Jazz Articles

like 187

Ergo: Multitude, Solitude

by Elliott Simon
March 6, 2010

During the past two decades, electronic music has solidified its initial uneasy alliance with acoustic jazz. Newer releases such as Ergo's Multitude, Solitude are able to get past that original awkward balance and meld electronics with jazz improvisation and instrumental technique. The result is a trio that interacts like one but also accesses the broader sound palette and ambience that electronics allow. On most tunes, trombonist Brett Sroka remains at the music's center and in only rare ...

like 410

Johnny Cash: Johnny Cash: American VI: Ain't No Grave

by C. Michael Bailey
March 6, 2010

In his tribute to Johnny Cash on the artist's death in 2003, commentator and VH1 Executive Director Bill Flanagan put forth this bit of wisdom on the CBS program Sunday Morning: “It's becoming more apparent with every year that goes by that the period from the mid-'50s to the mid-'70s was a golden age for popular music. To have lived in the era where Cash and Presley and the Beatles and Stones and Aretha and Dylan and Miles Davis were ...

like 1,125

Nova Jazz Orchestra / UNT One O'Clock Lab Band / Frank Macchia / Omar Sosa & NDR Big Band

by Jack Bowers
March 5, 2010

Nova Jazz Orchestra A Time of Reckoning NJO 2010

If the premise that experience is the best teacher is indeed accurate, one need look no further than the Minnesota-based Nova Jazz Orchestra for proof. Nova, sponsored by the non-profit Nova Jazz Corporation, has been together for more than 15 years, and its recordings (A Time of Reckoning is the seventh) keep getting better and better as the ensemble gains maturity and awareness.

Even though ...

like 398

Mederic Collignon: Shangri-Tunkashi-La

by John Kelman
March 5, 2010

Less known than he should be outside his native France, Médéric Collignon is something of a jazz celebrity at home. A winner of multiple awards, the trumpeter/keyboardist/vocalist has participated and collaborated with the esteemed Orchestre National de Jazz, and can be heard on clarinetist Louis Sclavis' idiosyncratic Napoli's Walls (ECM, 2003). With Shangri-Tunkashi-La, Collignon brings a fresh perspective to the electric music of trumpet icon Miles Davis.

Material culled exclusively from Davis's late-1960s/early-1970s electric period is ...

like 414

McCoy Tyner Quartet with Joe Lovano at the Kimmel Center

by Victor L. Schermer
March 5, 2010

Kimmel Center for the Performing ArtsVerizon HallPhiladelphia, PAFebruary 19, 2010

Whenever you go to hear McCoy Tyner, it's never a question of how well he's going to play. For half a century, during and after his legendary tenure with the quintessential John Coltrane Quartet that also included Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones, Tyner has been consistently delivering his message of strong, unadulterated, straight-ahead playing on countless occasions, whether concerts or recording dates. The question is ...

like 356

John Pizzarelli: Rockin' in Rhythm: A Tribute to Duke Ellington

by C. Michael Bailey
March 5, 2010

John Pizzarelli is a walking, talking embarrassment of riches. He has a great pedigree, as his father, Bucky Pizzarelli), was a prodigious guitar talent (on a seven-string guitar, no less) with a voice like Chet Baker should have had. It is all this charm that Pizzarelli freely shares with us lesser mortals. Rockin' in Rhythm: A Tribute to Duke Ellington is a thematic collection picking up where his 2006 collection, Dear Mr. Sinatra (Telarc), left off. What more can be ...

like 242

Take Five With Ameranouche

by AAJ Staff
March 5, 2010

Meet Ameranouche: The award winning Ameranouche trio features the melodic virtuosity of guitarist Richard Sheppard, the vehement rhythm chops of guitarist Ryan Flaherty and the dulcet low end of upright bassist Xar Adelberg. Together, this rip-roaring ensemble is a super force of hot acoustic jazz, sometimes referred to as hot swing or Gypsy jazz. The contrast of other influences like American Soul music, Flamenco and Bop are what give the fast fingered trio such a recognizable sound. All played on ...

like 332

John Blum: In The Shade Of The Sun

by Karl Ackermann
March 5, 2010

Despite his relative anonymity, pianist John Blum has been a New York free jazz fixture for more than a decade. In the Shade of the Sun teams him with ubiquitous bassist William Parker and percussion innovator Sunny Murray. Blum and Murray work well together, having established their musical relationship in Murray's trio and on Perles Noires Volume 2 (Eremite, 2005). Parker can create his own place in any mix and does so here as well.

Blum's keyboard technique is something ...

like 226

Taylor's Universe: Artificial Joy

by Glenn Astarita
March 5, 2010

Danish composer and multi-instrumentalist Robin Taylor is one of the hardest working progressive rockers in the business. Based on the strength of his rapidly growing discography and forthright intentions, his Taylor's Universe band features some longtime collaborators, despite occasional personnel shifts. Artificial Joy remains consistent with his penchant for imbuing knotty deviations on top of burgeoning pulses, such as the resonating “Work," that resembles the massive keys-sax assault, executed by prog favorite Van Der Graaf Generator.

Taylor's music gushes forth ...

like 351

Rob Tardik: The Right Time

by Jerry D'Souza
March 5, 2010

Canadian guitarist Rob Tardik has been around for the past 20 years, during which he has established strong credentials in different fields. Besides being a performer, he is also a teacher and entrepreneur. However, his skill as a guitarist has seen him play with Earl Klugh, Spyro Gyra, Bob James and Lee Ritenour at the Smooth Jazz Awards in Mississauga, Ontario, a city that neighbors Toronto, Canada. Mississauga honored him in 2007 with the “Established Performer of the Year" award, ...