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Woody Shaw: Love Dance
by Jack Kenny
With Time Travelers, Zev Feldman injects new life into Muse Records, the label founded by Joe Fields in 1972. Muse offered a platform to artists who were often in danger of being overlooked or forgotten by major record companies. Feldman, renowned for his lavishly produced archival releases, has brought the same care and vision to this new series.The Time Travelers series launched in October 2025 with three releases: drummer Roy Brooks's 1972 live album The Free Slave; pianist ...
Continue ReadingMark Masters Ensemble: Sam Rivers 100
by Dan McClenaghan
The Mark Masters Ensemble released Porgy and Bess Redefined! (Capri Records) in 2005. The music was taken from the George Gershwin/DuBose Heyward English-language opera, which was first performed in 1935. Masters' take on the classic was brilliantly expressed by the ensemble, who dug into his adventurous charts with freedom mixed with respect for the familiar and often-covered (most notably by the Miles Davis/Gil Evans teaming) original. It was a breakout effort for Masters. Billy Harper was there on tenor sax, ...
Continue ReadingMark Masters Ensemble: Dance, Eternal Spirits, Dance!
by Jack Bowers
In 2023-24, the celebrated arranger Mark Masters led his superb southern California-based ensemble into studios to record a pair of tribute albums. The first, Sam Rivers 100, was dedicated to the music of the late saxophonist on the one hundredth anniversary of his birth; the second, Dance, Eternal Spirits, Dance!, to that of another renowned saxophonist, Billy Harper, who is not only very much alive at age eighty-two but serves as guest soloist on both recordings. Unlike ...
Continue ReadingMark Masters: Sam Rivers 100
by Jack Bowers
Sam Rivers 100 is the first of two homages recorded in 2023-24 by arranger Mark Masters and his blue chip southern California-based ensemble. This one pays tribute to the music of the late saxophonist Sam Rivers on the hundredth anniversary of his birth; the second, Dance, Eternal Spirits, Dance! salutes the music of tenor saxophonist Billy Harper who is the ensemble's guest soloist on both albums. Rivers, who died in December 2011, was an early bebopper who ...
Continue ReadingJazz from the Black Saint Label (1975 - 1989)
by Russell Perry
Ironically, the record label that most consistently offered an outlet for the American jazz avant-garde in the 1980s was the Italian Black Saint / Soul Note imprint. On All About Jazz, Jeff Stockton wrote, ..."from 1984 to 1989 Black Saint won the Down Beat critics poll for “Best Label" and “Best Producer" and established itself as the Blue Note of its time, a label whose mark and reputation alone assured the listener that the music would be adventurous, exciting jazz ...
Continue ReadingBilly Harper: A Life of Persistence and Improvisation
by R.J. DeLuke
On stage, Billy Harper puts his lips to the tenor saxophone, stands relatively erect and sings through his horn; a strong, angular, muscular sound. There little physical gesticulation, belying the effort it takes to express feelings and emotions through the instrument. But Harper's creative statements demand attention. Over the last few years, a lot of that energy is expressed on stage with the Cookers, a star-studded septet that has been burning up the scene, gaining fans and critical ...
Continue ReadingThe Cookers: Cast the First Stone
by AAJ Italy Staff
Quando il trombettista e arrangiatore David Weiss ha deciso di creare un sestetto formato da maestri del jazz anni Settanta si è dovuto confrontare con l'estetica del “Play-Hard-and-Mean-It". E' il manifesto di uno stile legato alla lezione dell'hard bop, ma aperto alle innovazioni modali e all'urgenza espressiva del decennio precedente. In quegli anni il pubblico era attirato più da free e fusion, così nomi dello spessore di Billy Harper, Cecil McBee o George Cables non sono entrati nel parlare quotidiano ...
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