Criss Cross Jazz Label

[Leroy Bad]

I discovered the Criss Cross Jazz label several years ago, and I like to go there and sample albums from their large catalog going back as far as the 80s. Most of the artist it house I've never heard before, but they all are straight ahead hard bop musicians on a variety of instruments. Over time I've picked up almost all of the albums by saxophonist Tim Warfield. My favorite album being A Whisper In The Midnight. I would like to branch out a bit and get some recommendations of other artist and albums on the label though so what do you think of Criss Cross Jazz?

[paul secor]

I liked Criss Cross when they began and were recording the old guys. Not so much these days with the new guys.

[mjzee]

I've always liked this one...good, straight-ahead jazz:

[Mark Stryker]

I discovered the Criss Cross Jazz label several years ago, and I like to go there and sample albums from their large catalog going back as far as the 80s. Most of the artist it house I've never heard before, but they all are straight ahead hard bop musicians on a variety of instruments. Over time I've picked up almost all of the albums by saxophonist Tim Warfield. My favorite album being A Whisper In The Midnight. I would like to branch out a bit and get some recommendations of other artist and albums on the label though so what do you think of Criss Cross Jazz?

I own a lot of stuff on the label. Some things I go back to a lot; some I never do. Here are a few that I can recommend.

Pianist and organissimo board member Michael Weiss recorded his debut LP for Criss Cross in the mid 80s and it still holds up: http://www.amazon.com/Presenting-Michael-Weiss/dp/B0000020LL/ref=sr_1_3?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1343164266&sr=1-3&keywords=michael+weiss

From the same era, Mike LeDonne's "'Bout Time" is really outstanding (LeDonne, Tom Harrell, Gary Smulyan, Dennis Irwin, Kenny Washington)-- they strike a truly inspired groove.

Walt Weiskopf, "A World Away"

George Colligan, "Ultimatum"

Gary Smulyan w/Strings

Ralph Peterson, "The Art of War"

Introducing Kenny Garrett

Ok, now running out of time for specifics, but also like releases by Danny Grissett, David Kikoski, Jimmy Greene, Steve Wilson.

[tranemonk]

I've always liked their stuff.... Highly recommend Opus 5...

http://www.crisscrossjazz.com/album/1339.html

They've got a new one coming out later this year.

[mikeweil]

If you like like jazz organ, any CD with Melvin Rhyne, Dr. Lonnie Smith or Sam Yahel is very good.

That Eric Alexander with Rhyne is very nice indeed.

The two with Tad Shull are great.

[Ted O'Reilly]

In the early days, producer/owner Gerry Teekens would come over from the Netherlands once or twice a year and record a bunch of sessions. He specialized in getting young guys on the way up, not paying a lot, and charging up-market prices for his product. (As I recall, anyway).

[Dan Gould]

The two with Tad Shull are great.

oh HELL YEAH!

[Tom 1960]

Boy, don't me started! As a few of the board members already know I've been obsessed with this label for close to a year now. Where do I start? Just about anything Melvin Rhyne recorded on the label is worth owning. I don't believe you'll get much argument from that. Alot of the Walt Weiskopf discs IMO are very good to excellent. Both Kenny Barron self led dates are quite good although I really enjoy "Green Chimneys". The Richard Wyand disc "Half And Half" is very nice. "Pharoah's Children" by J.D. Allen is excellent. The Ralph Lalama dates are all worthy of purchase. More later.

[Peter Friedman]

There are many many CDs on that label that I could recommend. Besides what has already been suggested, here are some musicians on Criss Cross who are , in my opinion, well worth checking out.

Grant Stewart

Peter Beets

Joe Magnarelli

John Swana

Steve Nelson

Peter Bernstein

Also many earlier things on Criss Cross by:

Cedar Walton

Jimmy Raney

Chet Baker

Ted Brown

Dave Pike

Warne Marsh

Clifford Jordan

Slide Hampton

[Tom 1960]

I really enjoy Joe Cohn's 2011 release "Fuego".

[jlhoots]

Alex Sipiagin

[tranemonk]

Totally agree... and I'd also give another to Peter Bernstein.

Alex Sipiagin

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I've got most, if not all of the Mel Rhyne albums and the Lonnie Smith. CCJ isn't really a label I go much for, however. Too much like jazz, if you ask me.

But there are a couple of nice ones I've got and enjoy greatly.

Harold Ashby - What am I here for

Bit of a different album from most CCJ releases, Ashby was a longtime Ellington player, much influenced by Ben Webster. But they put him with a modern rhythm section and the results are very nice.

Ray Drummond - Camera in a bag

Some nice work from Fathead Newman on this - of course, the reason I bought it

These two are both different to the regurgitated hard bop that CCJ generally do (even the Rhyne albums are a bit that way inclined, to tell the truth). If you're looking to go for something a bit different, these are worth a try.

MG

[Jay]

Funny - I think a lot of their records of more recent vintage are better than many of the early ones. Tim Warfield, David Binney, Alex Sipiagin, Adam Rogers, etc.

[Eric]

I also enjoy the Sipiagin and Adam Rogers titles.

Edited July 25, 2012 by Eric

[Tom 1960]

A very nice session.

[Hoppy T. Frog]

No one's mentioned the Warne Marsh records yet?

[Leroy Bad]

Thanks for all your suggestions guys. I didnt realize there were so many fans. Funny thing despite all thats been mentioned I still wound up with another Tim Warfield album. 'One for Shirley'. Theres some fine stuff on it, but it's redicuously long :-\ 77 min.

Edited July 29, 2012 by Leroy Bad

[JohnS]

I liked Criss Cross when they began and were recording the old guys. Not so much these days with the new guys.

Same here.

[Leroy Bad]

I liked Criss Cross when they began and were recording the old guys. Not so much these days with the new guys.

Same here.

Whats the difference between the older and newer artists?

[Dan Gould]

I liked Criss Cross when they began and were recording the old guys. Not so much these days with the new guys.

Same here.

Whats the difference between the older and newer artists?

Just guessing, but the difference some hear between bop/hard-bop and neo-bop? The difference between the music when it was fresh and the music when it was recreated by astute students of it?

I got into the music just as the neo-boppers came out in force and I had/have no problem listening to both, but ...

[Larry Kart]

The somewhat paradoxical difference (at least in part) comes down to OTOH coloring between the lines versus just playing and OTOH simply/even understanding certain key aspects of the language one is trying to imitate/emulate/re-create.

[Leroy Bad]

What is OTOH?

[Dan Gould]

message board shorthand for "On the other hand"