Jazz Articles

Alison Brown: The Company You Keep

by C. Michael Bailey
April 11, 2009

The discovery of a previously unknown species is a watershed event in the biological sciences. The discovery (or recognition) of the same in music is an equal watershed. Banjoist Alison Brown's The Company You Keep marks such a musical event. Music that stubbornly defies categorization is rare indeed and Brown's tenth release (the sixth on her and husband-bassist Garry West's Compass label) is such an event. Brown is a veritable Renaissance woman—with a Harvard degree, an MBA from UCLA, a ...

Jeff Coffin Mu: Bloom

by Mark Sabbatini
May 3, 2005

Plenty of musicians load up on all-star and eclectic personnel for what are promoted as genre-smashing albums. Saxophonist Jeff Coffin is among the relative few who actually delivers on a level most people can relate to.

His multi-ensemble, multi-genre Bloom visits Dixie, freeform, world, folk, and other styles, interpreting with an authentic and modern voice instead of merely adding an accent to standard contemporary fusion. Not everything soars all the time, but there's little questioning Coffin's sincerity.

Jeff Coffin Mu'tet: Bloom

by Matt Merewitz
April 13, 2005

Saxophonist Jeff Coffin is capable of so much. But I've wondered why he doesn't stick more to the Trane-inspired post bop, which he does so well. I guess you gotta make a living these days and if having a sound that borders on the cheesiness of Michael Brecker, Ed Calle, and the late Bob Berg is the price you pay, well, I guess I'm OK with that for the following reasons. The Nashville-based musician makes up for it in his ...

Jeff Coffin Mu'tet: Go-Round

by Todd S. Jenkins
August 6, 2002

The Flecktones reedman takes a trip around the world with this stylistically rich brew of original tunes. Jeff Coffin not only continues to turn heads as one of the most impressive saxophonists in modern jazz, he exhibits some amazing compositional skills as well. He seems to draw as much inspiration from avant-garde jazzmen like Dewey Redman as from more mainstream cats like Joe Lovano, resulting in a unique performance perspective. The first sounds heard on the disc are ...

Steve Masakowski: For Joe

by David Adler
July 1, 2000

Guitarist Steve Masakowski pays tribute to the late Joe Pass with this beautiful trio record. In addition to Pass’s own “For Django" and “I’ll Know," Masakowski presents “Waltz" by Rick Margitza, “Peace" by Horace Silver, the standards “Falling In Love with Love," “Poinciana," and “In Your Own Sweet Way," and five originals. Of Masakowski’s tunes, “I’ll Pass" and “Tino’s Blues" are particularly tasty.Bassist Bill Huntington and drummer Johnny Vidacovich provide picture-perfect accompaniment for the clean, concise guitarist, who ...

Astral Project: VooDooBop

by Ed Kopp
May 1, 1999

The five members of Astral Project are among New Orleans' finest musicians. Each has an impressive resume that extends beyond jazz to rock, blues, pop, funk, R&B -- the whole gamut of Crescent City musical styles. These dudes form an amazingly tight unit, no doubt owing to their 20-plus years of playing together. VooDooBop is packed with fluent musical conversations that seem almost extrasensory.Recorded in a French Quarter mansion, VooDooBop was produced by John Fischbach, who mixed and ...

Rod McGaha: Preacherman

by AAJ Staff
May 1, 1999

This is old. Mutes, shouts, rumbling rhythms and gospel piano. The tunes are familiar (“This Here”, “Anthropology”), and the originals seem like old friends. But this is no veteran: Rod’s first album looked to hip-hop – this goes back to early ‘Sixties soul jazz. Max Roach calls him “an important new and original voice”, which sounds funny at first. But think: when young lions talk of “tradition”, they often mean bop or Ellington. This corner of jazz past is not ...