Jazz Articles

like 281

Bill McBirnie: Mercy

by Raul d'Gama Rose
February 15, 2010

By its very nature and high and lonesome sound, the flute is a solitary instrument. Although played from ancient times, the modern flute as a solo voice has been rather seldom heard compared to other woodwind--especially reed--instruments. But non-existent it is certainly not. First Frank Wess' then Herbie Mann's and Hubert Laws' work certainly comes to mind. In Canada the instrument has been a part of the fine tradition that owes much to Moe Koffman, and lately the maestro, Bill ...

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Amnesiac Quartet: Tribute to Radiohead

by John Barron
February 15, 2010

Led by pianist Sebastien Paindestre, France's Amnesiac Quartet pays homage to the iconic British band Radiohead with Tribute to Radiohead. The disc is an endearing live set of instrumental renditions of five Radiohead songs, each with extended open space for intense improvising from Paindestre, soprano saxophonist Fabrice Theuillon, bassist Joachim Florent, and drummer Antoine Paganotti. The opening “Everything in its Right Place" settles into a soothing groove with Paindestre's enveloping Rhodes vamp and Theuillon's mellow rendering of ...

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Take Five With Thomas McElroy

by AAJ Staff
February 15, 2010

Meet Thomas McElroy:Started playing at the age of 16 with classical lessons. Studied at Cornish Institute from 1979-1981. Left Cornish to go on the road. Moved to Dallas Texas and gigged with James Clay Marshall Ivery and Red Garland. Moved back to Seattle and have worked with everyone in town at one point or another.Instrument(s):Guitar.Teachers and/or influences?studied with Don Mock and Bob Rice. Influences are: Pat Martino, George Benson, Wes ...

like 1,032

Stephane Spira & Giovanni Mirabassi: Spirabassi

by Guy Zinger
February 15, 2010

Lyrically singing with his soprano sax, telling his story in an album dedicated to his departed father, Stephane Spira and his accomplice, pianist Giovanni Mirabassi, embark on a dreamy and introspective road trip, soaked with melancholy. Spira's father was a colorful character and antiquarian with a mad passion for music, and Spirabassi is imprinted with that character. Spira himself became a full-time jazz man not too many years ago, leaving a successful career in engineering. Mirabassi, playing since the age ...

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Daniel Ori: So It Goes

by Jerry D'Souza
February 15, 2010

Fate deals its own cards. The first instrument of choice for bassist Daniel Ori was the piano which he began playing at his grandmother's house. When he was 14, Ori noticed his brother's electric bass and picked it up. From then on he began his musical journey getting involved with jazz which he began studying in Israel. He later continued his studies at the Berklee College of Music.

Ori recorded his first album, Money (Fourward Quartet, 2005), in Israel with ...

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Joe Locke: For the Love of You

by John Kelman
February 15, 2010

Joe Locke For the Love of You E1 Music 2010 There's a world of a difference between being a masterful instrumental accompanist and collaborating with a singer. Beyond the prerequisite set of ears and in- the-moment intuition, a deeper appreciation of the meaning of the lyrics--in order to truly find a song's core--becomes even more essential than in instrumental readings. Vibraphonist Joe Locke has, more than most, a profound ...

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Eric Alexander: Eric Alexander Quartet: Chim Chim Cheree

by Sean Coughlin
February 14, 2010

Chim Chim Cheree has been dubbed “a tribute to John Coltrane." Returning with usual sidemen Harold Mabern at the piano, Joe Farnsworth on drums, and bassist John Webber, this album represents a thorough examination of Coltrane's music made up of Coltrane originals and tunes Coltrane ostensibly owned throughout his career. While George Coleman, Dexter Gordon, and Sonny Stitt are most often cited as the foremost influences on Alexander, Coltrane is clearly among them. Alexander's take on “You ...

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Masters of American Music Series: Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Billie Holiday

by Eugene Holley, Jr.
February 14, 2010

The Story of Jazz Celebrating Bird: The Triumph of Charlie Parker Thelonious Monk: American Composer The Many Faces of Billie Holiday Naxos 2010

These four DVDs--separate broadcasts of the Masters of American Music TV series, originally released in eighties--seem by today's standards, like some paleo-technic relics from a bygone era. But, if, say, you wanted to know more about jazz and some of its leading lights, then these ...

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Altavoz/Jack Quartet at Americas Society, February 10, 2010

by Ernest Barteldes
February 14, 2010

Altavoz/Jack Quartet Americas Society New York February 11, 2010

Modern Contemporary music by an up-and-coming group of young Latin American composers known as Altavoz was presented at this highly intriguing evening at Americas Society on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Performed by the Jack Quartet (Christopher Otto, Ari Streisfeld, John Pickford Richards and Kevin McFarland), the selection included material that was like listening to the soundtrack to the chaos of modern life, with all ...

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Steve Raegele: Last Century

by Matt Marshall
February 14, 2010

"Mostly, this is the sound of half-awake dreams, phantasmic moments of glowing red dawn," guitarist Steve Raegele writes in the liner notes to Last Century. “I think of these songs as having been created by reaching out from a moving train to grab onto shapes that would be lost in the blur." As those lines suggest, there's little melody here, just snatches of ringing guitar that rise out of primordial, electronic ooze. Heavy on atmospherics and space, ...