Extended Analysis
The Summer Knows (un été 42)
by Artur Moral
Not so young, but still foolish: arduous is the path chosen by pianist, composer and singer Franck Amsallem, a lesser-known figure--outside his immediate performance circle--even among some of the jazz world's most avid and encyclopedic enthusiasts. Nevertheless, this musician's name should appear in that roster of outstanding French baby boomer keyboardists mentioned in Pierre de Bethmann: Sharing a Musical Breakfast in Lyon. There are several reasons for this unintentional and unfair ignorance: his current thematic approach, formalized in ...
Continue ReadingDuke Ellington's Concert of Sacred Music
by Chuck Lenatti
In 1964, Dean D.J. Bartlett and the Reverend John S. Yaryan invited Duke Ellington and his orchestra to present a concert to consecrate the renovated Grace Cathedral on Nob Hill in San Francisco during a year-long festival of Grace. At first, Duke demurred. In his autobiography, Music Is My Mistress (Da Capo, 1976), Ellington explained why he changed his mind: It has been said once that a man who could not play the organ or any ...
Continue ReadingThe Duke Ellington Carnegie Hall Concerts: January 1943
by Chuck Lenatti
Duke Ellington was one of the most popular and successful jazz musicians of the first half of the 20th century and according to composer Gunther Schuller and musicologist and historian Barry Kernfeld, “the most significant composer of the genre." Radio broadcasts from his residency at New York's Cotton Club beginning in 1927 extended Ellington's orchestra's national exposure and a parade of hit records, from “East St. Louis Toodle-Oo" in 1926 to “C Jam Blues" in 1942, among many ...
Continue ReadingMiles In France 1963 & 1964: The Bootleg Series Vol. 8
by Doug Collette
At the very same time Beatlemania was slowly but surely beginning to engulf the globe, Miles Davis was inexorably proceeding toward what was the most adventurous music of his career. Miles In France -The Bootleg Series Vol. 8 captures a group of musicians led by “The Man with the Horn" on the threshold of forming what is referred to as his second great quintet, then actually coalescing into that stellar outfit. And the drama within that designation rapidly ...
Continue ReadingFeats Don't Fail Me Now (Deluxe Edition) (3CD)
by Doug Collette
Inside the twenty-page booklet enclosed within the Feats Don't Fail Me Now (Deluxe Edition), an erudite essay by esteemed author/biographer Dennis McNally gives due recognition to artist Neon Park's outlandish front cover image for Little Feat's fourth longplayer. As with the other imagery of this artist that adorns the group's various longplayers, it is a thought-provoking yet unsettling combination of humor and cultural commentary that deserves the insightful notation, so, like the period photos of the musicians adorning the triple-fold ...
Continue ReadingPermanent Moonlight—Songs of Sir Richard Rodney Bennett
by David Bittinger
Still famed for her “silents" and early retirement from sound movies, lonely star Greta Garbo once conjured a dreamy fantasy of “permanent moonlight" in a letter to someone who was about as enigmatic a creative icon as she was, Noël Coward. In 2012 singer Maud Hixson came across that Garbo letter while reviewing personal effects of Coward's at the Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts. She attended that exhibit with Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, a legendary composer ...
Continue ReadingBook of Queens
by Doug Collette
Released in 2023 with next to no fanfare, the very gestation of the Eric Krasno/Stanton Moore Project's first effort carries a cachet all its own. Recorded at Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock, New York, and mixed by Jim Scott (Tedeschi Trucks Band, Wilco), Book of Queens is tribute to women in music wherein the nine covers offer homage to the work of musical cons such as Nina Simone, Peggy Lee, and Aretha Franklin as well as contemporary figures of note ...
Continue ReadingRevival
by Nenad Georgievski
Revival is a captivating collaboration between vocalist Chanda Rule and guitarist Mickylee, highlighting their remarkable synergy and artistic talents. Right from the start, it is evident that this record blends their skills, instincts, and open-mindedness, resulting in music that not only grooves but also deeply resonates and inspires. Throughout the project, their collaboration is evident, with each complementing the other's strengths to create music that exudes joy and beautiful artistry. Both artists are lecturers at the Jam Music ...
Continue ReadingCatch A Fire: 50th Anniversary Edition (3 CD)
by Doug Collette
Bob Marley and the Wailers' Catch A Fire 50th Anniversary Edition is a logical extension of the 2001 Deluxe Edition of the title. Whereas that latter double-CD package included this seminal reggae record in both its original and overdubbed form, this latest exhumation from the vault includes the studio album as originally released, the complete concert of the band 'Live at the Paris Theatre in London' (previously only ever bootlegged) and a third compact disc of alternate, extended and instrumental ...
Continue ReadingWonderful now
by Scott Lichtman
What do you get when you combine the high-velocity beats of electronica with the virtuosic proficiency of fusion, the pristine sound quality of an ECM label record and the “goes down easy" catchiness of smooth jazz? When composed and performed at the highest level, it sounds like Anatole Muster's album, Wonderful now. This album gets better with repeated listening. Muster, who is 22 years old, creates nearly every sound on his orchestrations (except for several cameos), composes, writes ...
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