantic`s bargain-priced Jazzlore series. The...

The Symphony of a Jazz Piano (George Wallington, Interface, 54:51). One of the earliest and most gifted bebop pianists, George Wallington left the scene in the late 1950s to run...