Jazz Articles

like 362

Jason Ajemian: Protest Heaven

by Mark Corroto
June 8, 2010

Bassist Jason Ajemian assembled a company of improvisers in December, 2006 at Heaven Gallery in Chicago as part of a music series he had been curating since 2002. The assemblage named Jason Ajemian's Daydream Full Lifestyles contained the infamous Chicago Underground players Rob Mazurek (trumpet), Chad Taylor (drums) and Jeff Parker (guitar), plus the well-traveled Tony Malaby (tenor saxophone), Ajemian's mentor from his university days.

The result is heard here in a limited edition 180g vinyl release (also ...

like 715

Michael Gregory Jackson: Clarity

by Clifford Allen
June 8, 2010

Michael Gregory Jackson Clarity ESP-Disk 2010 (1976)

In the musical climate of 2010, the fact that a diverse range of musical styles and approaches can be combined is something often taken for granted. Creative music has long recombined musics from various non-Western sources as well as jazz and Western art music. While not always successful, improvised music has been brought together with contemporary popular music, such as indie rock and electronica. There is something ...

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Carolyn Leonhart: Tides of Yesterday

by Marcia Hillman
June 8, 2010

Vocalist Carolyn Leonhart and saxophonist Wayne Escoffery are a young husband-and-wife team, and Tides of Yesterday is their second recorded partnership. And a partnership it is, because this CD (as the liner notes say) is not about a “vocalist with a band or a band with a guest vocalist." Leonhart's sultry and expressive voice acts, at times, as another instrument, contributing scatting and wordless vocals. Both have worked with the band members--Toru Dodo (acoustic and electric piano), Hans Glawischnig (bass), ...

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Fred Anderson: Black Horn Long Gone

by Francis Lo Kee
June 8, 2010

Fred Anderson is one of today's most powerful and singular saxophonists. Recorded in 1993, this trio (with bassist Malachi Favors and drummer Ajaramu--aka AJ Shelton--who have both since passed away) flies blissfully to new heights for piano-less sax trios. To call Anderson a member of the free jazz movement produces an incomplete picture. His technical facility and penchant for swinging is more influenced by Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young and Charlie Parker. Even an unaccompanied solo homage, “Ode To Clifford Jordan," ...

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Peter Madsen: The Litchfield Suite

by Terrell Kent Holmes
June 8, 2010

Peter Madsen fortified an already solid reputation with a pair of stellar solo piano works in the last decade: Sphere Essence: Another Side of Monk (2003) and Prevue of Tomorrow (2006), both on Playscape. Now he works his magic with bassist Andy McKee and drummer Gerald Cleaver on The Litchfield Suite, a vibrant performance captured live at the Litchfield Jazz Festival and Camp, where Madsen has performed and taught for several years. The songs on The Litchfield ...

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Miriam Makeba: South Africa's Skylark

by Chris May
June 7, 2010

As was the case with her mentor, partner and fellow social radical, singer Harry Belafonte, South African-born singer Miriam Makeba's breakthrough international hits were sunny, folk-based pop singles devoid of the explicit political content which would later inform much of her work. Belafonte scored with the calypsos “Banana Boat Song" and “Island In The Sun" in 1956-57. Makeba with “The Click Song" and “Pata Pata" shortly after arriving in the US in 1959. The discs made Belafonte and Makeba hugely ...

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Stacey Kent: Raconte-Moi

by Bruce Lindsay
June 7, 2010

While vocalist Stacey Kent has a keen ear for songs, a distinctive and engaging voice and a talent for interpretation, she is also critically acclaimed and commercially successful. Strikingly, like many American jazz musicians from Sidney Bechet onwards, she has gained particular fame and acceptance in France, her albums entering the pop charts and where, in 2009, she was awarded the title of Chevalier des Arts et Lettres. Kent is clearly a Francophile in return, and Raconte-moi finds her singing ...

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June 2010

by Mr. P.C.
June 7, 2010

Dear Mr. P.C.: When I finish a gig with a bunch of other white musicians, we all shake hands like we're just held some freaking corporate board meeting. That's bad enough. But when I play with a group of black guys, I totally dread the end of the gig.I mean, what are my choices? I can extend my hand in the generic white guy way, but then I feel like “The Man," like I'm making ...

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Alex Machacek: 24 Tales

by Ian Patterson
June 7, 2010

There's a spoken segment on one section of 24 Tales--a kind of simulation of computerized dialogue: “Hey Marco, do you like drumming all day?," asks guitarist Alex Machacek: “Yes I do," replies Marco Minnemann, and it's not difficult to believe. Machacek's most daring musical statement yet is based around a daunting, 51-minute drum improvisation by Minnemann. Asides from saxophonist John Coltrane, perhaps, it is difficult to recall many musicians improvising solo for such an extended length of time. Minnemann's drumming ...

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Robillard & Crownover / Samuel Torres / Andy Cotton: Let's Party!

by J Hunter
June 7, 2010

Memorial Day, 2010 has come and gone, which means summer is right on its heels. And with summer comes further--and louder--reasons to fire up the grill, cool down the beer (or whatever), and get friends and/or family together to celebrate...well, whatever occasion is handy, up to and including surviving the work week. A party without music is like a party without a snacks table, but who says that music has to be boring or predictable? Here are three suggestions for ...