Jazz Articles

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Chuck Israels: Evans, Education and Philosophy

by Sean Dietrich
May 27, 2010

Throughout his career bassist Chuck Israels has worked with illustrious names including Billie Holiday, Benny Goodman, Coleman Hawkins, Stan Getz, Herbie Hancock, J.J. Johnson, John Coltrane. He is, however, best known for his work with Bill Evans, following the untimely death of Scott LaFaro, performing with the legendary pianist from 1961 to 1966. Strikingly intelligent and well-spoken when it comes to articulating a valuable philosophy regarding jazz, and composition, Israels is currently the Director of Jazz Studies at Western Washington ...

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Corey Christiansen Quartet: Outlaw Tractor

by C. Michael Bailey
May 26, 2010

The reason behind Corey Christiansen's clinically precise guitar style is his experience with Mel Bay Guitar Instruction. He is fluent in all guitar styles, which fully informs his recording and performing persona. His previous recording, Roll With It (Origin, 2008), employing the same band as on the present Outlaw Tractor, was a sleek funk machine updating the soul jazz of the 1960s. Previous to that, Awakening (Mel Bay, 2004) demonstrated, with a piano quartet, the great (if a bit wordy) ...

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Eddie Marshall: Search and Recall

by Josep Pedro
May 26, 2010

Legendary drummer and composer Eddie Marshall has been kicking hard for more than 50 years. He has played in R&B bands and in different types of jazz combos, in collaboration with musicians including Bobby Hutcherson, Kenny Burrell, Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz, The Pointer Sisters and Dionne Warwick, among others. Furthermore, he's recorded his own music [Holy Mischief (Ruddy Duck Records, 1998)], played with younger musicians and taught music classes in different places.

The biography and resume ...

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

by John Kelman
May 26, 2010

They've played together in various permutations and combinations, but Five on One represents the first time they've joined together as a discrete unit. Reconvening the Second Look (Savoy, 1996) quartet--which comprises four-fifths of Contact-- pianist Marc Copland proved you can go back again with Another Place (Pirouet, 2009). The quartet's bassist, Drew Gress, has also been a longstanding member of Copland's piano trio, last heard on Night Whispers: New York Trio Recordings Vol. 3 (Pirouet, 2009). Its drummer, Billy Hart, ...

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Jazzkaar Journal: Dianne Reeves, George Duke and Tallinn Shine

by Phillip Woolever
May 26, 2010

Jazzkaar 2010 Tallinn, Estonia April 28-30, 2010

Baltic Background

A pair of cousins from the USA, Dianne Reeves and George Duke, provided the biggest fireworks during an inspired festival that included many highlights from many regions.

Tallinn is a charming city of approximately 400,000 of whom each seemed to show some beautiful soul during the final week of a jazz appreciation month in which the twenty-one year old Jazzkaar Festival has remained a catalyst for countless ...

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Festival International Musique Actuelle Victoriaville: Day 4 - May 23, 2010

by Gordon Marshall
May 26, 2010

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4

Festival International Musique Victoriaville Victoriaville, Quebec, Canada May 23, 2010

Sunday afternoon was relegated to sounds of the European persuasion. Jacques Demierre's and Urs Leimgruber's Six opened the day, and The Trondheim Orchestra under Kim Myhr followed. As much of this quiet, intimate minimal music tends to be, these two acts were quite insular and place-specific, whether “place" in this case be interpreted ...

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Brad Felt Nu Quartet Plus: First Call

by John Barron
May 26, 2010

Veteran Detroit jazz musician Brad Felt has been championing the role of the euphonium and tuba as front-line instruments for over thirty years. Felt has an extensive sideman résumé, having performed with notable artists such as Roy Brooks, Martha Reeves and Howard Johnson's Gravity. First Call is an introduction to Felt's progressive jazz ensemble Nu Quartet Plus, featuring saxophonist and longtime musical associate Steve Wood.

Felt composes with an intriguing playfulness, building on rhythmic motifs and cleverly engaging euphonium and ...

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Ernesto Diaz-Infante / Manuel Mota / Gino Robair / Ernesto Rodrigues: Our Faceless Empire

by Mark Corroto
May 26, 2010

The meeting of four skilled improvising musicians--two from Lisbon, Portugal, and two from San Francisco--is cause for celebration on these nine ephemeral pieces. Surprisingly, Our Faceless Empire is not a live date; instead, it was made in an Oakland, California studio in 2006. By the very nature of this session, an audience--or any outside noise or distraction--might take away from the overall aura of its sounds.

The meeting emphasizes both the acoustic and the electric. Portuguese players Ernesto ...

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Steve Davis: Images

by Dan Bilawsky
May 26, 2010

Images is trombonist Steve Davis' love letter to his hometown of West Hartford, CT. The ten pieces he wrote for the album, and which make up his “Hartford Suite," are all dedicated to people or places associated with this geographic region. While Davis' penchant for crisp swing and clear, lyrical lines plays a big part here, some compositional cunning--and some pieces that fall outside this general area--helps to keep things from falling into a stylistic rut. Dedicated ...

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Kalle Kalima: Some Kubricks of Blood

by Anthony Shaw
May 25, 2010

From the opening flurry of discordant semitones, the following percussive entrance of saxophone and then guitar, it becomes clear that there is something rather weird and threatening about Some Kubricks of Blood. Much is surely due to the disharmonies and clashes of timbre--grating guitar over accordion gushes--and the abrupt rhythmic collisions, in addition to intentional off-mike squawks and burrs. And then, of course, there is the avowed subject matter: those images and injuries drawn from deep in director Stanley Kubrick's ...