Jazz Articles
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Yellowjackets: Fasten Up
by Pierre Giroux
Since their auspicious debut in 1981, the Yellowjackets have stood as both standard bearers and restless innovators of the jazz fusion movement. The group is anchored by founding pianist and keyboardist Russell Ferrante, long-time collaborators drummer Will Kennedy and saxophonist Bob Mintzer and, the most recent addition (for nearly a decade), bassist Dane Alderson. With their release Fasten Up, they once again demonstsrate that their creative engine runs on both memory and momentum. The album opens with a ...
Continue ReadingOscar Peterson: City Lights: The Oscar Peterson Quartet – Live in Munich, 1994
by Mike Jurkovic
The first big challenge presented by the latest grand release from the Oscar Peterson archives, City Lights: The Oscar Peterson Quartet--Live in Munich, 1994 is how not to spontaneously burst into dance, either with yourself or some total stranger who happens to be within five miles of earshot of the ecstatic opener, “There Will Never Be Another You." The second challenge is not to interrupt the listening experience of others with wild, joyful whoops, hollers, and well-intentioned hyperbole.
Continue ReadingThe Bad Plus: Complex Emotions
by Mike Jurkovic
For those out there who may have inadvertently thought The Bad Plus had nothing major left to say after two-plus decades of saying major things, guess again. Because Complex Emotions--their sixteenth statement of purpose--doubles down and ups a hundred. Proof positive is how guitarist Ben Monder's valedictory “LiPo"--equal parts biblical wind and prairie sandstorm--sleigh rides Category 5 nonstop from Complex Emotions's changeling opener, founder/bassist Reid Anderson's “Grid/Ocean." Seemingly with a mind of its own, the track thrashes then ...
Continue ReadingChristian Sands: Embracing Dawn
by Mike Jurkovic
Way back in the mottled history of the 1950s and '60s, record biz guys in sharkskin might kick down a DJ's door and bark: “You gotta to hear this single!" But who truly listens to and what exactly is a single these days? Add in the disturbing though elusive truth that any single can take any physical or temporal shape and the evidence just points to one thing: First impressions have doomed many a pundit. If ...
Continue ReadingMike Stern: Echoes and Other Songs
by Neil Duggan
Echoes and Other Songs is guitarist Mike Stern's first release since the loss of pianist, friend and confidante, Jim Beard in March, 2024. Beard, perhaps best known for his association with Steely Dan, appears here as pianist, keyboardist and producer. Stern is still on the long road to recovery following a fall in 2016 that broke both his arms and left him with nerve damage. He has adapted his technique and now uses a homegrown solution to hold his pick ...
Continue ReadingMike Stern: Echoes and Other Songs
by Doug Collette
With a running time of seventy-seven minutes plus, guitarist Mike Stern's Echoes and Other Songs is effectively a double album. And like most such expansive works--including classics like Bob Dylan's Blonde On Blonde (Columbia, 1966) and The Beatles (aka 'The White Album')(Apple, 1968)--it would benefit from consolidation of its best elements (as would a replacement of the amateurish cover design). Even so, this is still a deceptively ambitious piece of work. Of course, advanced thinking has virtually always ...
Continue ReadingEmmet Cohen: Vibe Provider
by Mike Jurkovic
All round shaman, musical advocate, and positive vibe provider, Nigerian-born Michael Olufunmilola (Funmi) Ononaiye (1968-2023) was known and beloved by everyone in the artistic and social circles of Manhattan's music scene. He was an A&R rep at Atlantic Records. He was a DJ, percussionist, and chief programmer at Jazz at Lincoln Center. He had a deep effect on everyone. That effect can be viscerally felt on the way-too-good, Vibe Provider. It sails. It sweeps in on a hop ...
Continue ReadingChristian McBride, Edgar Meyer: But Who's Gonna Play The Melody?
by Mike Jurkovic
It is not known exactly how many duets of this nature have fallen into the lackluster bin of audio history. But rest assured that But Who's Gonna Play The Melody? is as far from that incalculable number as the moon is from the sun. Emblematic of Christian McBride's whole groove credo, everything falls into place quickly, smoothly, and easily on But Who's Gonna Play The Melody?. On the bassist's gazillionth high spirited musical offering, McBride soul-teams with finger-snapping, ...
Continue ReadingOscar Peterson: Con Alma
by Chris May
To borrow Duke Ellington's description of Louis Armstrong, Oscar Peterson was born poor, died rich and never hurt anyone along the way. He also brought joy to untold numbers of people. But, truth to tell, his style was the twentieth-century equivalent of modern day AI-produced generative music. Sit Peterson down at a piano, progamme him (as in give him a tune to play), and press Go: a torrent of technique poured out. Trouble is, Peterson's pianism was ...
Continue ReadingChristian Sands: Christmas Stories
by Dave Linn
Early on, Christian Sands had a passion for music. He was enrolled in music classes at age four and wrote his first composition at age five. He started playing professionally at the age of ten and studied at the Center for the Arts in New Haven, Connecticut before receiving his Bachelor of Arts and Masters degrees from the Manhattan School of Music. A protégé of Dr. Billy Taylor, Sands released his debut album at the age of 12 and came ...
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