Articles by Christopher Jones

Joshua Redman Quartet

by Christopher Jones
March 13, 2004

Joshua Redman Quartet Yoshi's Oakland, CA

In the liner notes to his 1996 album Freedom in the Groove, Joshua Redman wrote: Art, in the world of honest emotional experience, is never about absolutes, or favorites, or hierarchies, or “number ones.” The “desert island” scenario is wholly irrelevant to real-life tastes, choices, and attitudes. These days, I listen to, love, and am inspired by all forms of music. And once again, I sense the connections. I feel in ...

Karrin Allyson Quintet

by Christopher Jones
March 12, 2004

Karrin Allyson QuintetD’Mitriou’s Jazz Alley Seattle, WA

When I think of Kansas City—specifically the jazz that came out of that city in the 1930s—I think of Count Basie and his big band; I think of Lester Young and his solo on “Doggin’ Around”; I think of cutting contests and gutbucket blues and tight ensemble riffs. Mostly, I think of how jazz, as it migrated north to urban centers like K.C., blossomed from a provincial folk music into ...

Gonzalo Rubalcaba Trio in Seattle

by Christopher Jones
March 12, 2004

Gonzalo Rubalcaba Trio in SeattleDimitriou’s Jazz Alley August 8th, 2000

I don’t have many pet peeves, but this is one of them: Why is it that so many jazz musicians, when performing live, neglect to say much of anything to the audience? Is this a phenomenon passed down from the bebop era, a time when many jazz musicians played the role of cryptic, illusive outsider? Is it the influence of Miles Davis, who often exhibited a detached, ...

Roy Hargrove Quintet in Seattle

by Christopher Jones
March 8, 2004

If you like flashy solos and the 'head-solo-solo-solo-head' school of group jazz, you'll like the Roy Hargrove Quintet. If you're looking for something else in your jazz, you might need to look elsewhere. This is not a criticism of Hargrove's quintet, which is currently in the midst of a five-day run at Dimitriou's Jazz Alley in Seattle. Rather, it is an honest appraisal of the music towards which the group seems to gravitate: straightforward, no-nonsense modern jazz. No new trails ...

Billy Cobham's Art of 5

by Christopher Jones
March 11, 2003

Billy Cobham and The Art of 5 Jazz Alley; Seattle March 6th, 2003

I came to Billy Cobham not through Mahavishnu, but through video footage of him playing with Horace Silver’s group in the late 60s. Initially I mistook him for Roger Humphries, who of course had appeared on some of Silver’s well-known albums during that decade. I was later corrected by a friend of mine, who not only told me that it was indeed Cobham, ...