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Jazz Articles about Red Mitchell

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Album Review

Andre Previn and his pals Shelly Manne & Red Mitchell: West Side Story

Read "West Side Story" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci


André Previn was always something of a mystery to jazz critics and listeners. By common consent, he had astonishing instrumental technique. On the other hand, a lot of listeners were sure they could hear everyone but Previn in his playing. Along with Shelly Manne, he sold a lot of records and probably made a good deal of money doing so. That alone would have been a problem for some--commercial success and jazz are not supposed to be compatible--but then Previn ...

6
Album Review

Ornette Coleman: Genesis of Genius: The Contemporary Albums

Read "Genesis of Genius: The Contemporary Albums" reviewed by Jeff Kaliss


For many an Ornette Coleman devotee, devotion was pledged with the singular saxophonist's The Shape of Jazz to Come (Atlantic). It was recorded in May and released in November of 1959, and it's a matter of when in our life we caught up with it. For some of us, that's when we first felt liberated by jazz. That album, produced by Nesuhi Ertegun, remains a hard act to follow, even for Coleman himself. Or to precede. But “Hollywood ...

362
Album Review

Red Mitchell / Warne Marsh: Big Two

Read "Big Two" reviewed by Chris Mosey


In the 1950s, critics talked of East and West coast jazz. It was a way of playing the racial card, with East coast representing black, played from the gut; while West was white, played from the mind. As far as the dogmatists were concerned: East good, West bad. The word “cerebral" became a term of abuse. No group of musicians was more cerebral than the one centered around Lennie Tristano, a pianist and teacher, based awkwardly in ...

124
Album Review

Red Mitchell / George Cables: Live at Port Townsend

Read "Live at Port Townsend" reviewed by Ken Dryden


Piano/bass duos are not as commonplace as piano/bass/drums trios, probably because duos rarely make up a regularly working group. That doesn't mean that the frequently one-off recordings by duos aren't of immense interest. The remarkable duo concert featuring bassist Red Mitchell and pianist George Cables (who had never played together) turned out to be Mitchell's final recording, made only a few months prior to his death in 1992. No rehearsal took place, aside from a brief discussion ...

124
Album Review

Cal Tjader: Plays Harold Arlen and West Side Story

Read "Plays Harold Arlen and West Side Story" reviewed by David Rickert


Like the recently reissued Our Blues, this double CD presents Cal Tjader before he seriously delved into the Latin tunes that made his name in jazz circles. Unlike the previous album, which presented the vibraphonist as a serious improviser, Tjader is content to let the songs take the center stage; about three-fourths of this CD features a string section in the background. The strategy works well. Tjader cuts loose on a few Arlen standards before settling into melodic passages on ...

304
Album Review

Red Mitchell: A Declaration of Interdependence

Read "A Declaration of Interdependence" reviewed by Jack Bowers


An out–of–the–ordinary 1988 session by the “Red Mitchell Trio,” which, courtesy of modern technology, is composed of Red Mitchell on bass, Red Mitchell on piano and Red Mitchell on vocals. The “leader,” of course, was known primarily as a bassist (the past tense is used because he passed away in November ’92), but his “sidemen” are respectable enough, especially pianist Mitchell who has an uncluttered, easygoing style and sensitive touch that lend themselves well to the trio format. On the ...


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