Jazz Articles
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Roxana Amed: A Prayer
by John Chacona
The U.S. recording career of Argentine-born vocalist Roxana Amed is a study in the frustration that assumptions about genre can create. Both 2021's Ontology and the following year's Unánime, released by Sony Music, were nominated for Latin Grammy Awards. That was well-deserved, yet these were also among the best jazz vocal recordings of those years. Her 2024 Sony Music release Los Trabajos Y Las Noches, to texts by Argentinean poet Alejandra Pizarnik, is backed by a trio of Frank Carlberg ...
read moreYuri Honing Acoustic Quartet: Heaven On My Mind
by Ian Patterson
So called spiritual-jazz seemed to come out of nowhere with John Coltrane in the mid-1960s. If one jazz musician was the catalyst for the emergence this sub-genre of jazz it was he. Coltrane acolytes Pharoah Sanders, Alice Coltrane and Charles Lloyd, among others, subsequently took up the mantle. No easier to define than jazz itself, spiritual jazz is hip once again. Not that Yuri Honing openly subscribes to the label, after all this is a musician who has steadfastly chartered ...
read moreA feature on Japanese bands Trix, Koichi Yabori, Dimension and Casiopea
by Len Davis
Japanese bands Trix, Koichi Yabori, Dimension and Casiopea. Protocol 4 with Simon Phillips, Tribal Tech, Wild Unit, Uncle Moe's Space Ranch with Brett Garsed and Virgil Donati. Metro with Mitchel Forman and Transfusion.Playlist Trix “Ramdash" from Index (Electric Bird) 00:00 Koichi Yabori “Hailstorm" from You Were There (Vega) 07:31 Dimension “Free Zone" from 32 (Zain Records) 15:02 Casiopea “Galactic Fiunk" from 20th Anniversary-Live (Alfa) 22:33 Protocol 4 “Pentangle" from Protocol 4 (Phantom) 30:04 Tribal Tech “Gravity" from X ...
read moreSol Sol: Almost All Things Considered
by Chris May
Ever since the untimely passing of the pianist Esbjörn Svensson in 2008, and the consequent diminution of his trio's radio-friendly but lightweight style, Sweden's then predominant place in Scandinavian jazz has ceded ground to Norway. So, anyway, do the results of a statistically totally invalid survey of observers in this parish suggest. But change may be coming. In May 2024 alone two world-class Swedish albums have been released--Sol Sol's Almost All Things Considered, and Angles' jazz opera ...
read moreChris Potter, Lee Konitz, Ben Patterson and Stephen Phillip Harvey
by Joe Dimino
We begin the 855th Episode of Neon Jazz with composer Stephen Phillip Harvey and the title track from his live album Elemental. From there, we feature new music from Win Pongsakorn, Meg Okra, Ben Patterson and Andrea Wolper. We also hear from the late Ron Miles and music from a decade-old live concert in Colorado. We say goodbye to a Kansas City vocal legend in Queen Bey and close it out with power and prestige from the late great Freddie ...
read moreLeigh Pilzer: Beatin' the Odds
by Jack Bowers
Beatin' the Odds. To baritone saxophonist Leigh Pilzer, that is far more than a catchphrase: it is a grim yet ultimately happy reality. In 2017, Pilzer was diagnosed with cancer. After extensive treatments, her odds of surviving more than five years were reckoned as around thirty percent. But six years have gone by, and not only has Pilzer beaten the odds, she is cancer-free, back in the saddle and performing again. And not only performing but writing ...
read moreThe Mount Rushmore of Hard Bop
by Michael Ricci
Member votes were tabulated and the top four vote-getters represent the Mount Rushmore of hard bop. Thank you to everyone who voted. 1Horace Silver2Art Blakey3Lee Morgan4Hank Mobley5John Coltrane6Miles Davis7Sonny Rollins8Freddie Hubbard9Cannonball Adderley10Clifford Brown11Wayne Shorter12Thelonious Monk13Max Roach14Charlie Parker15Dexter Gordon16Dizzy Gillespie17Charles Mingus18Kenny Dorham19Jackie McLean20Bobby Timmons21Benny Golson22Joe Henderson23Curtis Fuller24Paul Chambers25McCoy Tyner26Herbie Hancock27Jimmy Smith28Bud Powell29Donald Byrd30Philly Joe Jones31Sonny Clark32Grant Green33Bill Evans34Red Garland35Wes Montgomery36Ron Carter37Art Farmer38Art Pepper39Bobby Hutcherson40Lou Donaldson41Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers42Duke Ellington43Billie Holiday44Ahmad Jamal45Eric Dolphy46Cedar Walton47Michael Brecker48Phil Woods49Roy Hargrove50Elvin ...
read moreGeoff Stradling: Nimble Digits
by Jack Bowers
Remember the good old days when bandleaders would give a downbeat and their bands would start swinging and keep on doing so until their audiences literally begged for more? Welcome to the past--present tense--courtesy of pianist Geoff Stradling's superb Los Angeles-based StradBand, which swings heartily and with seldom a pause on its radiant and power-laden introductory album, Nimble Digits. Yes, the album does swing--more than thirty of the L.A. area's most accomplished musicians make sure of that--but ...
read moreKavita Shah: Embracing the Saudade of Cape Verde
by Lawrence Peryer
Today, the Spotlight shines On award-winning vocalist, composer, ethnomusicology researcher, and educator Kavita Shah. Kavita's work sits at the intersection of modern jazz, new creative music, and world traditions. The impetus for her visit today was her 2023 tribute to African legend Cesária Évora, Cape Verdean Blues (Folkalist Records). We cover her personal experiences as a lifelong New Yorker of Indian origin, her work as an advocate for gender and racial equity in the arts, and the musical ...
read moreAngles + Elle-Kari With Strings: The Death Of Kalypso
by Chris May
As a genre, jazz-opera is thinly populated. The recorded archive is marked more by quality than quantity, with albums by Mike Westbrook and Kate Westbrook, Carla Bley and Charlie Haden to the fore. But the best ever jazz-opera, in this parish anyway, predates anything by these musicians. Composer Todd Matshikiza and lyricist Pat Williams' King Kong premiered in the Great Hall of the University of Johannesburg in February 1959 to rapturous reviews, and went on to romp through sold-out proscenium-arch ...
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