Jazz Articles
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Mark Sherman: Bop Contest
by Jack Bowers
Following four well-received albums on which he played piano, the versatile Mark Sherman has placed the keyboard in the capable hands of Donald Vega and returned to his main instrument, the vibraphone, for the eloquent and delightful Bop Contest, Sherman's twenty-second recording in a prestigious career that has spanned nearly half a century. Although Sherman has shared the studio with a who's who of renowned bassists, he had never released an album, until now, with the Hall ...
Continue ReadingErin McDougald: Outside the Soiree
by Jerome Wilson
Erin McDougald is a big-voiced Chicago-based singer who calls herself the “Flapper Girl" after the “flappers" of the 1920s,' looking back on them as emancipated, fearless women. That identity carries into her singing which comes across with a confidence and flair you rarely hear among younger jazz vocalists today. With her voice carrying a low, sultriness mixed with jazzy flexibility, she does not overtly sound like any of the great singers of the past but she has a versatility and ...
Continue ReadingJosh Maxey: Celebration of Soul
by Mark Sullivan
Celebration of Soul is the tenth and final album in a series of recordings made in just three years by guitarist/composer Josh Maxey. Such a uniquely prolific output did not happen by accident. Maxey says “The key to the series has been having a goal beyond what I would have considered reasonable." The series is a creative declaration from a musician who considers himself an improviser, composer and bandleader in equal parts. It documents 50 original compositions with 20 musicians. ...
Continue ReadingTim Hegarty: Tribute
by Dan Bilawsky
Tim Hegarty's Tribute is an audible panegyric on the great saxophonist-composers. It's a well-crafted, straightforward date that highlights Hegarty's love for those who've come before and the work that they've done on paper and on record. The list of saxophonists that Hegarty has studied includes George Coleman, Jimmy Heath, Frank Foster, Joe Henderson, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Charlie Parker, and Michael Brecker; the first four on that list are represented on the composition side during this program ...
Continue ReadingProject THEM: Project THEM
by Dave Wayne
Vibraphonist Mark Sherman has been knocking around for a while, and though he's a seasoned professional who's won several Downbeat polls it seems that he's one of those artists that's perpetually seen as a newcomer. It's telling that his Downbeat wins were in the “Rising Star" category, though he's been active on the New York jazz scene since the late 1970s. Initially a jazz drummer, Sherman-who still gigs on drums, and is a very adept jazz pianist-studied classical music at ...
Continue ReadingJeff Holmes Quartet: Of One's Own
by Bruce Lindsay
It's not the job of liner notes to critically appraise the recording for which they were written. Liner notes are supposed to be laudatory, occasionally hagiographic, but they're never meant to critique. That's the job of the review. Reviews don't make good liner notes and vice versa. Exceptions prove rules, however. So congratulations must go to Arturo O'Farrill, because his excellent liner notes for the debut album from pianist Jeff Holmes' Quartet--the equally excellent Of One's Own--could readily serve as ...
Continue ReadingJoe Alterman: Give Me The Simple Life
by C. Michael Bailey
Bruce Lindsey, in his review of Joe Alterman's Give Me The Simple Life, notes that the young pianist has..."the feel of a musician who's been immersed in his chosen music for decades." Citing Errol Garner, Oscar Peterson and Red Garland as influences, Altman betrays influences that further give bona fides to his experience beyond youth. Chief among these influences is Garland, who held the piano chair in Miles Davis' first great quintet with John Coltrane, Paul Chambers and Philly Joe ...
Continue ReadingJoe Alterman: Give Me The Simple Life
by Bruce Lindsay
There's a tension for many young jazz musicians, between the desire to start recording and the rather contrary need to develop technically and aesthetically before going public. Sometimes there is no tension: Joe Alterman is a case in point. The pianist may be a mere stripling in his early 20s, but he has the technique, the understanding and, most importantly, the feel of a musician who's been immersed in his chosen music for decades. Give Me The Simple Life, his ...
Continue ReadingMark Sherman: L. A. Sessions
by Larry Taylor
Vibraphonist Mark Sherman has had a longstanding desire to release an album featuring some of his favorite bebop and standard tunes. Now, in L.A. Sessions, this dream comes true, with happy results.These jazz gems from a half-century ago are played in the tradition, but Sherman and his cohorts lovingly add luster. Chief help comes from Bill Cunliffe, on Hammond B-3 organ (rather than his usual piano), and masterful guitarist John Chiodini, a favorite on the Southern California club ...
Continue ReadingHolli Ross: You'll See
by Edward Blanco
An ensemble performer for two decades, and co-founder of the String Of Pearls vocal group, jazz vocalist and educator Holli Ross offers her first solo album on the thirteen-track You'll See. Presenting unique interpretations of songs from Duke Ellington, Peggy Lee and Laura Nyro to new material from Brazilian trumpet icon Claudio Roditi and bassist Rufus Reid--both of whom grace this recording--Ross affirms the label from the late jazz critic Stuart Troup, who once dubbed her “the voice of experience." ...
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