Jazz Articles
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Songs for Nica: How Jazz Fell in Love with a Baroness
by Hank Hehmsoth
For decades, the name Nica has surfaced quietly but persistently in jazz titles and liner notes. Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter--the Rothschild-born patron and confidant of Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, and dozens of others--left a mark far deeper than her reputation as jazz's “Baroness." Her name became part of the music itself, traveling across generations and continents in melodies that still carry her spirit. The First Dedications Horace Silver Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers
Continue ReadingMike Clark: Itai Doshin
by Jack Bowers
Itai Doshin is a Buddhist term that, translated from Japanese, refers to a state of harmony wherein individuals share a common goal and purpose, or “many in body, one in mind." That is the level California-based drum legend Mike Clark's quintet strives for on Clark's second album on Gregory Howe's Wide Hive label. Is the mission accomplished? That is for the listener to decide. What can be said is that everyone gives it his (or her) best ...
Continue ReadingJoel Ross with John Toomey Trio at the Attucks Jazz Club
by Mark Robbins
Joel Ross is a man of few words. Actually, he was a man of no words until the end of the first set when he told the sold-out audience that the group would be back after a break. Then no more words until the end of the second set when he thanked everyone for coming and asked us to drive home safely. Ross lets his mallets do the talking and talk they did at a mile a minute.
Continue ReadingAllison Philips: Make it Better
by Daniel Lehner
In agreement with the wistful but pleasant nostalgia of the photograph of her grandmother that adorns its cover, there is a dignified, almost blue collar ethos imbued within the locomotive, highbrowed modern jazz of Brooklyn trumpeter Allison Philips' Make It Better," where warm, resolute melodies ground the improvisation templates with a sense of purpose, history and tact. Written, like much of world's mid-00's releases, in the contemplative limbo of the pandemic, where Philips had worked for over a year for ...
Continue ReadingTheo Travis: The Relegation of Pluto
by Geno Thackara
If Theo Travis's Double Talk has a particular strong suit, it's quadruple talk. They excel at moody atmospheres (see the odd guest appearance by Robert Fripp), but are just as happy to roll through a flat-out fusion jam--the kind that even makes it worth putting up with some mid-aughts video quality. ...
Continue ReadingLa Tanya Hall, Johan Lindström, Zack Lober, Gary Bartz & More
by Ludovico Granvassu
Here is another dispatch of fresh new releases at the intersection of high-octane energy, cinematic vibes and much awaited returns.Happy listening!Playlist Ben Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00 New Cool Collective “Ms. Wilson" On Tour (Dox) 0:16 Host talk 9:15 Vladimir Kostadinovic “The World Keeps Ending and the World Keeps Going On" Iris (Criss Cross) 10:11 Host talk 18:28 La Tanya Hall “Let's Burn Down the Cornfields" If Not Now, When... ...
Continue ReadingThree Visitors Trio Debuts New Album
by Steven Roby
In this episode of Backstage Bay Area, host Steve Roby interviews pianist and composer Edward Simon to discuss the trio Three Visitors, a deeply collaborative project with bassist Scott Colley and drummer Brian Blade. This trio consists of three composers who write for one another, built on a long history, a shared language, and deliberate listening. We discuss how the group evolved from its New York connections in the 1990s, how the new album on GroundUP Music was created with ...
Continue ReadingCelebrating A Century Of Charlie Parker, Part 1
by Larry Slater
The jazz world celebrated the centennial of Charlie Parker's birth in 2020. Parker is one of the select few musicians who justify the term '"genius." He was unquestionably one the greatest improvisers who ever played the music,. A critic for Downbeat wrote, “to say Charlie Parker was one of the greatest jazz musicians who ever lived is a bit like saying the Mona Lisa is a well-known painting."The author and jazz critic Gary Gittins said, “It's difficult. to ...
Continue ReadingRolling Stones: Black and Blue (2CD)
by Doug Collette
Forgetting for the moment any revisionism applied to the Rolling Stones album Black & Blue (Rolling Stones Records, 1976), the iconic British band was in more than a little disarray when it repaired to a variety of studios for recording sessions beginning roughly two years prior to issue. Still, retrospect applied via the reissue(s) of the band's 13th studio album reveals it to be a patchwork of tracks far more cohesive than the sloppy collage of salacious images on the ...
Continue ReadingSaha Gnawa: Bacha Hamou
by Ludovico Granvassu
Even though Saha Gnawa is co-lead by Moroccan master musician Maâlem Abdellah Ben Jaafer--genuine Gnawa royalty--the project was actually born in Brooklyn, sparked by his collaboration with drummer Daniel Freedman and growing from late-night sessions into a full-fledged band. Their self-titled debut includes notable guests, among them Donny McCaslin and, on this track, “Bacha Hamou," Nels Cline. Not to mention a power line up which also includes Gilad Hekselman & Guilherme Monteiro on guitars and Jason Lindner on keyboards.
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