Jazz Articles
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WDR Big Band: Bluegrass
by Jack Bowers
Violinist Darol Anger literally had a dream, one in which he was performing his bluegrass music not with the David Grisman Quintet or another small group but in front of a full-fledged big band--and in Germany, of all places. Even though it was a dream he thought would never come true, it was so vivid and tantalizing that Anger shared it with his longtime friend and musical colleague, mandolinist Mike Marshall, who agreed that it was rather far-fetched but nonetheless ...
Continue ReadingJason Kush: Finally Friday
by Jack Bowers
Simply narrating the resume of saxophonist/educator/writer/composer Jason Kush would require more space than is usually devoted to an entire review. For someone his age--or even someone older--Kush, currently an associate professor at Slippery Rock (PA) University, has had an exceptionally wide and productive career as a performer, teacher and author in a multitude of genres in the U.S. and around the world. What matters here, of course, is how well Kush fares on Finally Friday, the third ...
Continue ReadingCraig Davis: Tone Paintings
by Jack Bowers
The subtitle of pianist Craig Davis' second album, Tone Paintings, is “The Music of Dodo Marmarosa." For those who may be inclined to ask, “Dodo who?" the album offers a mini-biography of Pittsburgh-born Michael (Dodo) Marmarosa, an exceptionally talented pianist whose promising early career was cut short by the crushing weight of mental and emotional problems that proved too unbearable for him to overcome. At his peak, in the decade from 1940-50, Marmarosa was a member of big bands led ...
Continue ReadingDeanna Witkowski: Force of Nature
by Jerome Wilson
Pianist Deanna Witkowski has been studying the life and work of pianist and composer Mary Lou Williams for twenty years. This has resulted in her writing a biography of the artist, Mary Lou Williams; Music For The Soul (Liturgical Press, 2021) and making this companion album of her interpretations of Williams' music. Working in a trio format with occasional trumpet from Clay Jenkins, Witkowski covers all phases of Williams' musical career, her time writing for Andy Kirk in ...
Continue ReadingBob Mintzer: Soundscapes
by Richard J Salvucci
Well, what is your pleasure? Swinging charts? You have them. A tight big band? Yes, that certainly, and more. Terrific soloists? In abundance. A blend of genres that go from straight ahead to Latin to funk? That is all here too. The only thing absent, and all respect to Bob Mintzer, is excitement. To be honest, many contemporary big bands doing studio recordings have a similar issue. The level of musicianship is astronomical, but something is not there. You wonder ...
Continue ReadingBob Mintzer & WDR Big Band Cologne: Soundscapes
by Jack Bowers
Saxophonist Bob Mintzer, a New Yorker who left home long ago to see the world, is a professor of Jazz Studies at the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music and chief conductor of the world-class WDR Big Band in Cologne, Germany, with whom he has recorded Soundscapes, a luminous showcase for his singular talents as composer, arranger and soloist. As anyone who is familiar with Mintzer--through big-band recordings, his quartet the Yellowjackets or other avenues--clearly understands, he will ...
Continue ReadingSmithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra: Bernstein Reimagined
by Jack Bowers
This impressive anthology by the superb Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra is not so much Bernstein Reimagined as Bernstein Unleashed. The jazz component in Leonard Bernstein's memorable compositions for symphony orchestra, Broadway shows, films and even liturgical works always lay simmering just below the surface. As Bernstein is said to have confided to Duke Ellington: “Maybe that's really the difference between us. You write symphonic jazz, and I write jazz symphonies." However credible the remark, there is no doubt that the ...
Continue ReadingGloria Reuben & Marty Ashby: For All We Know
by Dan Bilawsky
The deeply felt farewell on vocalist Gloria Reuben's Perchance To Dream (MCG Jazz, 2015)—a duo take on “Here's to Life," with guitarist Marty Ashby—foreshadowed the arrival of this intimate date. It may have taken five years for this pair to find their way to this work, but it was destined to happen at some point. This is quite simply a meeting that was written in the stars and the trailing suggestions of its predecessor. A testament to ...
Continue ReadingThe DIVA Jazz Orchestra: DIVA + The Boys
by Dan Bilawsky
The all-female DIVA Jazz Orchesta has a boy-meets-girls story threaded into its origin, as drummer Stanley Kay served as the impetus behind the group's formation. Therefore, it's only fitting that the ladies have a few gentleman over to join them for some high times in the music every now and then. This eight-song set, recorded live at Pittsburgh's Manchester Craftsmen's Guild in March of 2017, finds clarinetist Ken Peplowski, dearly departed trumpeter Claudio Roditi, trombonist Jay Ashby, and ...
Continue ReadingThe DIVA Jazz Orchestra: DIVA + the Boys
by Jack Bowers
After more than twenty-five years as one of the world's most renowned big bands, drummer Sherrie Maricle's superlative all-female DIVA Jazz Orchestra invited a quartet of “the boys" onboard to help ensure the ensemble's twelfth album's success. Even though DIVA needs no consorts to affirm its unremitting mastery, it is nonetheless pleasurable to witness these talented women sharing the stage and blowing up a storm with such esteemed guest artists as clarinetist Ken Peplowski, trombonist Jay Ashby and (it hurts ...
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