Jazz Articles

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Jason Marsalis: In A World Of Mallets

by Chuck Schultz
March 4, 2013

On a drum kit, Jason Marsalis often goes several directions (meters, not Meters) at once. On vibraphone, as he demonstrates on In A World Of Mallets, it's more a matter of smoothing out many segments into a continuous whole. Over the course of the album he invokes bells, chimes and the signature tunes of cozy wall clocks grown familiar from decades of old Hollywood, not to mention the Indonesian gamelan and, for good measure near the end, some whistling. The ...

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Rebirth Brass Band: Rebirth of New Orleans

by Wade Luquet
August 16, 2011

Largely credited with the revival of brass bands in New Orleans, Rebirth Brass Band continues its tradition of bringing high spirited music to its band of loyal followers. Rebirth of New Orleans is a fast-paced, funked up horn party with a contagious beat that makes it difficult to sit still. Formed in 1983 by two brothers, tubaist Phil Frazier and bass drummer Keith Frazier, along with the beloved trumpeter Kermit Ruffins, Rebirth has been New Orleans' go-to party band, its ...

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Dr. Michael White: Blue Crescent

by John Barron
November 1, 2008

The recovery of New Orleans from the effects of Hurricane Katrina has been slow coming. The city's musical community has been devastated by the forced relocation of numerous first-rate performers. Despite all the pain and tragedy of the last three years, local artists like clarinetist/educator Dr. Michael White are able to find solace in the enduring optimism and good-natured spirit of the crescent city. Blue Crescent finds White with an all-star, hometown cast of heavy-hitters performing a set of spiritually ...

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Henry Butler: PiaNOLA Live

by Mike Perciaccante
July 28, 2008

In a town famous for its piano virtuosos--Dr. John, Allen Toussaint, Eddie Bo, Professor Longhair, James Booker, and even Harry Connick, Jr. (all New Orleans natives)--Henry Butler is a giant. Though his eclectic mixture of funk, blues, jazz, pop, schmaltz, rock and standards isn't everyone's cup of tea, his musical genius is legendary. Musicians and fans both hail Butler as the next piano superstar.

Butler is a quintuple-threat, being an excellent writer, arranger, interpreter, player and multi-instrumentalist. Though ...

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Kermit Ruffins: Live at Vaughan's

by Henry Smith
July 22, 2007

Trumpeter/vocalist Kermit Ruffins sure knows how to throw a party, and frankly, he should. As the founder of two great New Orleans jazz bands, the Rebirth Brass Band and the Barbeque Swingers, Ruffins has become somewhat of a New Orleans musical diplomat, embracing a vigorous touring schedule that has brought him further from home than many of the city's mainstays.

Live at Vaughan's is a different story though, as Ruffins brings his Barbeque Swingers back home for a Thursday night ...

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Irvin Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra: Strange Fruit

by Jack Bowers
December 22, 2005

If there is any justice, Irvin Mayfield's powerful cantata that lays bare the taboo of interracial love and the horrors of lynching in the Jim Crow South should assume an honored place among the celebrated masterpieces of early 21st Century music. That probably won't happen, as justice is almost as scarce today as it was then, but it should. Strange Fruit is a monumental work, as celebratory as it is somber, a deeply emotional experience whose recitation of unpleasant truths ...

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Dr. Michael White: Dancing in the Sky

by Joel Roberts
January 8, 2005

I've had the good fortune to spend the last few New Year's Eves in New Orleans, sampling the Crescent City's always-tasty menu of music, food and high-spirited holiday hospitality. But if I were back here in New York and looking for a place to usher in the year with appropriate laissez le bon temps roule flair, I'd make a beeline to the Village Vanguard, where Dr. Michael White transports the Big Easy to the Big Apple each December 31st.

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Jon Cleary And The Absolute Monster Gentlemen: Pin Your Spin

by Craig W. Hurst
December 6, 2004

If you like big thick slabs of funk with fat backbeats, heavy bass lines and a strong dose of the blues, then you will find much to like on John Cleary's CD Pin Your Spin. New Orleans-based John Cleary And The Absolute Monster Gentlemen rock on with sounds that bring to mind 1970s keyboards of Billy Preston and Sly Stone, bass lines of Bootsy Collins, and vocals of Maurice White that float almost effortlessly over the thick-textured funky rhythmic stew. ...

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Dr. Michael White: Dancing In The Sky

by Jim Santella
April 17, 2004

Traditional jazz gives you the kind of feeling that cannot come from other forms of music. Folkloric in its content, the songs connect you with history. It sets your mind at ease. “Dancing in the Sky” places you in the midst of a New Orleans funeral procession, as everyone returns from the cemetery and decides to celebrate a life. It’s a time for reflection and a time for moving forward.

Two traditional numbers and a double handful of ...

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Henry Butler: Homeland

by C. Michael Bailey
April 14, 2004

Henry Butler's last recording was a bit of an eclectic affair. The Game has Just Begun, Butler's debut on New Orleans? Basin Street Records, contained a gumbo of Southern music with a cover of “Riders on the Storm" to boot. Butler's new offering, Homeland, is a throwback almost to the Swing Era, judging by the disc?s opening piece, “Jump to the Music." “Jump" is the key operative. Butler?s piano on “Jump To the Music" recalls Jay McShann and a whole ...