Jazz Articles

like 349

Fight The Big Bull: All Is Gladness In The Kingdom

by Martin Longley
June 10, 2010

Such an unwieldy band name and album title is almost perversely suitable for the ambitious music contained herein. Fight The Big Bull (FTBB) is, doubtless, dominant on the Richmond, Virginia alternative jazz scene, but possesses the powers to be equally noticeable on the much larger stage of, let's say, New York City. From this very place, trumpeter Steven Bernstein made the pilgrimage by car, invited to be an artist-in-residence. He okayed a heavy schedule, but did he really realize how ...

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Stephan Crump: Reclamation

by Kurt Gottschalk
June 10, 2010

The 2006 debut of Stephan Crump's Rosetta (Papillon Sounds) was unusual in a number of ways, not least that it didn't seem to be trying to be unusual. The trio of upright bass, acoustic guitar and electric guitar played tightly woven, structured music, even without a drummer, and managed to find new ground in the shrinking territory between hackneyed and outlandish. They played, quite simply, good, challenging and, although the term must be forgiven, smooth jazz. Bassist ...

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John Blum: Who Begat Eye

by Martin Longley
June 10, 2010

Pianist John Blum is a native New Yorker who has been immersed in the city's free improvisation scene for the last 15 years. His work with bassist William Parker and drummer Sunny Murray has had the highest profile and last year's release by this trio, In The Shade Of Sun, appeared on guitarist Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace label, no doubt doing much to push Blum's music towards an alternative rock audience.

This set of solo pieces was recorded in a ...

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Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra: Vitoria Suite

by Chris May
June 10, 2010

Does anyone over there realise how good they are? That's to paraphrase what tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins asked about British pianist Stan Tracey, who led the house band at Ronnie Scott's club in London during the 1960s. “Does anyone here realise how good he is?" was Rollins' actual question (and decades later, the endorsement is still wheeled out by British music journalists).So, does anyone in the US realise how good trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln ...

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Ketil Bjornstad: Remembrance

by John Kelman
June 9, 2010

In a career spanning four decades that only began reaching a wider international audience with the release of his first album for ECM, Water Stories (1993), Norwegian pianist Ketil Bjørnstad has collaborated with many fellow Scandinavians, including guitarists Terje Rypdal and Eivind Aarset, bassist Arild Andersen, drummer Jon Christensen and live sampler Jan Bang. Surprisingly, he has rarely worked with saxophonists, notable exceptions being Bendik Hofseth on 2001's profoundly moving Grace (Emarcy), and Wolfgang Puschnig on the similarly sublime Devotions ...

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Martin Taylor: Embodying the Spirit of Django

by Matthew Warnock
June 9, 2010

Guitarist Martin Taylor is about as multi-faceted as any player on the modern scene. Whereas many guitarists have reached similar heights within the jazz world, Taylor has developed simultaneous reputations for his solo jazz guitar playing, his Gypsy- inspired band, the Spirit of Django, his solo finger-style guitar work, as well as his small group jazz playing. Among guitarists, he is known as a player's player-- someone who reaches across genres to integrate his many influences, while at the same ...

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Carol Morgan: Opening

by A. Lienhard
June 9, 2010

Trumpeter Carol Morgan began her career in the world of classical conservatories. Around the time she received her M.A. from Julliard, however, she decided to pursue a different path. A decade later, Morgan was found headlining a jazz trio at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola in New York City, mere walking distance from the hallowed Lincoln Center practice rooms of her previous life. Opening, on the Texas-based Blue Bamboo Music label, provides ample evidence of this dramatic transformation. It is possible to ...

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Ken Vandermark/Paal Nilsson-Love Duo at Cafe Oto, London

by John Sharpe
June 9, 2010

Ken Vandermark, Paal Nilssen-Love, John Edwards Café Oto London 23 April 2010

Fortunately the volcanic ash cloud which had closed the skies of northern Europe for almost a week was deemed insufficiently dense to prevent further flights (or further impair the profits of the airlines depending on your degree of cynicism). No problem with that as it allowed reedman Ken Vandermark and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love to jet in from Geneva for their two ...

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Keith Jarrett / Charlie Haden: Jasmine

by Dan McClenaghan
June 9, 2010

In the world of jazz, it's often said that “live is better." The immediacy and spontaneity of a living, breathing, and hopefully rapt audience can lend electricity to a recording foray. For pianist Keith Jarrett, this may be truer than it is for most artists. His Standards Trio, with bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Jack DeJohnette has been an almost exclusively “recorded live affair," other than the notable exceptions of his initial 1983 session with the group that resulted in ...

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Melody Gardot and New York Pops Open Central Park Summerstage 2010

by Ernest Barteldes
June 9, 2010

Melody Gardot and the New York PopsCentral Park/Mainstage Rumsey Playfield New York, New YorkJune 1, 2010

For the opening of the 2010 Central Park Summerstage concert series, the New York Pops (which also performed at the 2009 opener) kicked off with versions of Dave Brubeck's “Blue Rondo a La Turk" and Duke Ellington's “It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" before welcoming Melody Gardot, who came on with her ...