Jazz Articles

Mose Allison: Mose Allison: American Legend in California

by C. Michael Bailey
November 6, 2015

Tippo, Mississippi is about as far from Charleston as it is Tutwiler, the two county seats of Tallahatchie County, located on the northeastern edge of the alluvial Delta plain, before the land turns to rolling hills. There lives in Tippo, an Allison family, who thirty years ago were patients of mine when I was practicing pharmacy while attending graduate school. That is Allison...as in, Mose Allison. I Mose Allison's mother and brother frequently during the 10 years I kicked around ...

Mark Sherman: Family First

by Budd Kopman
February 7, 2008

The eminently swinging Family First is vibraphonist Mark Sherman's second release with this working band, the previous one being One Step Closer (CAP, 2005). Sherman has been a stalwart of the mainstream scene for twenty years, and brings a true enthusiasm and deep love to this style of jazz. There can be no argument about the honesty of this recording. The main quartet--Sherman, Joe Magnarelli (trumpet/flugelhorn), Allen Farnham (piano) and Dean Johnson (bass)--are extremely tight, and together ...

Mark Sherman: Family First

by Michael P. Gladstone
June 26, 2007

Vibraphonist/composer Mark Sherman records as he has over the past twenty years and, unlike others who specialize on this instrument, continues to show no interest in expanding his sound to avant-garde or world music influences. What Sherman does exhibit is his use of Milt Jackson's blues and Bobby Hutcherson's shimmering vibes-style. Sherman's Family First again demonstrates that he is one of the best of the current vibraphonists on the scene. This album is very similar to One Step Closer (CAP, ...

Mark Sherman: Family First

by Eyal Hareuveni
June 2, 2007

Family First, by New York-based vibraphonist and educator Mark Sherman, revolves around similar concepts that reflect his spiritual, artistic, and personal priorities to reach, touch and move people. This is his second album with a working band that has developed a distinctive sound which includes the unison playing of Sherman's vibes and Joe Magnarelli's flugelhorn.

Sherman uses the ten pieces on the recording as vehicles for studying harmonic and rhythmic possibilities, mainly within the post-bop legacy. Examples include “Explorations, (a ...