Jazz Articles

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All About Jazz: New York - Best of 2009

by AAJ Staff
January 21, 2010

Our print partner, All About Jazz: New York's annual best of New York and beyond list. Enjoy!MUSICIANS OF THE YEAR

Fred Anderson (tenor saxophone) Chick Corea (keyboards) Dave Douglas (trumpet) Peter Evans (trumpet) Wadada Leo Smith (trumpet)

RECORD LABELS OF THE YEAR

CLEAN FEED ECM LEO NO BUSINESS STEEPLECHASE

VENUES OF THE YEAR

BAR NEXT DOOR (West Village) ...

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Viento De Agua: Fruta Madura

by James Nadal
January 21, 2010

Viento De Agua, with the release of Fruta Madura, creates a novel approach to the Puerto Rican rhythms of bomba and plena. Blending vocals, stringed instrumentation, horns and woodwinds with a solid percussive foundation presents a veritable tropical feast.

Bomba and plena, though often mentioned together, are clearly distinctive in the type, size and shape of drums, respective dances, vocal arrangements and structure, and corresponding call and response. Plenas are performed with hand-held panderetas and bombas on barrel-shaped drums called ...

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Bill Royston: The History of a Festival

by Lloyd N. Peterson Jr.
January 21, 2010

It is a passion and responsibility that no one takes as serious as they do; and they do it knowing that little, if any acknowledgment will come their way. They are the festival promoters and artistic directors of this music we call Jazz.And though it's a music that has always had its up and downs, we are at a crossroads where it's difficult to perceive exactly what role jazz will have in the 21st century. There is little ...

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Larry Och's Sax & Drumming Core: Stone Shift

by John Sharpe
January 20, 2010

Fifty years after its inception, the avant-garde still regularly begs the hoary old question “Is it jazz?" Notwithstanding that it has persisted as an active style as long or longer than most of its predecessors, with a small but committed following around the globe while continuing to reinvent itself in different ways wherever the seed germinates, that question just won't go away. With each passing year the connections to the tradition become clearer, but still not clear enough perhaps.

Why ...

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Joanne Brackeen: Phenomenal Capacity

by Russ Musto
January 20, 2010

One of the most heralded pianists of her era, JoAnne Brackeen came to New York in 1965 after cutting her chops jamming with the likes of Teddy Edwards, Harold Land, Charles Lloyd and Dexter Gordon during the waning days of the Central Avenue scene in her native California. After a few dues-paying years here, she landed the piano chair with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, touring with the great drummer from 1969-72, following up the experience with tenures in the bands ...

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Pat Metheny: Orchestrion

by Chris May
January 20, 2010

In a career waymarked by innovation and the unexpected, guitarist Pat Metheny, at age 55, has pulled another surprise out of the pack. This time it's his use of an orchestrion, a steam age contraption which plays a battery of real instruments--wind, percussion, fretboard and keyboard--blown or struck by mechanical devices. In the nineteenth century, orchestrions were usually activated by cylinders resembling oversized piano rolls. In 2010, the cylinder has been replaced by digital software. On Orchestrion, Metheny is the ...

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Latin Jazz: A Legitimate American Music

by AAJ Staff
January 20, 2010

By Bobby Matos Well-informed historians and critics have stated that they believe jazz is America's only art form or its most important art form. Obviously, to music scholars and experts, most pop music derives from jazz, including R&B, rock, hiphop and other subgenres. One of jazz music's most important styles, however, is often ignored or not acknowledged to be a part of jazz. Latin jazz, originally called AfroCuban jazz, is often perceived as being a ...

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Warne Marsh & Lee Konitz: Two Not One

by Nic Jones
January 20, 2010

Warne Marsh & Lee Konitz Two Not One Storyville 2009

The cumulative impression of this four-disc reissue of sets tenor saxophonist Warne Marsh and alto saxophonist Lee Konitz recorded in the 1970s is one of exceptional creativity. Both men were and are masters of the art of never repeating themselves and a set of this scope really brings the point home.

By this stage in their respective careers it was in many ...

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Samo Salamon Trio: Live!

by Nic Jones
January 20, 2010

As an instrumentalist guitarist, Salamon's work could almost be defined by what it's not. There's little stylistic allegiance to any widely known guitarist, although passing references can be made to both John Abercrombie and Tal Farlow, a pairing which only goes to show how widely Salamon's net is cast. As it is, this trio has little of “the power" about it, and its music is shot through with a happily shared ear for nuance and detail.

In doubling on both ...

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Richard Barrett: adrift

by Raul d'Gama Rose
January 20, 2010

Richard Barrett makes music that demands more than total attention, and it's impossible not to be sucked in. On adrift, a collection of three pieces, his command of sound in all its depth and glory is utterly alluring. This makes it easier to fall prey to the seduction of the music--a magnificent collision of instrumentation on “codex IX" and “codex VII"--and on the glacially spare adrift which is equally demanding of active and energetic participation. In fact, it is entirely ...