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Latin Jazz: A Legitimate American Music

Read "Latin Jazz: A Legitimate American Music" reviewed by AAJ Staff


By Bobby Matos Well-informed historians and critics have stated that they believe jazz is America's only art form or its most important art form. Obviously, to music scholars and experts, most pop music derives from jazz, including R&B, rock, hiphop and other subgenres. One of jazz music's most important styles, however, is often ignored or not acknowledged to be a part of jazz. Latin jazz, originally called AfroCuban jazz, is often perceived as being a ...

513

Monk's Music and the Guitar

Read "Monk's Music and the Guitar" reviewed by Bobby Broom


As a guitarist whose love for jazz music began in the '70s, I was understandably excited to hear a few months ago, from a most reliable source, that Thelonious Monk really dug guitarist George Benson! Benson was probably the most popular jazz guitarist of the '70s and those who know about the place of the guitar in jazz history understand that he stands among the elite few of all time. Apparently, Monk was attracted to the same thing that a ...

832

The Art of Listening: A Sense of Place

Read "The Art of Listening: A Sense of Place" reviewed by AAJ Staff


By Gerry Hemingway I am writing to offer my insights about the experience of listening from the perspective of being a musician. The art of listening is, of course, a somewhat open-ended topic that, for the sake of this article, will concentrate primarily on a few points of what I have observed and can articulate verbally about on the experience of music and sound for me as a player and creator of composed and improvised music. I am ...

763

Sam Newsome: To Play or Not to Play the Soprano

Read "Sam Newsome: To Play or Not to Play the Soprano" reviewed by Sam Newsome


When I think about the radical move I made 14 years ago, switching from the tenor to the soprano saxophone, I sometimes ask myself: “What in the hell were you thinking?" Even though in hindsight I look back on my decision with amazement and disbelief, I'm happy to say that it's one I've never regretted. Becoming a soprano saxophonist for me has been a life-changing journey that has restored my curiosity and excitement about music. It has strengthened me as ...

260

Marshall Allen: A Universe of Achievement

Read "Marshall Allen: A Universe of Achievement" reviewed by AAJ Staff


By Marshall AllenIt feels good to be receiving this Lifetime Achievement Award at the Vision Festival this month. Whenever somebody achieves something worthy, it's great to be recognized for it. The musicians who have received this award in the past include people that I have performed with, know and respect. I have received things like this before, like the Bluebird Award in Germany and some honorary mentions, but this award means a lot.The years have gone ...

797

Frankie Manning: Dancers and Musicians - A Mutually Beneficial Relationship

Read "Frankie Manning: Dancers and Musicians - A Mutually Beneficial Relationship" reviewed by AAJ Staff


Editor's Note: Frankie Manning died on April 27th at New York City's Lenox Hill Hospital of pneumonia. He was 94.By Frankie Manning (with Cynthia R. Millman) I've been a Lindy hopper since the '30s, when the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem became my second home and I started working with Whitey's Lindy Hoppers. Having followed the jazz scene for almost seven decades, I see a big difference between the old days and these new times. Lindy hoppers ...

994

Eric Reed: Sacred Jazz

Read "Eric Reed: Sacred Jazz" reviewed by Eric Reed


Generally, the idea of “sacred jazz" either brings to mind Duke Ellington's three sacred concerts or causes confusion in the minds of those who are not cognizant of what is “sacred" or “jazz." Is it John Coltrane's A Love Supreme, Mary Lou Williams' Black Christ of the Andes or Ahmad Jamal's After Fajr? In all these cases, yes. In the broad sense of what is “sacred," the common thread that exists among the aforementioned references pays respect to the devotion ...

384

Charles Tolliver: Monk at Town Hall

Read "Charles Tolliver: Monk at Town Hall" reviewed by AAJ Staff


By Charles TolliverThelonious Monk was and is a central and seminal figure, along with Bird and Diz, et. al., responsible for the creation and growth of the jazz idiom. His patented and innovative stride-intervallic improvisatorial style was inextricably tied to his harmonic genius as a composer. In fact, nearly all of these original innovators possessed this quality. At the dawn of the creation of modern jazz in the early '40s, Monk had already worked out how to utilize ...

380

Michael Bates: Lessons From The Road

Read "Michael Bates: Lessons From The Road" reviewed by AAJ Staff


By Michael Bates

Touring can be both exhausting and exhilarating, especially as a bandleader. The last few months have brought reminders of this as I was planning, booking and finally, actually touring with my quartet in support of my recent CD Clockwise on Dave Douglas' Greenleaf Music label. As part of this tour, Greenleaf asked me to post updates on their blog. One of those posts chronicled a trip from Amsterdam to Lyon that included a botched ...

328

Battle of the Bands

Read "Battle of the Bands" reviewed by AAJ Staff


By John Clayton If true battles were fought the way some people imagine the Clayton-Hamilton and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra are to duke it out this month (more on the “other" Duke in a moment), we might just be a world with fewer global conflicts.

What you will witness, when the two bands perform on Jazz at Lincoln Center's Rose Theater stage together, will be two bands with a high level of mutual ...


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