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Percy Heath
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The American jazz musician and bassist with the Modern Jazz Quartet, Percy Heath, began his musical apprenticeship in 1946, after Air Force service. It was just the right time. Though the double bass had always been used sporadically in jazz, performers capable of advancing both its rhythmic and harmonic role into a distinctive jazz-bass language were arriving on the scene more slowly than trumpeters, saxophonists or pianists. But by the 1940s, the place of the bass had significantly changed. Swing specialists like Pops Foster, John Kirby and Walter Page had brought animation, drive and swing - as well as harmonic breadth - to bass technique, and Duke Ellington's young star, Jimmy Blanton, had added a soloistic agility that rewrote the book on the instrument
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 ...
OJC's Big Guns: Art Blakey, Cannonball Adderley, and Ron Carter
by C. Andrew Hovan
Although they were somewhat late to the vinyl renaissance game, Craft Records has made up for lost time by tapping a wide range of music. From the Latin strains of Fania Records to the so-called acid jazz that B3 organ masters churned out for Prestige Records in the late '60s, Craft boasts a huge vault that ...
Pianist Michael Wolff Guests with Bassist Leon Lee Dorsey and Drummer Mike Clark on Evocative Tribute Album, 'Letter to Bill Evans'
For their seventh outing together as a close-knit, collaborative rhythm tandem, bassist Leon Lee Dorsey and drummer Mike Clark tapped pianist Michael Wolff as third man in their ongoing trio adventures. Wolff, who had previously appeared with Dorsey and Clark on 2020’s Play Sgt. Pepper, was indeed the perfect choice to complete the triumvirate on this ...
A Classic Jazz Curriculum with Label M's Joel Dorn
by Chris M. Slawecki
This article was first published at All About Jazz in April 2001. Ah, the classics. In every art form painting, literature, architecture, dance, music there are works which possess timeless beauty, works with themes that resonate emotionally across decades, through centuries, and are masterfully presented. Joel Dorn's name is indelibly written in ...
Darrell Grant's MJ New: Our Mr. Jackson
by Jack Bowers
Anyone missing the artistry and elegance of the Modern Jazz Quartet will warm quickly to pianist Darrell Grant's MJ New, which pays homage to the great vibraphonist Milt Jackson and, through him, the legendary MJQ, on Our Mr. Jackson. The instrumentation is the same as the MJQ, with Mike Horsfall sitting in for Jackson on vibraphone ...
Bill Evans: Ten Essential Sideman Albums
by Chris May
Bill Evans attracts a special sort of fan. Clinically obsessive is a reasonable description. While far from undiscerning, we find something, usually plenty, to enjoy in every record Evans played on. And we want them all in our collection. Evans' hardcore fans include practically every musician who played with him. Eddie Gomez, his ...
The Best of Times, the Worst of Times
by William H. Snyder
Introduction“April is the cruelest month... “ so begins The Burial of the Dead section of T. S. Eliot's 100-year-old poem. “The Waste Land" laments the decline of culture in the world after World War I. In April of 2023, we lost Harry Belafonte and Ahmad Jamal. The loss of these two men is part of contemporary ...
Jazz Musician of the Day: Percy Heath
All About Jazz is celebrating Percy Heath's birthday today! The American jazz musician and bassist with the Modern Jazz Quartet, Percy Heath, began his musical apprenticeship in 1946, after Air Force service. It was just the right time. Though the double bass had always been used sporadically in jazz, performers capable of advancing both its rhythmic ...
Art Farmer: Work of Art
by Jon Block
My favorite (jazz) album is The Art Farmer Septet (1956 Prestige PRLP 7031 of 1953-54 sessions previously released on 10" disks). It features the arrangements and compositions of Art Farmer, Gigi Gryce and Quincy Jones. It still makes me move and groove, from the first clave click on the steaming hot Afro-Cuban “Mau Mau" all the ...
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