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Claire Daly: Rah! Rah!
by Chris M. Slawecki
If you could thank your muse, to whom would you write and how? Baritone saxophonist Clare Daly recorded Rah! Rah! to thank the legendary Rahsaan Roland Kirk, an iconic multi- instrumentalist who seemed equal parts man and myth even while he was still alive. Kirk loved to stretch out cover versions as if they were his own tunes, which Daly honors by not only including I'll Be Seeing You" but by playing and singing on Alfie." She honors ...
read moreThe Claire Daly Band: Rah! Rah!
by Jack Bowers
Award-winning baritone saxophonist Claire Daly isn't blowing her own horn on Rah! Rah! (well, she is, but more about that in a moment)--she's saluting one of her musical inspirations, the late Rahsaan Roland Kirk, a once-in-a-blue- moon talent who left us far too soon. Kirk, who lived only forty-two years, was quite literally a multi-instrumentalist, often playing two or three horns at the same time, some of which (manzello, stritch) he invented himself. Even though blind, he was part musical ...
read moreClaire Daly: Rah! Rah!
by Dan Bilawsky
Ask a casual fan about Rahsaan Roland Kirk's impact and you're likely to receive a remark about multi-horn madnessa man wielding three at once, brazenly blowing the walls down. But Kirk, of course, was so much more than that enduring image. His writing, performing, spirit and humanity spoke to the ages, reaching out and grabbing ahold of any listener open enough to hear the calling. Claire Daly knows that all too well. Having discovered Kirk's music through ...
read moreEli Yamin: Message From Saturn
by James Nadal
The Jazz Drama Program was founded in 2003, in New York City, by pianist and composer Eli Yamin, and educator Clifford Carlson, to stimulate youth by offering diverse and imaginative jazz, theater, and dance programs with active participation of those enrolled. Message From Saturn takes its title from a famous Sun Ra comment: I just got a message from Saturn. We're not playing enough blues." With this statement as a launching point, the cosmological theme also draws inspiration from The ...
read moreEli Yamin and Evan Christopher: Louie's Dream: For Our Jazz Heroes
by Dan Bilawsky
Hero worship has long been a magnetic force that helps to draw in the next generation of musicians, yet this very concept is often pooh-poohed by a segment of the musical and artistic community. These people feel that new is always better, and that originality can't thrive if artists acknowledge their forefathers and wear their influences on their sleeves. Pianist Eli Yamin and clarinetist Evan Christopher have never bought into this line of thinking. On Louie's Dream: For Our Jazz ...
read moreEli Yamin: You Can't Buy Swing
by George Kanzler
Pianist Eli Yamin is a communicator who believes jazz can foster a sense of community. His work is expansive and extroverted, populist in the best sense. As a teacher--he's now part of Jazz at Lincoln Center's education program--he's created jazz dramas and the dramatic impulse is a strong component of his music. So is swing. This album's title comes from a saying by a drummer who worked often with Yamin, the late Walter Perkins: You can't buy swing, baby sweets. ...
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