Jazz Articles
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Steve Lehman, Betty Bryant, J.D. Allen and More
by Hobart Taylor
This week we feature artists who performed at Los Angeles' Angel City Jazz Festival, Steve Lehman, Kris Davis, Mauricio Morales, Jenny Scheinman and Elsa Nilsson. We also feature new music from saxophonist J.D. Allen, Betty Bryant, and welcome an avant-garde ragtime offering by Welsh pianist Joe Webb.Playlist Steve Lehman Orchestre National de Jazz “Los Angeles Imaginary" from (PI) 0:00 Jenny Scheinman “Ornette Goes Home" from All Species Parade (Royal Potato Family) 5:43 Host Speaks 15:15 Kris Davis “Run ...
Continue ReadingD.D. Jackson: I Call
by John Chacona
"I Call" is a poem about the immigrant's dilemma of identifying with two places but fully inhabiting neither, using the refrain, “a place that doesn't exist" to name this condition. Yet Quebec-born Toronto poet Choucri Paul Zemokhol's family came to Canada from the Middle East, a place that, even in the interval since the poem's publication in 2009, doesn't exist, metaphorically or in fact. On Poetry Project (Self Produced, 2024) D.D. Jackson's setting begins in a swirl of piano before ...
Continue ReadingBerke Can Özcan & Jonah Parzen-Johnson: It Was Always Time
by Karl Ackermann
In 2023, baritone saxophonist and electronics artist Jonah Parzen-Johnson performed at a benefit concert in Istanbul following a devastating earthquake that took tens of thousands of lives in Turkey and Syria. Parzen-Johnson had worked with diverse colleagues ranging from John Zorn to Pearl Jam, but each of his recordings had been a solo project. Minutes before taking to the stage in Istanbul, he met Turkish drummer Berke Can Özcan, and the two performed that evening as a duo. Inspired by ...
Continue ReadingLucy Woodward, Pericopes +1, Jasper Blom, Tom Harrell & More
by Ludovico Granvassu
The stunning new project by Lucy Woodward sets the tone for the return of Mondo Jazz after a brief summer hiatus.Happy listening!Playlist Ben Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00 Lucy Woodward “Trying Times" Lucy Woodward & The Rocketeers (GroundUp) 0:16 Host talks 4::45 Jasper Blom Quartet “Jouska" Polyphony 3 (Whirlwind) 6:38 Host talks 10:46 Pericopes + 1 feat. Anais Drago “Cosmic Nirvana" Good Morning World (Losen) 12:18 Tom Harrell “Miramar" Alternate ...
Continue ReadingDanny Jonokuchi Big Band: A Decade
by Jack Bowers
For trumpeter, vocalist and bandleader Danny Jonokuchi, the path to success--in music and in life--has never been smooth or trouble-free. Born with a congenital lung disease, Jonokuchi needed life-saving surgery while in high school to treat a collapsed lung, which caused him to put his trumpet playing aside, at least temporarily. Years later, and almost a continent away from his native Los Angeles, Jonokuchi was viciously attacked in south Philadelphia, resulting in traumatic injuries to his mouth and embouchure. This ...
Continue ReadingIsaiah Collier, Anna Webber & Nexus
by Maurice Hogue
What's in this episode of One Man's Jazz? Music from new releases by the greats (Wayne Shorter & Miles Davis) by rising stars (saxophonists Isaiah Collier & Anna Webber) by the vets (pianists Tonino Miano & Russ Lossing and Nexus, the long-running band from Italy led by drummer Tiziano Tononi & saxophonist Daniele Cavallanti) and by next-gen artists (pianist Marie Kruttli from Switzerland, Norwegian saxophonist Lauritz Skeidsvoll, and new Finnish quartet Solar Unity Ensemble), all surrounded by more excelllent music. ...
Continue ReadingEric Frazier: That Place
by Richard J Salvucci
Eric Frazier has been at it a long time, the better part of a quarter century. He started out as a public school teacher and administrator in New York City, and became a conga drummer out of his interest in African music. He has, as the saying goes, been around, played at venues like The Knitting Factory and worked with people like Pharoah Sanders and Jack McDuff. This is not his first CD by any means, and some reviews of ...
Continue ReadingThe Smooth Jazz Alley: A Fresh Take on Contemporary Jazz Fusion
by Steven Roby
In this episode of Backstage Sonoma, host Steven Roby sits down with the core members of The Smooth Jazz Alley--keyboardist and producer Marco Montoya, drummer and producer Kevin Lewis, and saxophonist Otoe Mori}. Together, they share the journey behind the band's unique sound and their efforts to push contemporary jazz's boundaries. With years of experience and collaboration, these talented musicians open up about the dynamics of their creative process and the inspiration behind their latest work. The trio ...
Continue ReadingTop Ten Sci-Fi Jazz Albums
by Chris May
On The Launch Pad Robert Frosch, head honcho at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration from 1977 to 1981, wrote that at cocktail parties he was sometimes asked whether NASA had some gizmo or other that had recently been brought to fictional life in a sci-fi book or movie. If Frosch's answer was “No," the next question was usually, “Are you going to get one?" To which Frosch's answer, a truthful one, was often, “We're working on it."
Continue ReadingPerfect Stranger: Unfinished Business
by Neil Duggan
There cannot be too many artists who release music 50 years after composing it. In 1974, Chris Sansom wrote six tracks, the highlight being a four-movement piece, echoing the structure of a classical symphony but taking influences from the progressive rock of the time to create something outside conventional jazz. He formed a band to play it, called it Perfect Stranger and set about recording. The complexity of the music required many rehearsals; space to do this was in short ...
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