Jazz Articles
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Ginger Johnson and his African Messengers: African Party (Deluxe Edition)
by Tony Poole
George Folunsho Johnson (1916-1975) was born in Nigeria and earned the nickname Ginger due to his reddish hair and freckles. At 18, Ginger Johnson joined the Nigerian Navy, which took him around the world and exposed him to a variety of musical styles and percussion techniques. After World War II, he settled in London, where he played with notable figures such as Ronnie Scott, drummers Phil Seamen and Tony Crombie, Victor Feldman, Kenny Graham's Afro-Cubists, and the high-society orchestra of ...
Continue ReadingThe Final Batch of My Favorite 2024 Jazz Things - Part 2
by Ludovico Granvassu
2024 was a tough year! It may be hard to be nostalgic about it. It will be much easier to be nostalgic about the amazing music that it brought to us and so, for our first show of 2025, we are looking back at some of the many gems that we have discovered in the past months.Happy listening!Playlist Ben Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00 Mulatu Astatke, Hoodna Orchestra “Major" Tension ...
Continue ReadingMilton Nascimento & Esperanza Spaulding, Andrew Bird, Jake Blount & Mali Obomsawin
by Cliff Furnald
RootsWorld rambles around once more with music from jazz to roots-folk from around the world. Artists in this edition include Milton Nascimento, & Esperanza Spaulding, Lúireach, Satnam Galsian, Les Arrivants, Andrew Bird , Frode Nyvold and friends, Andy Statman Trio , Riccardo Tesi , Besh o droM, Quintet Bumbac, Alterne, and Jake Blount & Mali Obomsawin. ...
Continue ReadingJazz Interpretations of the music of Jerome Kern
by Larry Slater
Jerome Kern was one of the most important composers of the “Great American Songbook," and his tunes have provided rich source material for jazz artists for decades. This is the first hour long installment of a three part series which includes performances by Paul Motian, Grant Green, JD Allen, Abbey Lincoln, Milt Jackson and more. Early Kern compositions include Ol' Man River, Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man, Why Do I Love, You, Why Was I Born and The ...
Continue ReadingDustin Carlson: Air Ceremony
by Dustin Carlson
Dream-time, work-time, play-time, ceremony-time, time counted and time uncountable... Time like a desert with sinuous lines unbroken; like a forest with trees that mark space, territory, barlines; or Time like an exit ramp, a cloverleaf highway interchange with its traffic, speed shifts, and the roar of engines... The time it takes a fern to grow, an egg to dry, a bullet to fire, a shoreline to erode ... or a body to touch the ground after a leap; or a ...
Continue ReadingMisha Mullov-Abbado: Effra
by Neil Duggan
Effra is the fourth album from multi-award-winning bassist, composer and arranger Misha Mullov-Abbado. It is a collection of the music he has written for his long-standing sextet over the last four years. An experienced bandleader and multifaceted sideman, his talents have led to him working alongside Tim Garland and Rob Luft. He is probably best known to international audiences from the album Za Górami recorded with Alice Zawadzki and Fred Thomas (ECM, 2024). Effra is dedicated to Brixton, ...
Continue ReadingTake Five with Saxophonist Zishi Liu
by AAJ Staff
Meet Zishi LiuZishi Liu is a Boston-based saxophonist and music curator originally from China. He made history as the first Chinese artist to play at Boston's famed Regattabar in collaboration with Blue Note Jazz Club in 2025. His work has been featured by WGBH, contributing to the broader narrative of Asian representation in jazz. His music explores the tension between familiar and foreign themes, drawing inspiration from Coltrane's later works and the evolving sounds of '90s Asian pop ...
Continue ReadingDawid Lubowicz: Human Fate
by Ian Patterson
Dawid Lubowicz is not alone in pondering whether we forge our own destiny or whether it is shaped by forces beyond our control. The question has kept philosophers, religions and fortune tellers in steady work for millennia, and it provided the Polish violinist/mandolinist Lubowicz with the inspiration for the music on Human Fate. Whether it was fate or single-minded determination that decreed Lubowicz would choose the violin, excel in his musical studies and pursue an international career is, for the ...
Continue ReadingMeet Carmen Staaf
by Cheryl K.
In this hour, an interview with pianist, educator, and Musical Director for NEA Jazz Master vocalist and actress Dee Dee Bridgewater, Carmen Staaf. Playlist Brian Molley Quartet with The Asin Langa Ensemble “Journeys In Hand In Hand" from Journeys (BGMM) 5:24 Alexa Torres “When the Wind Breaks the Chime" from IN SITU (Alexa Torres) 6:58 Jenny Scheinman “The Sea Also Rises" from All Species Parade (Royal Potato Family) 1:48 Carmen Staaf Trio “Prospect" from Eye to Eye (Fractamondi) ...
Continue ReadingSigurd Hole ensemble: Extinction Sounds
by David Bruggink
Sigurd Hole has proven himself a composer to watch with a string of releases blurring the lines between chamber jazz, modern classical composition and experimentation, often feeling more like organic transmissions than conventional songs. His solo double album Lys / Mørke (Self Produced, 2020) was recorded on the isolated Norwegian island of Fleinvær, and brings the intonations of its birds and biting winds into conversation with the similarly textural manipulations of his bowed and plucked bass. On the striking ensemble recording Roraima ...
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