Jazz Articles

like 1,212

Monkadelphia: All Monk, All the Time

by Victor L. Schermer
March 16, 2010

Over the past several years, there has been a revival and reconsideration of the music of Thelonious Monk. No one embodies this trend better than Monkadelphia, a group of Philadelphia-based jazz musicians who play his music exclusively--a difficult challenge which they embrace with vitality, panache, and sophistication. With Chris Farr on saxophone, Tony Miceli on vibes, Tom Lawton on piano, Micah Jones on bass, and Jim Miller on drums, this group makes the Monk legacy come alive, sustaining rapt attention ...

like 387

Absolute Ensemble featuring Joe Zawinul: Absolute Zawinul

by Mark F. Turner
March 16, 2010

The musical legacy of Austrian-born composer/keyboardist Joe Zawinul extends further than his illustrious tenure with Cannonball Adderley and Miles Davis (1960s-1970s) or as co-leader of the fusion super-group Weather Report (1970s-1980s) with fellow icon musicians Wayne Shorter and Jaco Pastorius. In his later days, although with less notoriety, he continued to gain momentum by recording and performing with his newfound ensembles Weather Update and Zawinul Syndicate, which produced an eclectic and vibrant body of music. The posthumous ...

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Sam Sadigursky: Words Project III Miniatures

by Martin Gladu
March 16, 2010

There is something of genius in Sam Sadigursky's musical poeticizing. Indeed, besides his knack for casting the most uncanny yet perfect voices for his eclectic and at times Kafka-esque sets, the Brooklyn-based reedman/composer is rapidly becoming the beacon of modern jazz-informed musical prosody. In this capacity, he replenishes the dormant format with a daring, integrated approach to composition, cadence and arranging, while remaining creatively respectful towards the texts he sets to music. As unsettling as some of his arrangements may ...

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Dave Holland Octet: Pathways

by John Kelman
March 16, 2010

Dave Holland Octet Pathways Dare2 Records 2010

It's been nearly four years since bassist Dave Holland has delivered an album based around his enduring quintet of over a decade. Since 2006's Critical Mass (Dare2), he's released Pass It On (Dare2, 2008) and The Monterey Quartet: Live at the 2007 Monterey Jazz Festival (Monterey Jazz Festival Records, 2009), both featuring ensembles where, for the first time in his lengthy career, the bassist collaborated ...

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Ehud Asherie: Modern Life

by Bruce Lindsay
March 16, 2010

Modern life, if this fine recording from Israeli-born, New York-based pianist Ehud Asherie is anything to go by, happened sometime between the late-1940s and the late-'50s. From the beautifully-designed packaging--with the greens and golds of the graphics matched by those of Asherie's suit, shirt and tie--to the exquisite renditions of classic tunes and a couple of Asherie originals, Modern Life is an album that oozes nostalgia and a love for a style of jazz that remains fresh and engaging today. ...

like 252

The Ian Carey Quintet: Contextualizin'

by C. Michael Bailey
March 16, 2010

Trumpeter Ian Carey's Contextualizin' is a digital Masters seminar. First, of course, is the music: solid, acoustic, composed, progressive, explorative. Second, is the exegesis, Carey's realization that, ..."what I played would help shape how I played..." Not technically dazzling, Carey, like Miles Davis, chooses to focus on which notes he plays (and doesn't) and their relative order as opposed to the tempo or technical exercise contained in the notes' performance. This shift in perspective moves the act of playing music ...

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Bill McBirnie: Mercy

by Jerry D'Souza
March 16, 2010

Bill McBirnie weaves a magic spell as he embarks on a musical journey that stops at 12 vantage points. McBirnie has established an enviable reputation as a flautist, with a particular emphasis on Latin jazz. Here, he goes way beyond that calling as he plays bebop, swing, Dixieland, bossa nova, and rock 'n' roll by way of New Orleans. Not only is he comfortable in every style, he elevates each to a high plateau.

McBirnie's explorations are luminous. He makes ...

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North Coast Brewing Up Some Monk

by Mark Corroto
March 16, 2010

In 1931, industrialist John D. Rockefeller, Jr. donated two million dollars to the Save-The-Redwoods League to purchase some 10,000 acres of virgin redwood forests in Northern California from logging companies. These companies had already cut nearly 90% of the world's tallest trees, some of these redwood trees had stood on the coast of California since the year zero on our calenders. Rockefeller was persuaded of this mission after leaving New York and traveling to a river called Bull Creek hundreds ...

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Gene Harris Quartet: Another Night In London

by C. Michael Bailey
March 15, 2010

Pianist Eric Reed once described Gene Harris (1933-2000) thusly, “Gene Harris = Power!" Harris often described himself as “a blues pianist with chops." And what chops those were. In his nearly 50- year career, Harris never veered from his soulful, blues-oriented approach to making music. If Bill Evans could be considered a master of the jazz ballad, then Harris was his counterpart in the sturdy 12-bar jazz mainstay. If music can smile, Gene Harris' would beam.

In 2008 Resonance Records ...

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John Pizzarelli: A Tribute to Duke Ellington

by Matthew Warnock
March 15, 2010

John Pizzarelli is a man of many talents. Singer, guitarist, bandleader and arranger, depending on the circumstances Pizzarelli can step into any or all of these roles and perform at the highest level. Coming from one of the most successful families in jazz, his brother [Martin Pizzarelli] being an accomplished bassist and father the legendary seven-string guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli, the New York-based guitarist has built a devoted fan base, inside and outside of the jazz world, that has made him ...