Jazz Articles

like 1,040

Highway Rider

by John Kelman
March 9, 2010

For a pianist who not only demonstrated remarkable promise, but actually began delivering on it at a very early stage in his career with what would ultimately become his five-part Art of the Trio (Warner Bros.) series, Brad Mehldau's side projects have--with the exception of the solo Live in Tokyo (Nonesuch, 2004)--met with mixed reactions. Perhaps it's because of his emergence as one of modern jazz's most distinctive and popular interpreters of both contemporary song and standard material in a ...

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Ralph Lalama: The Audience

by David A. Orthmann
March 8, 2010

A few choice items from the American Popular Songbook, tunes by Wayne Shorter, Duke Pearson, and Stevie Wonder, plus three brief duo improvisations, all rendered in a recognizable mainstream style by a band that includes two primary soloists and a bass and drums team. On the face of it, Ralph Lalama's second Mighty Quinn release appears rather modest relative to the ever expanding, unceasing advance of jazz and improvised music in the 21st Century. Nevertheless, throughout the ten tracks of ...

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Luis Bonilla: I Talking Now

by Franz A. Matzner
March 8, 2010

Trombonist, composer, bandleader and professor Luis Bonilla is not a tortured artist. One cannot imagine him careening from one imbalanced extreme of self- reflection to the other or participating in anything particularly self-indulgent, whatsoever. He is a loving husband and a father who seems to inhale and exhale commitment to his two-year-old daughter. The middle son of a Costa Rican father and mother, he grew up in a workingman's home and is a hard working man himself, dedicated to getting ...

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Stan Kenton Alumni Band: Have Band, Will Travel (Live)

by Robert J. Robbins
March 8, 2010

Stan Kenton Alumni Band Have Band, Will Travel (Live) Summit Records 2010

For over two decades, trumpeter Mike Vax, a veteran of the 1970-72 Stan Kenton Orchestra, has been a tireless crusader maintaining the legacy of his erstwhile boss, who died at age 67 in 1979. Have Band, Will Travel (Live) is the Stan Kenton Alumni Band's fourth recording for the Summit label. It maintains the ensemble's commitment to Kenton not only through music ...

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Luis Bonilla: I Talking Now!

by Chris May
March 8, 2010

The exuberant, New York-based, trombonist Luis Bonilla has been recording as leader since 1998, when he released Pasos Gigantes ("giant steps") on Candid. I Talking Now! is his fourth album. But he is still probably best known for his work with other artists. Currently a member of trumpeter Dave Douglas' Brass Ecstasy, Bonilla began the 1990s with trumpeter Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy and has since worked with a string of illustrious leaders including pianists McCoy Tyner and Toshiko Akiyoshi, trombonist ...

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Carl Fischer & Organic Groove Ensemble: Adverse Times

by Nicholas F. Mondello
March 8, 2010

Carl Fischer & Organic Groove Ensemble Adverse Times Fisch Music 2010

Sometimes it seems that trumpet players get more of the spotlight than other instrument-playing bandleaders. Perhaps it's because of the tremendous legacy emanating from Louis Armstrong's tree. The nature of the trumpet speaks of leadership, bravura and high-wire-no-net playing. Yet it can be an enormous challenge for a trumpeter and bandleader in 2010 to stand out from the burgeoning ...

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Tia Fuller: Decisive Steps

by Larry Taylor
March 8, 2010

Tia Fuller makes strong statements with her solid saxophone and imaginative compositions in Decisive Steps. She surrounds herself here with female musician--drummer Kim Thompson, bassist Miriam Sullivan, and pianist Shamie Royston, who also plays Fender Rhodes. Prominent as well, are male guest stars: bassist Christian McBride, trumpeter Sean Jones, and vibraphonist Warren Wolf.

This is Fuller's second Mack Avenue release following 2007's Healing Space. Excelling in all the reeds, she prominently displays her alto and soprano work here. It is ...

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Royal Hartigan: Blood Drum Spirit

by Karl Ackermann
March 8, 2010

Good things sometimes fly under the radar; sometimes they are great things. This has never been more the case than with Royal Hartigans's Blood Drum Spirit, a jazz masterpiece that has languished in obscurity since its 1993 recording to its eventual 2004 release.

It remains largely unrecognized six years later. Jazz, especially in the US, can be almost religiously hierarchical and introducing an unknown quantity to the ranks of Miles Davis, John Coltrane, or Anthony Braxton may well be viewed ...

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Take Five With Dena Blue

by AAJ Staff
March 8, 2010

Meet Dena Blue:Dena is delighted to sing the popular standards for your special event. She prides herself in learning the treasured favorites made popular by many of the legends of jazz, performed in her beautiful and unique style. Her soft sultry voice and Houston's top musicians, The BlueJazz Band, will ensure that your event has only the finest sound. The BlueJazz Band is under the direction of the talented and accomplished Paul Chester. ...

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Pete Sinfield: Still (Expanded Edition)

by John Kelman
March 8, 2010

He may not have stepped onstage during the early heyday of In the Court of the Crimson King (DGM Live, 1969) through Islands (DGM Live, 1971), but lyricist Pete Sinfield was as much a member of seminal art rock group King Crimson as its performing members. A shot heard around the world, Crimson's debut was a confluence of many factors, unequivocally including Sinfield's flowery and sometimes obliquely analogous prose. When Sinfield left Crimson in 1971, citing irreconcilable differences with the ...