Jazz Articles

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Playing for Change at the Keswick Theatre, Glenside, PA

by Wade Luquet
January 3, 2010

Playing for ChangeKeswick TheatreGlenside, Pennsylvania October 27, 2009

It is not a word that should be used lightly. However, when your video has been viewed twenty million times on YouTube, you might have enough credibility to be considered a phenomenon. Playing for Change began as a concept, developed into a video, and morphed into a band touring world-wide to enthusiastic fans who have learned of them through the internet and their recent PBS special.

It all started ...

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Luther Dickinson and The Sons of Mudboy: Onward and Upward

by Doug Collette
January 3, 2010

Luther Dickinson, a founding member of The North Mississippi Allstars and a guitarist recently recruited into The Black Crowes, is only one member of The Sons of Mudboy, an impromptu gathering of musicians offering a posthumous tribute to Dickinson's father, Jim. The group's name constitutes a further homage to the elder Dickinson, who fronted a band called Mudboy and the Neutrons in the 1970s. Jim Dickinson's solo recording career, rooted in Sun Studios session work in the 1960s, was in ...

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Jon Lundbom & Big Five Chord: Accomplish Jazz

by Raul d'Gama Rose
January 3, 2010

There is a refreshing, albeit immediate, sense of naïveté about the music of guitarist Jon Lundbom. As the music progresses, however, it becomes evident that Lundbom wears this almost childlike wonder as a rather thin mask, belying a graceful sophistication that marks an apparent determination to go beyond the mere skin of sound. This is eminently clear on Accomplish Jazz, an album with a quirky title that appears to thumb its nose at those who put labels such as “mainstream," ...

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Little Feat: Skin It Back: Live in Germany

by Doug Collette
January 3, 2010

Little Feat Skin It Back: Live in Germany Eagle Vison 2009

When the original four-man lineup of Little Feat splintered, founding members guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Lowell George, keyboardist/vocalist Bill Payne and drummer/vocalist Richie Hayward enlisted percussionistSam Clayton, bassist Kenny Gradney (from Delaney and Bonnie's band) and guitarist Paul Barrere, at the same time adopting an approach rooted in the second-line rhythm of the Meters. Little wonder then Payne takes a piano solo in the middle of ...

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George Colligan: Come Together

by Edward Blanco
January 3, 2010

Pianist/composer/educator George Colligan decided to record Come Together after a successful ten-day tour of Japan in October 2008. Receiving an invitation for 2009, the hope was to return with a document of the trio's music. With much in-demand bassist Boris Kozlov and drummer Donald Edwards, Colligan presents slices of funk, blues, bebop, fusion and light classical-tinged ballads, all neatly packaged and coming together superbly. Except for the opening title piece and oft-recorded standard, “The Shadow of Your Smile," the remaining ...

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Samo Salamon Trio: Live!

by Mark Corroto
January 2, 2010

A continual selection for guitarist deserving wider recognition, Slovenian Samo Salamon releases a live recording with his core trio of Italian drummer Roberto Dani and tubaist/bassist Michel Godard.

Salamon posted notice of his talent with Mamasaal (Dometra, 2009), with saxophonist Mark Turner, Government Cheese (FSNT, 2007), with saxophonist David Binney, Kei's Secret (Splasc(H), 2006), with drummer Tyshawn Sorey, and Two Hours (FSNT, 2006), with saxophonist Tony Malaby. While these various sessions were delightful, his releases with the working ...

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Herbie Nichols: A Jazzist's Life

by Raul d'Gama Rose
January 2, 2010

Herbie Nichols: A Jazzist's Life Mark Miller Soft cover; 224 pages ISBN: 978-1-55128-146-0 The Mercury Press 2009

Although he is considerably better known and respected today than he was in his lifetime, pianist Herbie Nichols and his spectacularly original music remains relatively obscure. This is one of the conundrums of our time, for his music is infinitely more accessible than, say, the music of pianist Cecil Taylor. Therefore an event ...

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Silje Nergaard and Wolfgang Haffner, Dusseldorf, Germany

by Phillip Woolever
January 2, 2010

Silje Nergaard / Wolfgang Haffner Trio Tonhalle Dusseldorf, Germany December 18, 2009 Various forms of music do indeed have a peak season, and the inspired, sentimentally crisp coupling of groups led by Norway's singer/songwriter Silje Nergaard and German drummer Wolfgang Haffner provided a near perfect backdrop for this region's initial holiday season snowfall. Each ensemble serenaded a polite but boisterous full house with soft yet stirring cascades of cheer while the park-side art ...

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Joe Cocker and the Grease Band: Live at Woodstock

by C. Michael Bailey
January 2, 2010

Great Britain taught America to be proud of her musical heritage by importing it, transforming it, and sending it back to her. The American South between 1920 and 1960 was a hothouse for all of America's great musical offerings: blues, R&B, country, jazz, and rock and roll. All of these genres germinated in the United States, migrated to Europe--particularly the United Kingdom--attend finishing school and were carried back to the United States by, among others, The Animals, The Beatles, Rolling ...

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Manuel Mengis Gruppe 6: Dulcet Crush

by Glenn Astarita
January 2, 2010

With his third group-led album for hatOLOGY, trumpeter Manuel Mengis projects multiple vistas within a progressive-jazz framework, spanning fusion, jazz-rock and experimental aspirations. Yet the key aspect lies with his ability to design a distinct band-centric stylization, as each subsequent release yields an extension of previously exercised routes. Mengis also abides by a polytonal outlook, resplendent with assertively orchestrated guitar, horns and rhythmic contrasts.

There's a lot going on under the proverbial hood, where Mengis and the dual ...