Jazz Articles

like 345

Ben Goldberg's Bag: Tin Hat & Go Home

by Dan Bilawsky
March 27, 2010

Ben Goldberg's music has never followed a set course or formula and the forward-thinking clarinetist always sticks to his guns when making artistic decisions. This has often resulted in positive press for his innovative work and it appears to have propelled him to take control of his own destiny. BAG Production Records is Goldberg's new, self-created label and it serves as an outlet for him to present his recordings to the world at large. Goldberg's work with reed players John ...

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The State of Reissues 2010: Dave Brubeck, Art Pepper, Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane and Joe Pass

by C. Michael Bailey
March 27, 2010

Formed by the merger of West Coast record labels Concord and Fantasy in 2004, the Concord Music Group possesses the largest catalog of recorded jazz earth-side. With such a rich basement, Concord can be expected to launch reissue series from time to time. The label's newest such program is the Original Jazz Classics Remasters series.

Original Jazz Classics was inaugurated as an imprint of the Fantasy label in 1982 with the intention of releasing jazz recordings previously available only in ...

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Vittorio Gennari: Melodies

by Chris Mosey
March 27, 2010

Altoist Vittorio Gennari is scarcely a household word among jazz fans in his native Italy, let alone the wider world. Arriving on the scene late in life, after a long career playing in dance bands, Gennari was in his seventies when he cut his first record as a leader, The Sound (Red, 2006). Now, aged 76, he's followed it up with Melodies; a small gem of an album and the distillation of a lifetime's adoration of jazz that began when ...

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Dan Pratt: Toe The Line

by Dan Bilawsky
March 27, 2010

Toe The Line does far more than its name implies. Saxophonist Dan Pratt has put together a record that, while loyal to the “small organ group" tradition, also manages to cover broad stylistic ground. Within this category, certain norms or standards seem to be expected in the music: Jimmy Smith's records provide a grooving and intense blues-based sound; Larry Young's albums have an adventurous streak; and modernists like Sam Yahel often create otherworldly aural collages. Organist Jared Gold takes from ...

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Scott Dubois: Black Hawk Dance

by Raul d'Gama Rose
March 27, 2010

There is a deep, questioning spirituality that pervades the music of Scott DuBois. On Black Hawk Dance, his second Sunnyside release, the music becomes a kind of ancient/modern ritual that reaches outward and upward to seemingly attain--as Don Cherry once did--complete communion with the Divine. But the journey is not easy, as the music on this album will verify. It comes at a price. The artist is heard grappling with a soul in torment before he finds solace in the ...

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Ralph Bowen: Due Reverence

by Woodrow Wilkins
March 27, 2010

"Less Is More" is not just the first song on tenor saxophonist Ralph Bowen's Due Reverence. It's also a subtle hint about the music.Bowen studied at Rutgers University under Dr. James Scott and Robert Dick, to whom two of the songs are dedicated. He also studied at Indiana University and in addition to teaching, has performed at numerous venues with a wide array of artists, including Charles Fambrough, Lou Rawls, Antonio Hart, Freddie Hubbard and Michael Brecker. Due ...

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Lage Lund: Unlikely Stories

by David Lighton
March 27, 2010

It is a great pleasure to watch the evolution of a musician--to witness the synthesis and refinement of ideas. And so it has been the case with Norwegian-born guitarist Lage Lund--who, in three short years of recording as a leader, has arrived at a new creative plateau. Lund's first two recordings, Standards (Self Produced, 2007), and Early Songs (Criss Cross, 2008), displayed the guitarist's uniquely current sense of swing, and considerable technique. They cemented his burgeoning reputation as ...

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2010 Portland Jazz Festival

by Lloyd N. Peterson Jr.
March 26, 2010

The Portland Jazz Festival is now in its 7th year under the artistic direction of Bill Royston. And at this point, it's pretty safe to say that this is a festival that has earned it's due as one of the most creative festivals that has not only survived the current economic downturn but has done so successfully on its own terms. Unfortunately, many jazz festivals today have to rely on the inclusion of other genres of music, especially those coming ...

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Jimi Hendrix: Valleys of Neptune

by Doug Collette
March 26, 2010

When the tracks that comprise Jimi Hendrix's Valleys of Neptune were recorded during 1968 and 1969, the guitarist/vocalist/songwriter was moving inexorably, albeit somewhat fitfully, into an earthier realm of music than his Experience image would allow. The gorgeous cover graphics of this archive title match the evocative music, as does the density of detail in the recording info (not to mention the accurate perspective Hendrix biographer John McDermott offers in his essay within the enclosed booklet).

The title song, appropriately ...

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Tierra Negra: New World Flamenco

by Raul d'Gama Rose
March 26, 2010

The spry flamenco guitars of Ebert and Henrichs are warm and sometimes seem to blow very hot, like desert winds that fill the empty quarters in the mind's ear. On New World Flamenco, the sixth album by the German duo Tierra Negra and an all-star cast that includes the harpist Muriel Anderson, bassist Victor Wooten, bassist Mark Egan, and drummer Danny Gottlieb, is a refreshing take on a world that is usually alight with flaming rhythms, vigorous dance, and an ...