Articles by Bob Powers
Giant Steps: Bebop and the Creators of Modern Jazz 1945-65
by Bob Powers
Kenny Mathieson Payback Press, 1999 339 pages ISBN 0862418593
With his book about the emergence of bebop, writer Kenny Mathieson has performed a necessary service for the casual jazz fan, along with enough solid information to please the fastidious and musically aware devotee.“Giant Steps: Bebop and the Creators of Modern Jazz 1945-65" (Payback Press) provides a huge amount of history in just 339 pages. The 11 chapters consist of biographies of perhaps ...
read moreJames Darren: Because of You
by Bob Powers
Big Band singers are somewhat of a vanishing breed. Many vocalists today feel uncomfortable with 16 musicians blasting away behind them. But James Darren, who has emerged as one of the better singers of his generation, isn’t among that crew who feel a pitti-pat of the heart when the band stretches out behind him.Darren’s latest CD from Concord Records displays a singer in full control of his instrument and very much at home with the talented musicians who ...
read moreChris Washburne and the SYOTOS Band: The Other Side (El Otro Lado)
by Bob Powers
The young lions of today are smart enough to have studied their elders. Chris Washburne, a young Ohioan who leads a seven-piece band, has paid close attention to some of jazz history's best.Washburne, who plays exciting trombone with agility and knowledge of his elders, intended to have his new album pay tribute to Latin master Tito Puente. Alas, Puente's death last year robbed Washburne of his final opportunity to play a role in the long Puente recording history. ...
read moreMarian McPartland and Willie Pickens: Ain't Misbehavin'-- Live at the Jazz Showcase
by Bob Powers
Liner notes can produce fascinating facts. In the notes by Neil Tesser for “Ain’t Misbehavin’ -- Live at the Jazz Showcase, we learn that McPartland got her start in show business in a British musical act called Billy Mayerl and His Claviers. That insignificant fact points out that McPartland has been around for a long time. She reaches 81 this year and finding evidence of any decline in her abilities requires cautious listening.In this pairing with Chicago legend ...
read moreBig Kahuna and the Copa Cat Pack: Shake Your Hula Hips
by Bob Powers
Matt Catingub's musical talents arise from a familiar base. His mother Mavis Rivers made quite a splash as a renowned singer and recording artist. Music fans in Hawaii are quite familiar with Catingub's band, labeled Big Kahuna and the Copa Cat Pack. Despite that unwieldy moniker, the group performs with a distinct flair and a friendly nod to the big bands of the '30s and '40s.Youthful enthusiasm rules and that's powerfully put across in the new album, Shake ...
read moreAaron Goldberg: Unfolding
by Bob Powers
Jazz often translates to the unitiated as noise without meaning. Folks who love jazz in all its variations would make a good choice if their jazzless neighbors or co-workers were introduced to Aaron Goldberg. In his second album, Unfolding for the Cincinnati-based label J Curve, Goldberg provides ample evidence that he's ready to climb the top rung of pianists.
Working regularly as a member of the Joshua Redman Quartet, Aaron Goldberg shows in Unfolding that he's a clever, thoughtful, and ...
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