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Jazz Articles about Bob Cunningham
Dino Betti van der Noot: Here Comes Springtime
by AAJ Staff
There are some musicians whose instrument is the orchestra. They hear multiple voices, textures, harmonic designs. And if they are jazz composers, they hear the sweet and pungent tension between the orchestra and the improvising soloist. If, moreover, they are composers interested in more than self-gratification, they hear, as they write, particular players so that the ultimate scores reflect a range of individual personalities, each of them telling their own stories as well as that of the composer.
read moreBob Cunningham: Walking Bass
by Terrell Kent Holmes
Didja hear? Bobby C's back in town! Actually, bassist Bob Cunningham has always been around, but his first and only album as a leader, Walking Bass , has been released for the first time on CD. Originally recorded in 1985, it features the late, great Bross Townsend on piano and Melvin Sparks (Hassan) on guitar, with Alvin Queen and Bernard Purdie sharing drumming duties.
The title cut opens the disc and is Cunningham's spin on a humorous jazz poem written ...
read moreBob Cunningham
by Terrell Kent Holmes
Bassist Bob Cunningham is another example of a talented, underrated and uderappreciated musician. Born in Cleveland in 1934, Cunningham arrived in New York in 1960, hit the ground running and hasn’t stopped, appearing on countless recordings and gigging with all time greats such as Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, Sun Ra, Abbey Lincoln and Yusef Lateef. His first and only recording as a leader, Walking Bass (Nilva), was just reissued, and he’s once again participating in the annual summer series Jammin’ ...
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