Jazz Articles
Our daily articles are carefully curated by the All About Jazz staff. You can find more articles by searching our website, see what's trending on our popular articles page or read articles ahead of their published dates on our future articles page. Read our daily album reviews.
Sign in to customize your My Articles page —or— Filter Article Results
Tony Monaco Trio: Over and Over
by Pierre Giroux
Tony Monaco's latest album Over and Over is a journey into the world of jazz funk propelled by the timeless Hammond B-3 organ. With Monaco at the helm and accompanied by guitarist Zakk Jones and drummer Reggie Jackson, this trio embarks on a program of seven Monaco originals that are both compelling and undeniably funky. Monaco's approach to his compositions can be exemplified by the opening track “Da Daddy." This well-formulated and realized chart smokes along ...
read moreTony Monaco Trio: Over and Over
by Nicholas F. Mondello
B-3. The organ model resonates with jazz fans as something musically profound which fundamentally hits in the soul. Perhaps it is the Gospel and church roots or the list of greats in the jazz organ pantheon--Jimmy Smith, Jack McDuff, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Shirley Scott, et al. Now that Joey DeFrancesco has left us, there is a handful of great jazz B-3 organists still pumping jazz air--Mike LeDonne, for one, and Tony Monaco. With Over and Over, the Columbus, Ohio-based Monaco, ...
read moreTony Monaco: The Definition of Insanity
by C. Andrew Hovan
It is often said that adversity can make or break a person. In the case of Tony Monaco, his varied life struggles have always been the catalyst in helping to bear the fruits of his many musical successes. Perhaps a fairly recent recovery from a major blockage of his widowmaker artery is the most radical example of Monaco's propensity to make lemonade when given life's proverbial lemons. Coinciding with this life-changing event was the announcement from his wife Asako that ...
read moreTony Monaco: Four Brothers
by C. Andrew Hovan
The current state of recorded music is in flux in ways like it has never been before. Young audiences have fickle tastes and like to pick and choose tracks on streaming platforms. So the idea of an album being a complete and unique entity is a totally foreign idea to many listeners under 30. Nonetheless, the album concept has been integral to jazz listeners from the debut of the long playing record. Imagine the jazz lexicon without Miles Davis' Kind ...
read moreTony Monaco: The Definition of Insanity
by Nicholas F. Mondello
The popular quote referenced in this CD's title has been attributed to many--most frequently to Albert Einstein. With this fine offering, organ virtuoso Tony Monaco steers clear of Sisyphean do-overs and delivers eleven diverse and well-performed tracks. “Cars Trucks Buses" by Phish's Page McConnell kicks the session off with a hefty, “short'nin' bread" B3 cooker. From this slick get-go, Monaco shows he's got A1 jazz chops and his colleagues are right there with him on the trip. ...
read moreTony Monaco: The Definition of Insanity
by Mark Corroto
Did you order it? Somebody ordered the party platter, because B3 maestro Tony Monaco is delivering. His music is for all intents and purposes a celebration. With The Definition of Insanity, a reference to doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result, he confesses to be under the influence of the same mania as the legends Jimmy Smith, Brother Jack McDuff, Reuben Wilson, Richard “Groove" Holmes, and Jimmy McGriff. If this man is insane, I ...
read moreTony Monaco: Furry Slippers
by Chris M. Slawecki
Through nine releases, primarily from his home studio in jny: Columbus, Ohio, Tony Monaco has proved that he's a solid link in the hip Hammond B-3 organ chain that reaches from contemporaries such as Wil Blades and Joey DeFrancesco all the way back to Jimmy Smith and other founders of the Hammond groove. At a recent Java Jazz Festival (in Indonesia), Monaco met drummer Greg Fundis and guitarist Fareed Haque, and the three hit it off so well that they ...
read moreKevin Coelho: Funkengruven: The Joy of Driving a B3
by Hrayr Attarian
Kevin Coelho's debut, Funkengruven: The Joy of Driving a B3, is a tight trio affair that showcases the young organist's versatility as he successfully cooks his way through originals, R&B songs and fusion and bop standards. Coelho brings a religious celebratory feel to teacher Randy Master's “Take A Stand," as his Hammond B3 lets forth spiritual and sophisticated harmonies. This contrasts well with the unabashedly sensual groove of Dr Lonnie Smith's “Play it Back." Harking back to ...
read moreTony Monaco: Celebration
by Hrayr Attarian
If organists Shirley Scott and Jimmy Smith had formed some sort of a musical union, the offspring would no doubt have been Tony Monaco. Manifesting the melodicism of the former, the orchestral sensibilities of the latter and virtuosity of both, Monaco has become one of the most versatile and dazzling performers on the Hammond B3. The limited edition two-CD Celebration, on Monaco's own Chicken Coop label finds The organist in the company of various collaborators and in ...
read moreGeorge Kontrafouris: Little Daddy's Blues
by Glenn Astarita
Born in Greece, Hammond B-3 denizen George Kontrafouris' organ combo fare sounds purely American in scope and attack. In a nutshell, he has it all down to a science. And with testimonials by fellow B-3 great Tony Monaco cited within the liners, the music iterated here features a Texas roadhouse type gala, spiced up with snappy pulses and tenor saxophonist Manuel Dunkel's edgy choruses. However, it's Kontrafouris' cagey right-hand voicings and broad comprehension and implementations of the jazz vernacular that ...
read more
Giveaway
Days remaining: 5
