Articles by Mark Sabbatini

Chick Corea

by Mark Sabbatini
February 12, 2021

In memory of NEA Jazz Master Chick Corea: 1941-2021. This article was first published at All About Jazz in 2004. Pianist Chick Corea is one of the major pioneers of fusion, with his influence since the 1960s also extending to post-bop, Latin, free-form and avant-garde jazz. He is a rarity in his proficiency and distinctiveness on both piano and synthesizers, and is one of the first players to fully exploit the potential of electronic instruments. Players ...

Jimmy Smith: Master of the Hammond B-3

by Mark Sabbatini
May 1, 2015

Jimmy Smith ignited a jazz revolution on an instrument associated at the time with ballparks, despite never playing one until the age of 28. His legendary multi-part technique on the Hammond B-3 organ, playing bass with the foot pedals and Charlie Parker-like single-line passages with his right hand, shook up the traditional trio as co-players could explore new roles. Yet, while the consensus is Smith's playing is a jazz landmark, his recordings fall short of such acclaim.

Bill Evans

by Mark Sabbatini
March 20, 2015

Arguably the greatest jazz pianist of the 1960s and '70s, Bill Evans is generally acknowledged as the most influential pianist since Bud Powell and a primary influence on players such as Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea. Evans co-wrote Kind Of Blue with Miles Davis and some consider the pianist's Sunday At The Village Vanguard the best piano trio album ever. Evans is also credited with advancing harmonic and voicing structures, and pioneering modern trio format elements such as giving sidemen ...

The Back-Talk Organ Trio at Le Petit Chicago

by Mark Sabbatini
April 12, 2011

Don Cummings is a glacial geologist by day, making the Canadian's night job as a jazz organist of considerable interest to a reviewer who can (really) see the flowing masses of ice from the back yard. On the other hand, Cummings says his work focuses on “groundwater resources and mineral resource exploration," so he's not getting any favoritism here. Fortunately, Cummings' prowess on the Hammond A100 is solid enough that environmentalists and entrepreneurs can ...

James Hamilton Jazz Orchestra: James Hamilton Jazz Orchestra: The Causeway Suite

by Mark Sabbatini
March 24, 2011

James Hamilton is an idiot and the world is a better place as a result. The debut album by his 19-member orchestra, The Causeway Suite, is the 2010 British Composer Awards' 2010 winner for Contemporary Jazz Composition. The live performance is a bold and abruptly shifting mix of classic and modern concepts, full of innovation in group and individual passages, and a worthy acquisition even for those who (like me) don't always cotton to big band.

"Proverbs And Songs" by John Surman, Howard Moody and the Ultime Thule Choir at the 2009 Nordlysfestivalen, Tromso, Norway

by Mark Sabbatini
February 3, 2009

John Surman, Howard Moody, John Taylor, Ultime Thule Choir Nordlysfestivalen, Ishavskatedralen (Arctic Cathedral)Tromso, Norway January 23-31, 2009

It's been a couple of years since saxophonist John Surman performed his Proverbs And Songs suite. But judging from what he wrung from it after four days' rehearsal with an amateur choir north of the Arctic Circle, his spiritual side seems intact.Surman reunited with Howard Moody and John Taylor, switching their respective ...

Raphael Imbert: Bach:Coltrane

by Mark Sabbatini
April 17, 2008

Some albums are personal and this one carries the burden of massive expectations, an anticipation similar to first hearing John Coltrane's Giant Steps (Atlantic, 1959) and just about anything by Bach.French saxophonist Raphael Imbert dangles this tantalizing lure on Bach: Coltrane, which the multi-hornman promotes as the culmination of a research project into the sacred elements of jazz. For the album, a jazz quintet joins the classical Manfred Quartet “to demonstrate the spiritual and musical ties between Bach ...

The World's Northernmost Jazz Festival: Polarjazz 2008 in Longyearbyen, Norway

by Mark Sabbatini
March 19, 2008

Polarjazz 2008 Longyearbyen, Norway January 30-February 3, 2008 This is where people will come after Doomsday: a town 600 miles from the North Pole whose idea of fun is hosting the world's northernmost jazz festival in the middle of winter. A glacier-covered land where the sun doesn't shine from October 26 to February 15 and where carrying a gun almost everywhere is necessary to avoid being eaten by polar bears. Where a vault ...

Turtle Island String Quartet Performs "A Love Supreme" at Stanford

by Mark Sabbatini
March 1, 2008

Turtle Island String Quartet Stanford Lively Arts Series Stanford University, Palo Alto, California February 16, 2008

One of the drags about string quartets is it's taboo to applaud solos. Not that the urge is common, but imagine a Village Vanguard crowd sitting on their hands most of the evening and punctuating the final ovation with a single cry of “bravo" from the back of the room.That nagging disjointedness slightly blemished the Turtle ...

Refugees find harmony on Norway's northern edge at Varangerfestivalen 2007

by Mark Sabbatini
February 5, 2008

(Note: Mark Sabbatini will reporting daily from the world's northernmost jazz festival, PolarJazz, starting Jan. 30 in Longyearbyen, Norway. As preview of the Scandinavian Arctic's jazz scene, this is his feature from last summer's festival in Vadso, on the northern edge of the country's mainland.)When the U.N. needs a place to send refugees fleeing war-torn Africa, the northern tip of mainland Norway doesn't seem like a natural fit.But David Akoiwala, a construction worker from Liberia, found ...