Jazz Articles

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Wolfgang Muthspiel / Mick Goodrick: Live at the Jazz Standard

by John Barron
June 23, 2010

Guitarists Wolfgang Muthspiel and Mick Goodrick are two like-minded explorers of fretboard possibilities. Goodrick, the elder, has been a renowned performer and educator for over forty years, working with the likes of Gary Burton, Jack DeJohnette and Steve Swallow. Muthspiel, Goodrick's former student at Berklee College of Music has performed with Peter Erskine, Paul Motian and Norwegian jazz singer Rebekka Bakken, among others. On Live at the Jazz Standard, an intimate duo recording from 2008, both guitarists generate ...

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Ethan Mann: It's All About a Groove

by Woodrow Wilkins
June 23, 2010

Jazz, pop, funk, blues--put them all together, and you get It's All About a Groove, by guitarist Ethan Mann. Aided by keyboardist Albert “Chip" Crawford and drummer Greg Bandy, Mann presents a delightful mix of original songs and tributes. The three musicians started very young. Mann was 14 when he and a friend were hired to play at a bar in Chicopee, Massachusetts. Crawford was 12 when he earned $5 playing on a flatbed truck outside a drive-in ...

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Take Five With The Britton Brothers

by AAJ Staff
June 23, 2010

Meet The Britton Brothers: Ben and John Britton, said to be “extremely talented" by the likes of Chris Potter, have entered the jazz scene confidently with their debut album, Uncertain Living. With a collective approach developed throughout years of playing together, they have arrived to a music that is forward thinking and invites a wide range of listeners. At an early point in life, Ben and John dedicated their lives to music, and their upcoming release is the first offering ...

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We Want Miles: A Series of Reinventions

by Greg Masters
June 23, 2010

We Want Miles: Miles Davis vs. Jazz Montreal Museum of Fine Arts Montreal Through August 29, 2010 Treasures await fans of Miles Davis up in Montreal, Canada: Photos, letters, film clips, paintings, instruments, wardrobe and enough information on wall placards to bring visitors on the full journey through the life and times of one of America's greatest artists. For anyone who has read a biography of Davis, there are ...

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At The Jazz Band Ball: Sixty Years On The Jazz Scene

by Ian Patterson
June 23, 2010

At The Jazz Band Ball: Sixty Years On The Jazz Scene Nat Hentoff Hardcover; 246 pages ISBN: 978-0-520-26113-6 University California Press 2010 The photograph which adorns the jacket of Nat Hentoff's At the Jazz Band Ball: Sixty Years On The Jazz Scene--a collection of articles, interviews and reviews--couldn't be more appropriate. It depicts Louis Armstrong blowing his trumpet to the sky in an apparent state of rhapsody, ...

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Mick Goodrick and Wolfgang Muthspiel: Musical Synthesis

by Matthew Warnock
June 22, 2010

When guitarists Wolfgang Muthspiel and Mick Goodrick walked up to the stage on January 30th, 2008, they were not only preparing to record a live album for Muthspiel's Material Records label, they were celebrating a musical and personal relationship that stretches back more than two decades. First meeting at the New England Conservatory, where Muthspiel studied under the Goodrick's tutelage, these two iconic players have continued to work together as duo partners over the years, with 2010's Live at the ...

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Wolfgang Muthspiel / Mick Goodrick: Live At The Jazz Standard

by John Kelman
June 22, 2010

Guitar duos can be a dangerous thing. With 12 strings and four hands, there's the potential for serious train wrecks; but if the two players are really listening, there's also potential for inspired greatness. Ralph Towner and John Abercrombie's two albums for ECM—Sargasso Sea (1976) and Five Years Later (1982)—exemplify how two can, indeed, conjoin for a greater whole. So, too, does Live at The Jazz Standard, culled from 2008 performances at the venerable New York City venue, where student ...

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Sun Ra Arkestra: Sunrise In Different Dimensions

by Chris May
June 22, 2010

Sun Ra ArkestraSunrise In Different DimensionshatOLOGY2010 (1980)

Sun Ra's discography is so vast, and its entry points so varied, that the late pianist and bandleader means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. For most, Ra is probably best known for orchestral performances of his space-related, inside/outside, original compositions. And if that's your bag, you'll find plenty to love on this reissued live recording, which features 71:04 minutes ...

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Ben Monder / Bill McHenry: Bloom

by Raul d'Gama Rose
June 22, 2010

The world of improvised music is a wondrous pursuit, but as soon as the word “composition" creeps into the proceedings, it can have a slightly stricter form. How much form begins to curb spontaneity is entirely up to the musicians. In the case of guitarist Ben Monder and saxophonist Bill McHenry's Bloom, thankfully, the form does not disturb the path of forward-thinking creativity. However, there is enough structure to the duo's music for it to have a strict beginning, middle ...

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Another Timbre’s Duos with Brass

by John Eyles
June 22, 2010

Following on from the label's Piano Series and Guitar Series comes Another Timbre's four-CD series Duos with Brass. That “with" is well chosen: each of the discs pairs an instrument from the brass family--tuba, trumpet, trombone--and a contrasting one, but the primary focus is not necessarily on the brass instrument. Typically of Another Timbre--as with those guitar and piano series--Duos with Brass does not opt for the conventionally accepted use of the instruments, favouring more innovatory and exploratory approaches.

Surprisingly, ...