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About George Russell
Instrument: Composer / conductor
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George Russell
Born:
George Russell is a hugely influential, innovative figure in the evolution of modern jazz, the music's only major theorist, one of its most profound composers, and a trail blazer whose ideas have transformed and inspired some of the greatest musicians of our time.
Russell was born in Cincinnati in 1923, the adopted son of a registered nurse and a chef on the B&O Railroad. He began playing drums with the Boy Scout Drum and Bugle Corps and eventually received a scholarship to Wilberforce University where he joined the Collegians, whose list of alumni include Coleman Hawkins, Benny Carter, Fletcher Henderson, Ben Webster, Cootie Williams, Ernie Wilkins and Frank Foster. But his most valuable musical education came in 1941, when, in attempting to enlist in the Marines, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis, spending 6 months in the hospital where he was taught the fundamentals of harmony from a fellow patient. From the hospital he sold his first work, "New World," to Benny Carter. He joined Benny Carter's Band, but was replaced by Max Roach; after Russell heard Roach, he decided to give up drumming. He moved to New York where he was part of a group of musicians who gathered in the basement apartment of Gil Evans. The circle included Miles Davis, Gerry Mulligan, Max Roach, Johnny Carisi and on occasion, Charlie Parker. He was commissioned to write a piece for Dizzy Gillespie's orchestra; the result was the seminal "Cubano Be/Cubano Bop" the first fusion of Afro-Cuban rhythms with jazz, premiered at Carnegie Hall in 1947 and featuring Chano Pozo. Two years later his "Bird in Igor's Yard" was recorded by Buddy DeFranco, a piece notable for its fusion of elements from Charlie Parker and Stravinsky.
Jan Garbarek, Keith Jarrett and Azimuth light up ECM Luminessence reissues
by Chris May
The spring 2024 iteration of ECM's audiophile vinyl reissue series, Luminessence, presents another trio of landmark albums: Jan Garbarek Quartet's Afric Pepperbird, from 1971, Keith Jarrett and Garbarek's Luminessence, from 1975, and Azimuth's Azimuth, from 1977. The combined scope of the music on the three discs (which come with new liner notes) is prairie wide, and ...
Albert "Tootie" Heath: Class Personified
by R.J. DeLuke
This article was first published on All About Jazz on March 9, 2015. Albert “Tootie" Heath is among the drummers who lived--and thrived--during what many call the golden age of jazz, the '40s, '50, early '60s. He's enjoyed the fruits of a varied and historic career, but never stayed put. Just kept working. He ...
A Belated Tribute to Carla Bley
by Jerome Wilson
Better late than never, this show is in tribute to composer Carla Bley who passed away in October 2023. It features Bley's work with her various small and large groups as well as with Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra. It also had her compositions performed by collaborators and admirers such as Billy Drummond, Nels Cline, Gary ...
Rich Halley, Ethan Philion and Other Releases
by Jerome Wilson
Here are a few more albums from 2023 that deserve some belated recognition. Rich Halley Fire Within Pine Eagle Records 2023 This is tenor saxophonist Rich Halley's third recording with a quartet that also features Matthew Shipp on piano, Michael Bisio on bass, and Newman Taylor Baker on ...
Ingi Bjarni Skúlason: Farfuglar
by Chris May
Appropriately enough for an album on NXN, a subsidiary of classical label Naxos, which only relatively recently diversified into jazz, the Icelandic pianist Ingi Bjarni Skúlason's Farfuglar spans both traditions. Is it classical? Is it jazz? Both? Neither? Check the YouTube below and decide for yourself. Whatever it may be, Skúlason's music is ...
Electric Jazz with Joe Zawinul, Courtney Pine and Others
by Jerome Wilson
This is a special vintage show from December 2021 on the role of electricity in jazz, and the resulting fusions with other genres like ambient music, jazz-rock, and trip-hop. Musicians heard on the show include Joe Zawinul, Sun Ra, Courtney Pine, John Zorn, Massive Attack, and Terje Rypdal. Playlist Henry Threadgill Sextett “I Can't ...
Carla Bley: A View from her Hill, Part 2
by Ludovico Granvassu
Artistically ambitious, a rare woman in a male dominated scene, taking the road less travelled, or even the road never travelled, and with her feet well on the ground business-wise to ensure her artistic independence, Carla Bley played a key role in shaping today's music scene. This week we concentrate on some of her signature compositions, ...
Art Farmer: Portrait of Art Farmer
by Richard J Salvucci
When a recording that is over six decades old sets a listener to thinking many different things, it is clearly something special. Art Farmer was something special. With a bump or two along the way, virtually everyone--except perhaps Art--knew it too. He and his twin brother, bassist Addison Farmer, began their careers in jny:Los Angeles in ...
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