Jazz Articles

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Zbigniew Seifert: Man of the Light

by John Kelman
March 22, 2010

If ever a title was in need of the wider exposure it eluded when first released, it's Polish violinist Zbigniew Seifert's unparalleled Man of the Light--finally seeing the light of day thanks to Promising Music's ongoing series of remastered re-releases from the German MPS label of the 1960s and '70s. Seifert's death from complications from cancer in 1979, at the age of 32, cut tragically short a career that had only begun its upward trajectory in North America with his ...

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Outhouse: Ruhabi

by Chris May
March 22, 2010

This glorious album by London quartet Outhouse is among the most fruitful comminglings of jazz and West African musics ever recorded. It's the band's second disc, following Outhouse (Babel, 2008), and develops an experiment included on that debut. This featured Kaw Secka, a tama drummer from The Gambia, on one track. Secka returns on Ruhabi along with four other drummers from The Gambia, variously playing tamas (small, high-pitched talking drums) and sabars (conga-like drums played with a combined stick and ...

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Bangkok Jazz Festival: Days 1-3

by Ian Patterson
March 22, 2010

Days 1-3 | Days 4-6Bangkok Jazz Festiva, Days 1-3 Central Plaza Bangkok 9-14 March, 2010

Rescheduled, relocated, revamped and resized; the annual Bangkok Jazz Festival has had something of a face-lift since its last full edition in 2008. However the surgery could be described as largely cosmetic because, in spite of all the changes, the musical programme was essentially the same as in previous years--one or two big names, a couple of artists from the ...

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Louis Armstrong: The Complete Louis Armstrong Decca Sessions (1935-1946)

by David Rickert
March 22, 2010

Louis Armstrong The Complete Louis Armstrong Decca Sessions (1935-1946) Mosaic Records 2009

As far as recordings by trumpeter Louis Armstrong go, the Decca recordings don't generate much interest. Prior to them came the Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings, the most influential jazz recordings ever made and the template for everything that was to come. Afterward came the superb pop recordings for RCA, which showed a masterful entertainer more respected for ...

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Roberto Magris and The Europlane Orchestra: Current Views

by Raul d'Gama Rose
March 22, 2010

Redefining his relationship with contemporary music. Roberto Magris' Current Views finds the artist in a renewed setting with his Europlane Orchestra, but this time the ensemble is slightly smaller--featuring at any given time, anything from a septet to an octet. The album title suggests new perspectives on Magris' philosophy with regard to the use of sound in music. Here, the pianist/composer uses mainly brass to paint the canvases that soak in the very depths of sound, resonating with bell-like clarity ...

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Peppe Merolla: Stick With Me

by Bruce Lindsay
March 22, 2010

Stick With Me is percussionist Peppe Merolla's first album as leader with this sextet of excellent New York-based musicians, and his involving and imaginative playing takes them through a set of tunes with a distinct hard bop flavor. Merolla's musical history includes a recording career in his native Italy as teenage singing sensation “Little Joe" but here he focuses on drums and percussion with a consistently swinging and inventive style, providing a powerful yet sensitive foundation for his fellow musicians. ...

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Emilio Solla & The Tango Jazz Conspiracy: Bien Sur!

by Woodrow Wilkins
March 22, 2010

Tango jazz is described as a sound created by Argentine musicians, many of whom have immigrated to other countries. Pianist Emilio Solla, based in New York, is such an artist. Solla earned a degree in classical piano from the National Conservatory of Music in Buenos Aires. His works include such style as Argentinean tango, classical, rock and jazz. Bien Sur! is his sixth album as a leader. The Tango Jazz Conspiracy is comprised of saxophonist Chris Cheek, bassist ...

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Craig Handy: The Busiest Man In Jazz

by Robert Dugan
March 22, 2010

Saxophonist Craig Handy is a musician's musician. Those “in the know" know about him, which is why he's been a first call player in New York for over two decades. He is a careful, thoughtful improviser—expansive and precise. His solos build on a rich knowledge of the tradition at the same time as they often set out for the edge, walk it, but never fall off. While he derives portions of his vocabulary from the'Trane/Shorter axis, there is a shrewd ...

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Gato Libre: Shiro

by Dan McClenaghan
March 21, 2010

Japanese trumpeter Natsuki Tamura's name is most often mentioned in the press for his work with his wife, Satoko Fujii. The Japanese pianist casts a blinding light with her prolific output, and a fearless and unfettered musical vision. Tamura sits in as either a sideman or collaborator on many, if not most, of her CDs.If Fujii is superhuman in her output as a leader, Tarmura is closer to mortal, though no less adventurous. He has produced sets as ...

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Larry Coryell: Making the Changes

by Tom Greenland
March 21, 2010

“This is all Coltrane, from his early/middle/late period, whatever that means!" laughs guitarist Larry Coryell. He is sitting backstage in the green room at Iridium in 2009, describing a chart he is about to try out with organist Joey DeFrancesco. “And then this part here is very much like 'All Blues,' like Miles," he says, humming the line: “Bah-deh-doo-deh, DAY-deh-doo-dee, doo-dah-doo-dah, duh--it's in that same chord, that same mode." Indicating the next section, he continues, “And then it goes, here, ...