Jazz Articles

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Mike LeDonne: The Groover

by Jack Bowers
June 24, 2010

So who knew that Mike LeDonne is actually a Jazz organist cleverly disguised as a pianist? Well, for starters, the folks who've been coming to see him perform regularly at Smoke, the New York City nightclub where he's been the house organist for more than a decade. As it turns out, LeDonne's not a garden-variety organist but an earnest Groover in the image of his main role model, the late Charles Earland. It's no accident that LeDonne has enlarged his ...

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Mary Lou Williams Festival 2010

by Franz A. Matzner
June 24, 2010

Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz FestivalKennedy CenterWashington, DCMay 20-22, 2010 In celebration of the 100th anniversary of her birth, this year's Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival was dedicated to the music of its namesake. This focus lent the festival's 15th year at the Kennedy Center a special significance and provided an opportunity to honor the compositions and musical adventurousness of one of jazz's greatest figures, often hailed as ...

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Chick Corea and the Freedom Band at Denver's Botanic Gardens

by Geoff Anderson
June 24, 2010

Chick Corea and the Freedom BandBotanic GardensDenver, COJune 14, 2010The last couple times Chick Corea came through Denver, he was highly electrified. The summer before last, he performed with the reunion tour of Return to Forever. Last summer, he came through with The 5 Peace Band featuring John McLaughlin. Both of those performances caused brown-outs throughout the metro area. Monday night he returned with 3/5 of The 5 Peace Band, but this time he and ...

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The Derek Trucks Band: Roadsongs

by Doug Collette
June 24, 2010

A full-length extension of the previously issued EP, Already Live (Victor, 2009), and a more than worthy successor to Live At the Georgia Theatre (Sony Legacy, 2004), Roadsongs accurately summarizes the evolution of The Derek Trucks Band over its sixteen-year existence. Recorded at Chicago's Park West, the site of the group's concert DVD Songlines (Legacy, 2006), this double-disc set collects standards of the DTB repertoire as well as selections from the unit's most recent studio recordings, many of which are ...

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Elifantree at Birdland, Helsinki

by Anthony Shaw
June 24, 2010

Elifantree Birdland Helsinki, Finland June 16, 2010

Birdland is the latest jazz venue to open in Helsinki, and as one can expect from a location that is as central as it is conventional, the fare is typically close to the middle of the road. However, in an attempt to woo an audience from outside this field Finland's entry to the 2008 Nordic Jazz Comets competition was invited to perform its usually enervated, intriguing brand ...

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Contact: Dave Liebman / John Abercrombie / Marc Copland / Drew Gress / Billy Hart: Five On One

by Dan Bilawsky
June 24, 2010

The practice of forming super groups in jazz can be fraught with disaster. Festival promoters often try to draw audiences by lumping musicians together in all-star settings, but a lack of chemistry, familiarity, common ground or interest, often turns these events into yawn-inducing bores. All four of these boundaries, thankfully, don't come into play with Contact--the collaborative quintet responsible for Five On One. Saxophonist Dave Liebman, guitarist John Abercrombie, pianist Marc Copland, bassist Drew Gress and drummer ...

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Take Five With Tyler Hornby

by AAJ Staff
June 24, 2010

Meet Tyler Hornby:Tyler started drumming at age ten, honed his artistry in high school big bands and experimental jazz combos, and has since blossomed into one of Canada's most innovative and sought-after young drummers.

Hornby has also become a gifted composer by expanding his musical tastes, studying the craft with Grammy Award-winning pianist Chip Stephens, and immersing himself in the work of other great players from all over the planet.His list of ...

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Wolfgang Muthspiel / Mick Goodrick: Live at the Jazz Standard

by Jack Huntley
June 24, 2010

The worry, when two distinctive musicians play in a duo setting, is that one will display a heavy-handedness that brings down the combined feel. The urge to fill in the openness is ever-tempting. Luckily, both Wolfgang Muthspiel and Mick Goodrick are not only talented guitarists, but well-schooled in the art of supporting others musically, while maintaining their own creative voices. Live at the Jazz Standard is a textbook case of how to combine talents in creating a unified musical landscape. ...

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Jacám Manricks: Trigonometry

by Mark Corroto
June 23, 2010

There is a snap to the music of saxophonist Jacám Manricks' music that calls to mind the invention of bebop with it's fidgety energy. Without looking backwards, this recording re-invents that atmosphere of bop animation.

After self-releasing Labyrinth (2009), he returns with a stellar cast of players that includes his quartet of Gary Versace (piano), Joe Martin (bass), and Obed Calvaire (drums). Sitting in as guests on several tracks are trombonist Alan Ferber and Scott Wendholt on trumpet.

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Domenic Landolf: New Brighton

by Dan McClenaghan
June 23, 2010

The trio ensemble of reed instrument with a spare backing of just drums and bass was pioneered by Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins. Ornette on alto sax, of course, with the occasional trumpet or violin, and Coltrane on tenor and soprano, Rollins on his always brawny tenor saxophone. It was groundbreaking stuff in the sixties. Without a chording instrument, melody moves into the forefront.On New Brighton, Swiss multiple reedist Domenic Landolf plays tenor saxophone, bass clarinet ...