Jazz Articles

Charlie Parr: Charlie Parr

by Doug Collette
October 5, 2019

Charlie Parr's latest album deserves its eponymous designation. After surviving and rehabbing in the wake of an injury so serious it threatened his musical career, the hardy bluesman decided to record some tracks previously-issued material alongside some newly-written songs. The resulting collection of eleven pieces simultaneously completes one circle and begins another. Jeff Mitchell's cover art for Charlie Parr suggests the timeless quality of the music behind it, as do the inside photos of the Pachyderm Studios where ...

Roswell Rudd & Heather Masse: August Love Song

by C. Michael Bailey
February 9, 2016

I am reading a book entitled When Breathe Becomes Air by Dr. Paul Kalanithi. The book details the most fundamental things of life, those things as close to us as skin. He derives his title from the 17th Century sonnet series by Fulke Greville, 1st Baron Brooke, an Elizabethan poet, dramatist, and statesman who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1581 and 1621. Greville was no George Gordon, Lord Byron, much less a John Milton, his ...

Heather Masse & Dick Hyman: Lock My Heart

by Dan Bilawsky
February 15, 2013

In a way, vocalist Heather Masse has come full circle with the release of Lock My Heart. As a youngster, Masse used Dick Hyman's Professional Chord Changes and Substitutions for 100 Tunes Every Musician Should Know (Warner Bros., 1986) as a vocal road map through the world of jazz standards; little did she know she'd be recording with the very man who put the book together less than two decades later. Masse, who hails from Maine and ...

Heather Masse & Dick Hyman: Lock My Heart

by C. Michael Bailey
January 15, 2013

Vocalist/songwriter Heather Masse received her didactic training at the New England Conservatory of Music and her practicum on Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion. Her academy training was in jazz vocals, but her practical experience reflects more folk- flavored fare. Her previous recording, Bird Song (Red House, 2009), was a well- received collections of folk originals, solidifying Masse's folk bona fides established with the wildly popular Wailin' Jennys. Her voice is user friendly, neither over-practiced nor hyper-informed by her education. ...

Jorma Kaukonen: River of Time

by Doug Collette
April 25, 2009

Jorma Kaukonen's revival of his partnership with Jack Casady of Hot Tuna over the last decade has also inspired him as a solo musician. The guitarist/vocalist/composer has produced the Grammy-nominated Blue Country Heart (Columbia, 2002) as well as the splendid Stars in my Crown (Red House, 2007). River of Time is an even more heartfelt and sympathetic collaboration.

The melancholy melody and heartrending lyrics of Hot Tuna's vintage “Been So Long" sets the tone for the CD in its crystal-clear ...

Jorma Kaukonen: Stars In My Crown

by Doug Collette
August 6, 2007

Listening to this studio recording of Jorma Kaukonen's , it's well to remember that he was a devout student of country blues when, back in the 1960s, he enlisted in the ranks of psychedelic radical icon group, Jefferson Airplane (whose name was parodied from blues artist, “Blind Lemon Jefferson).

Stars In My Crown extends the guitarist/vocalist/songwriter's study and rediscovery of the genre. The CD reflects a genuine love for the music, its history and consequently it's as much ...

Guy Davis: Legacy

by Charlie B. Dahan
September 15, 2004

Nothing sounds so simple but yet is so complex as the country/acoustic blues; and one of today's best ambassadors for this style has released his seventh album, Legacy. Guy Davis' newest offering possesses all the traits that makes him one of the best: a gruff, authentic vocal quality and adept, dexterous guitar playing (later in the album to include the reintroduction of the banjo). Davis' consistency in releasing quality, top of the line authentic blues records continues. ...