Jazz Articles

Erskine Hawkins: And His Tuxedo Junction Orchestra

by Graham L. Flanagan
November 18, 2008

People rarely recognize the state of Alabama as the birthplace of some of the most important American celebrities of all time such as Truman Capote, Willie Mays and Joe Louis. Since it remains unclear as to whether the great Lionel Hampton was born in Alabama or Kentucky, the title of reigning Alabama jazz champion belongs to trumpeter/composer Erskine Hawkins, who died 15 years ago in November, 1993. Hawkins began his career in Montgomery as a member (and ...

Benny Goodman: 40th Anniversary Concert (Live at Carnegie Hall)

by Graham L. Flanagan
June 13, 2008

One autumn day in 1978, a sprightly 69-year-old Benny Goodman decided on a whim that he wanted to 'book' Carnegie Hall for a gig commemorating the fortieth anniversary of the landmark performance held and so famously-recorded there for the Columbia label in 1938. That show registered as the first official full-length jazz program ever held at the hallowed venue. Tickets for the anniversary gig sold out in a matter of hours, with no advertising or even a formal announcement. Goodman's ...

Ray Russell Quartet: Turn Circle

by Roger Farbey
October 20, 2007

Vocalion has done it again, with a long overdue reissue of Ray Russell's first album Turn Circle (originally released in on the CBS Realm series), and superbly remastered by Michael J. Dutton. Russell is probably the most heinously undervalued jazz guitarist in the world, which is ironic because he is undoubtedly one of the best. His style is his own, sounding like no other guitarist.This album, recorded in 1968, is quite beautiful and the rather quaint cover art ...

Harry Beckett: Warm Smiles / Themes For Fega.

by Hrayr Attarian
May 20, 2007

Although Europe has produced many an accomplished and innovative jazz musician, a great number of ultra-talented ones remain in obscurity. Vocalion puts the spotlight on one such forgotten genius, British trumpeter Harry Beckett. The double CD combines the latter two of his three sessions for RCA; which were not only his debut recordings as a leader but also remain the most critically acclaimed of all his work. Each CD is, in fact, a straight reissue of each album: 1971's Warm ...

John Surman: How Many Clouds Can You See?

by John Kelman
February 21, 2007

While woodwind multi-instrumentalist John Surman's eponymous debut was a strange mixture of everything from free improvisation to calypso, his second date, 1970's How Many Clouds Can You See?, is a much more focused affair. Surman clearly references one of his roots, John Coltrane, albeit on an instrument that the legendary saxophonist never played.

Surman plays bass clarinet and soprano saxophone, but the baritone has always been his main axe. Here he uses it to put a personal spin on music ...

Maynard Ferguson: MF Horn 2 / The Ballad Style

by Jack Bowers
June 27, 2006

The two albums on this CD reissue from Vocalion were recorded during trumpeter Maynard Ferguson's “English period (1968-72). It was a time when Ferguson was trying a number of new things, some of which worked, and some of which didn't. The first eight tracks are from MF Horn 2, the others from The Ballad Style of Maynard Ferguson.

As one can readily hear on MF Horn, Ferguson had turned away from more traditional jazz and popular standards and toward such ...

Pete Cater Big Band: The Right Time

by Jack Bowers
June 19, 2006

Pete Cater is arguably Great Britain's foremost big-band drummer, and The Right Time is yet another album--this would be the third, and second on Vocalion--of swinging, straight-ahead jazz by Cater and his ebullient ensemble from across the pond. As for the title, it should go without saying that any time is the right time to kick back and enjoy a pleasurable hour of top-of-the-line music by one of the UK's most proficient bands.

Cater's unequivocal approach, modeled after the standard ...

John Surman / John Warren: Tales of the Algonquin

by Marc Medwin
June 17, 2006

Much was in the air in early-'70s British music, where various configurations explored the fringes of tradition while maintaining allegiance to fixed forms. Tales of the Algonquin exemplifies the times perfectly. One complaint: the audio is only passable. (But if this transfer was taken from an LP, the stunted sound is understandable.)In any case, John Warren's music more than compensates for any sonic flaws. “With Terry's Help slides and swells in, regal but anticipatory, soon kicking into a ...

Amancio D'Silva: Konkan Dance

by Chris May
February 25, 2006

After decades of neglect, the work of Goan-born guitarist Amancio D'Silva (1936-96) edged back towards the mic last summer with the re-release of his 1969 cross-cultural masterpiece, Integration. A pioneering blend of Indian raga, hard bop and early electric Miles, plus fainter traces of ska, rembetika, Link Wray, Ennio Morricone and more, Integration featured the recently arrived in London guitarist alongside some of Britain's most inventive jazz musicians, including saxophonist Don Rendell and trumpeter Ian Carr, as did his other ...

Michael Garrick Sextet with Norma Winstone: The Heart is a Lotus

by John Kelman
August 18, 2005

With a resurgence of interest in what many call the “Golden Years of British jazz--the mid-'60s through early '70s--labels like Vocalion are helping to fill in the blanks on the period when a specifically British sound began asserting itself, in contrast to the America-centric music of prior decades. While the music of emergent artists like saxophonist John Surman and trumpeter Ian Carr exhibits clear stylistic precedents from across the pond, there's also something indefinably British there, too--perhaps a hint of ...