Jazz Articles

like 442

Ron Davis: My Mother's Father's Song

by Alain Londes
June 30, 2010

Digging deep into a family's history and heritage can reveal a goldmine of inspirational nuggets. This is exactly what Toronto-based pianist Ron Davis set out to do in his first all-trio recording, My Mother's Father's Song. His music has always drawn on the classical, swing and post-bop traditions of Art Tatum and Thelonious Monk. In this case there is also a strong embrace of his Polish heritage.My Mother's Father's Song is a very poignant and personal project, especially ...

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Take Five With Solitaire Miles

by AAJ Staff
June 30, 2010

Meet Solitaire Miles“Solitaire Miles captivates an audience with mesmeric tone, playful, conversational phrasing, and a sinuous sense of swing. Miles has a voice that grabs you, and demands to be listened to. Her natural, unaffected delivery never draws attention to itself, allowing the craft of the song writers to shine through." Tamara Dailey, Chicago Sentinel“Billie Holiday with sunshine and air"- Chautuaqua Sympony bassist Harry JacobsonPerforming in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles, Solitaire Miles ...

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Soft Machine: Bundles

by John Kelman
June 30, 2010

If the recent discovery of NDR Jazz Workshop (Cuneiform, 2010) demonstrated that the once considered “transitional" 1973 line-up of British psychedelia-cum-electric-avant- jazzers Soft Machine was, indeed, a fine enough standalone unit, then Esoteric's near- concurrent reissue of 1975's Bundles proves that the addition of guitarist Allan Holdsworth lit one serious fire beneath that same group. Back in print and a tremendous improvement over the previous See for Miles CD, it's a chance to revisit an album that fired an important ...

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Coleman Hawkins: The High and Mighty Hawk

by Samuel Chell
June 29, 2010

Recorded in England in 1958, this little-known session, originally released on the obscure Felsted label, is an inarguable gem. Perhaps even the word “masterpiece" is not too much of a stretch. It's doubtful that the putative “father of the tenor saxophone," Coleman Hawkins, made a better recording in the age of long-playing records, and it's just as unlikely that a better example of the impeccable touch and melodic inventiveness of the prolific Hank Jones can be found on any other ...

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Burlington Vermont Discover Jazz Festival 2010: In Service to the Community

by Doug Collette
June 29, 2010

Discover Jazz Festival 2010 Burlington, Vermont June 4-June 13, 2010

The symmetry of the graphic design for the poster announcing the 2010 Burlington Discover Jazz Festival is emblematic of the balance attained in this year's lineup. More thoroughly traditional than in years past, the event nevertheless could not help but produce a diverse array of styles given the stature of the musicians, including saxophone colossus Sonny Rollins and legendary guitarist Jim Hall. And that emphasis on ...

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The Mark Lomax Trio: The State Of Black America

by Mark Corroto
June 29, 2010

Drummer/composer/band leader Mark Lomax must not be afraid of ghosts. Because with all the spirits hovering over his recording The State Of Black America, it would be understandable that he and his band of saxophonist Edwin Bayard and bassist Dean Hulett might be a bit intimidated to bridge the firebrand music of the 1960s from today's world. To get there they were obliged to walk the roads traveled by John Coltrane, Albert Ayler, Sonny Rollins, John Tchicai and Archie Shepp.

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Various Artists: Earth Music - Ten Years of Meridian Music: Composers in Performance

by Raul d'Gama Rose
June 29, 2010

Earth Music commemorates a decade of musical art presentations by the forward-thinking Bay Area Gallery founded on and operating under the firm conviction that significant art increases social, philosophical and spiritual change. It seems popular now to support the new music, which by those two words seems to imply--and this is becoming odious too--the entire artistic impulse to create experimental music. There should really be no such thing because all music is ultimately experimental, including those familiar standards that are ...

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Jamie Begian Big Band: Big Fat Grin

by Raul d'Gama Rose
June 29, 2010

Jamie Begian Big BandBig Fat GrinInnova Records2010

If the music on Jamie Begian's Big Fat Grin were any bigger and fatter, the grin would challenge that of Lewis Carroll's Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland. No, not the cat that appears in Tim Burton's film, because that image is too phantasmagorical, but rather the wonderful, original creation that appears in the book. It is there that the image is charming, mischievous and ...

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Sigbjorn Apeland / Oyvind Skarbo / Nils Okland: 1982

by John Kelman
June 29, 2010

On a per capita basis, creativity and innovation coming out of Norway is thoroughly disproportionate to a population straining to reach five million. With a particularly strong reputation for its intrepid exploration of modern technology and instrumental orthodoxy, there's also plenty going on without the benefit of laptops, turntables and effects processors. When harmonium player Sigbjørn Apeland, drummer Øyvind Skarbø and violinist Nils Økland--billed as 1982 Trio--performed at the top of Mount Ulriken as part of JazzNorway in a Nutshell ...

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Alex Machacek: A Very Tall Tale

by Ian Patterson
June 29, 2010

Be careful what you wish for, for you may get it-so the saying goes. When Alex Machacek asked drummer Marco Minnemann if he had a drum solo he could pass his way to compose around, he could never have expected a drum improvisation lasting 51 minutes. Before he could say, “Hey, 13/16 is a really odd meter," he found himself committed to composing, or recomposing as he puts it, around the entire piece. Minnemann's drum improvisation is amazing ...