Jazz Articles

like 362

Fat Cat Big Band: Face

by Edward Blanco
January 27, 2010

The house band of New York's Fat Cat jazz club in the West Village, The Fat Cat Big Band, finally delivers the last piece of its trilogy project. Face is produced from a 2008, two-night recording session of thirty-one original charts, from which the group's first two albums--Meditations On the War For Whose Great God is the Most High / You Are God (Smalls, 2009) and Angels Praying for Freedom (Smalls, 2009)--were released simultaneously. The eleven-member light ensemble, the brainchild ...

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John Geggie / Marilyn Crispell / Nick Fraser: Geggie Project

by John Kelman
January 27, 2010

Released a few months prior to Across the Sky (Plunge, 2009) and, despite the two releases really representing one multifaceted debut, Geggie Project is the official first release as a leader from John Geggie, a bassist deserving far greater recognition. Geggie Project finds the Ottawa, Canada-based bassist, Toronto-based drummer Nick Fraser, and inestimable free improvising pianist Marilyn Crispell entering the realm of music as conversation. Given her more recent inward-looking proclivities, it wouldn't be a huge leap to compare Geggie ...

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Greg Osby: A Candid Conversation

by Lloyd N. Peterson Jr.
January 27, 2010

I have found that with forward-thinking artists, their music can be a direct reflection of who they are. That's largely my interest in these very creative individuals--in how they think and how they view the world through their own eyes. Greg Osby is fearless in expressing his convictions, and I think you'll find that his compositions reflect that very character. He is a creator and a fresh voice in a world that has a tendency to fall victim to the ...

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Billy Martin: In Concert: Coconuts Feeding Birds

by Doug Collette
January 27, 2010

Billy Martin In Concert: Coconuts Feeding Birds Vongole Films 2009

In March 2008, drummer and percussionist Billy Martin was commissioned by The Houston Community College Department of Fine Arts in Texas to perform at the Heinen Theater. The school set the stage and documented what proved to be one of his best solo performances, in which the percussionist and founding member of Medeski Martin & Wood offered some of his Black Elk Speaks compositions ...

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Howard Levy: Tonight and Tomorrow

by Matthew Warnock
January 27, 2010

Tonight and Tomorrow is an intellectually stimulating and highly enjoyable album by virtuoso harmonicist Howard Levy. Featured on both harmonica and piano, even performing both simultaneously on “Sandi," Levy and his trio--bassist Larry Gray and drummer Ernie Adams--perform together as if they've been on the bandstand for years. With an uncanny ability to interpret and anticipate each other, the trio sounds as one instrument as it weaves its way through the album's various tempos, feels, grooves and harmonic progressions.

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Take Five With Rolando Grooscors

by AAJ Staff
January 27, 2010

Meet Rolando Grooscors: Guitarist Rolando Grooscors is a rare find on today's jazz/world music scene, a unique voice that strengthens and expands the jazz idiom with sensitivity,clarity, and uncompromising integrity, Rolando's warm,expressive tones and impeccable phrasing have been delighting audiences wherever he goes. The 2 times latin grammy nominee Rolando Grooscors was born in Caracas, Venezuela. At age 10 he started to play the typical Venezuelan stringed instrument called the “Cuatro." Then he began to discover the spanish guitar or ...

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Trio Reenactment: What Once Was...

by Dan McClenaghan
January 27, 2010

The Detroit-based Trio Reenactment follows up its self-produced, self-titled 2008 debut with What Once Was...", a piano trio set filled with catchy hooks, engaging can't-get-'em-outta-your-head melodies, a bunch of soul and funk, and some fine mainstream jazz tunes.The set bounces to life with “Piano Mang," penned by Trio Reenactment's leader, bassist John Barron. It's an upbeat, gregarious tune with a memorable melody and a strutting vibe, sounding as if it could serve as theme song for a modern ...

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Louie Shelton: In Session

by Alan Bryson
January 27, 2010

Hundreds of millions of people have heard him play without having heard of him. A veteran session guitarist, Louie Shelton played on a slew of million-selling records during his three decades in Los Angeles. His credits include female vocalists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Peggy Lee, Barbra Streisand, Diana Ross, Gladys Knight, and Whitney Houston; soul stars James Brown, Smokey Robinson, Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and the Jackson Five; blues legends Otis Spann, Solomon Burke, and T-Bone ...

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John Geggie: Unexpected Conversations

by John Kelman
January 26, 2010

Most cities have them: musicians who act like a lightning rod, focusing and driving their jazz scenes. In Ottawa, Canada, bassist John Geggie has been one of those significant focal points for two decades, but in particular over the past ten years. He's one of the founding organizers and faculty members of Jazzworks which, amongst other things, runs an annual Jazz Camp—a weekend boot camp for aspiring musicians from near and far, at various degrees of skill, to hone their ...

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Geggietrio + Donny McCaslin: Across the Sky

by John Kelman
January 26, 2010

With too many musicians releasing albums as leaders before they're ready, Canadian bassist John Geggie is a refreshing alternative. Waiting until his late forties might, in fact, seem a little overcautious for this central figure on the Ottawa scene, but to compensate--and better demonstrate the breadth of his musical interests--he's released two debuts as a leader, a few scant months apart. Geggie Project (Ambiances Magnétiques, 2009), featuring longtime drummer Nick Fraser and pianist Marilyn Crispell--with whom Geggie has forged an ...