Articles by Zachary Weg
Chico Hamilton: The Dealer
by Zachary Weg
Although it came out in 1966, Chico Hamilton's The Dealer (Impulse! Records) still sounds as fresh as Long Beach mist. Leading a quartet that introduced the late guitar virtuoso Larry Coryell and which placed saxophone master Archie Shepp on piano, drummer Hamilton made a record that both showcased his fellow jazz princes and radiated his signature charm. He also crafted an as-yet-unheralded, unexpectedly resonant work of art. Hamilton, who played in high school with Charles Mingus and ...
Continue ReadingEmmet Cohen: Hail the Piano Player
by Zachary Weg
In a plain, gray building off Edgecombe Avenue in Harlem, pianist, Emmet Cohen, gently hammers on his instrument, head bopping to the drum hits and bass thuds that reverberate along the plant-lined walls of his apartment. Thirty years old and one of the finest piano players to emerge in decades, the Miami-born and Montclair, New Jersey-raised musician is not just the poster man for contemporary jazz, breathing 2020s finesse onto early twentieth century swing, he is a supremely gifted and ...
Continue ReadingTivon Pennicott: The Tiller
by Zachary Weg
As heard on his cosmic new album, Spirit Garden (New Phrase Records, 2020), New York-based tenor saxophonist, Tivon Pennicott, is a sonic healer. Not only does his latest record convey the late-thirties artist's masterful composing abilities, it shows his deep engagement with everyday struggles yet also his effort to transcend them with his great willpower and generosity. Earthbound yet galactic, world-mired yet majestic, Spirit Garden is one of the finest, most assured jazz releases of the past five years and ...
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