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Paul Quinichette: Like Basie
by C. Andrew Hovan
Like any business concerned with making a profit, the record industry has often resorted to questionable concepts, tributes, or other hooks to lure more costumers to their product. Currently we find ourselves in an era where the quality of original music is arguably on the decline, thus it has become even more prevalent to use nostalgia as a selling point. While ghost bands and one-off tributes may be a way to bring a new audience to the music of some ...
read moreRifftide: The Life and Opinions of Papa Jo Jones
by David A. Orthmann
Rifftide: The Life and Opinions of Papa Jo JonesAs told to Albert Murray. Edited by Paul Devlin.200 pagesISBN:978-0-8166-7301-8University of Minnesota Press2011Rifftide is a slim volume subtitled The Life and Opinions of Papa Jo Jones. Best known for his long tenure with the Count Basie Orchestra, Papa Jo Jones is arguably the most influential drummer in the history of jazz. Throughout the book, Jones speaks with absolute certainty. His ...
read moreRifftide: The Life and Opinions of Papa Jo Jones
by AAJ Staff
This article appears in Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 of Rifftide: The Life and Opinions of Papa Jo Jones By Papa Jo Jones As Told to Albert Murray (University of Minnesota Press, 2011). A Different Kind of Living in That Southwest Here is what happened. Basie did exactly what Fats Waller did: all the guys that come under James P. Johnson, you know what I mean, and Willie “The Lion" Smith, they stayed playing that Harlem ...
read morePaul Quinichette & His Basie-ites: Like Basie
by Nic Jones
Like Basie has already seen the light of day in the CD era as an OJC release, but given its qualities, its reappearance here is welcome anyway. Paul Quinichette's career was perhaps more dogged than aided by the lazy Vice-Pres" tag that was placed upon him because of his stylistic allegiance to Lester Young. As ever the details of the matter were somewhat different. His work was in fact rhythmically far less oblique, whilst the timbre of his playing was ...
read moreJo Jones: The Everest Years
by David Rickert
Jo Jones's reputation rests solely on his stint with Count Basie, but that's like saying that Humphrey Bogart is known only for his acting. Jones, along with Freddie Green, Walter Page, and Basie, virtually invented the concept of swing. As a unit, they powered the Basie band through a series of top-notch records. But what did Jones do after that?
For one thing, he recorded a few albums as a leader. These sessions, done for the Everest label ...
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