Jazz Articles

Grant Green, Jr.: Introducing G.G.

by Joe Lazar
September 3, 2002

Soul Jazz is cheating. The recipe is tried and true: slick guitar, funky Rhodes and Hammond Organ, tight Drums and Bass, a full horn section. Music like this sounds good and makes folks happy with ease. It is also relatively formulaic.

Such is the scenario for guitarist Grant Green, Jr.’s new album, Introducing G.G.. The selections are soulful, the arrangements tight, the production clean. The rhythms get feet tapping, heads bobbing, and smiles around the room. But, as is often ...

Grant Green, Jr.: Introducing G.G.

by Jim Santella
July 1, 2002

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. A strong connection remains. Stepping out on his own, Grant Green, Jr. exhibits a natural affinity for the funk and blues that his late jazz guitarist father epitomized. A smooth, romantic texture emanates from his melodic instrument. Green has selected an eclectic program, including something for everyone. Mellow, smooth jazz sounds follow acoustic, straight-ahead jazz and contemporary, rock-hard funk. Portions of “6 Grams of Funk” are in six, and portions aren’t; but ...

Reuben Wilson: Organ Blues

by Jim Santella
February 1, 2002

Reuben Wilson’s blues band settles in nice and cozy. It’s a celebration! Nods to Jimmy Smith and Jack McDuff fit appropriately into a session of traditional good time blues. Melvin Butler lends a soulful persona that stands patiently in the shadow of the late Eddie Harris. Grant Green, Jr. and leader Reuben Wilson recall the great organ-guitar combinations jazz has espoused. Bernard Purdie drives the band with seasoned veteran chops.

Wilson’s career began 40 years ago in Los Angeles, playing ...

Reuben Wilson: Organ Blues

by Jim Santella
February 1, 2002

Reuben Wilson’s blues band settles in nice and cozy. It’s a celebration! Nods to Jimmy Smith and Jack McDuff fit appropriately into a session of traditional good time blues. Melvin Butler lends a soulful persona that stands patiently in the shadow of the late Eddie Harris. Grant Green, Jr. and leader Reuben Wilson recall the great organ-guitar combinations jazz has espoused. Bernard Purdie drives the band with seasoned veteran chops.

Wilson’s career began 40 years ago in Los Angeles, playing ...

Indigenous People: Unite

by AAJ Staff
July 1, 2001

For those unfamiliar with Marc Cary and his various ensemble fronts, “Indigenous People" is Marc Cary's groove-based ensemble that plays a varied repertoire of groove cuts taken from the loom of “African diasporic music." So then there is a melange here of Afro-Latin grooves, Jazz, African Folk, the Go Go music of Cary's youth, and raw, unadulterated funk; all rendered in the eclectic and freewheeling spirit of Cary and “the IP crew."

Indigenous People's first record was cut on Cary's ...

Masters Of Groove: Masters Of Groove Meet Dr. No

by Jim Santella
February 1, 2001

Four seasoned veterans bring back the 1960s through a nostalgic look at the music from the first James Bond thriller. Organ, guitar, bass and drums remind us how well the organ combo fit popular music of the day. The film’s scenery, which included tropical beaches and open waters, made it possible for a variety of popular music to fit in.

The organ-guitar combo has brought us many years of pleasurable jazz. The four Masters of Groove recall those years, but ...

Marc Cary: Rhodes Ahead Vol. 1

by Glenn Astarita
July 1, 2000

Jazz pianist Marc Cary pays a bit of homage to the electric piano that Harold Rhodes started developing way back in the mid-forties as Leo Fender subsequently bought the rights and appended his last name to an instrument that is cherished by many a keyboardist. With Rhodes Ahead, Vol 1 Cary performs on the rhodes, and the now ancient yet still delectable (analog) moog synthesizer, while the end results prove to be somewhat of a mixed bag at best.

The ...

Marc Cary: Trillium

by David Adler
April 1, 2000

While this is pianist Marc Cary’s record, the first thing that jumps out at the listener is the huge sound of Tarus Mateen’s bass. Deliciously fat, woody tones like these don’t grow on trees. On this memorable trio session, Mateen and powerhouse drummer Nasheet Waits provide a rambunctious, rock-solid foundation for Cary’s profound piano ruminations. Flutist Yarbrough Charles Laws appears on two strikingly melodic Cary originals, “New Prospective" and “Peace Maker" (the latter a piano/flute duet), as well as the ...

Marc Cary: Trillium

by Jim Santella
April 1, 2000

From the moody modern mainstream, pianist Marc Cary’s trio moves deliberately with dramatic passion, then balances its program with swinging blues romps and lilting flute melodies. A powerful pianist who leans toward classical diversion, Cary grew up in the Washington, DC area, where creative music has always been well received. Once he moved to New York, the pianist received experience and an education through the “schools" of Arthur Taylor, Betty Carter, and Abbey Lincoln.

Cary performs Lincoln’s song “My Love ...

Reuben Wilson: Organ Donor

by Douglas Payne
May 1, 1998

Reuben Wilson (born 1935) is best remembered as one of Blue Note's funkiest organists, making five albums for the label between 1968 and 1971 (only Love Bug and the excellent Blue Mode are currently available on CD). He went on to record three more records for Groove Merchant, then he whipped up some disco for smaller labels and by the end of the seventies, he was gigging with the Fatback Band. Wilson disappeared from the scene until groups like Us3, ...