Jazz Articles

like 1,043

Medeski, Martin & Wood: Radiolarians - The Evolutionary Set

by John Kelman
December 28, 2009

Released over the last year, Medeski, Martin & Wood's three-part Radiolarians series bucked the longstanding and conventional trend of writing > recording > touring. Touring material before documenting it on record isn't exactly new, but few if any artists have done so with such an extensive repertoire--three hours of new material, all taken on the road and honed before MMW ever set foot in a recording studio to lay the tracks down. That there's such a tremendous benefit ...

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Kristine Mills: Bossanovafied

by Raul d'Gama Rose
December 27, 2009

Brazil has a very special allure--not only for the Bacchanalian enjoyment of its Carnival in Rio, but for artists as well. Swinging musicians from all over North America have found the rhythmic seduction of the samba and the urbane swish and sway of bossa nova quite irresistible for decades. Lately, however, North American musicians appear to have discovered that seduction alone is not the prerequisite for making music in an authentic Brazilian idiom, even in the most popular one of ...

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Duology + 2 at the London Jazz Festival

by John Sharpe
December 27, 2009

Duology + 2 Cafe OtoLondonNovember, 13, 2009

The opening night of the London Jazz Festival provided a rare opportunity to hear clarinetist Michael Marcus and trumpeter Ted Daniel--two seasoned, but unsung denizens of the New York scene--in the intimate surroundings of Dalston's Cafe Oto.

Marcus made his debut with the blues bands of Albert King and Bobby “Blue" Bland, before becoming a prominent figure in the free jazz scene from the 1980s onward ...

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Kenny Werner / Jens Sondergaard: A Time For Love

by Jakob Baekgaard
December 27, 2009

After many years of knowing each other, Danish saxophonist Jens Søndergaard and pianist Kenny Werner decided that it was the right time to translate years of friendship into music. The result is the enchanting A Time For Love, which digs deep into a program of classic ballads.

Songs like Jimmy Van Heusen's “But Beautiful" and Ann Ronell's “Willow Weep For Me" have entered the general consciousness, and the challenge to every ballad player is to make them speak with new ...

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Alexis Cole at St. Peter's Church

by Ernest Barteldes
December 27, 2009

Alexis Cole St. Peter's Church New York, NY December 04, 2009

Backed by a seven-piece band, vocalist Alexis Cole took the stage for the New York release concert of her latest CD, The Greatest Gift (Motema Music, 2009), with an inspired version of “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas." She gave lots of space for the group (Mark Tonelli, guitar; Brandon Nelson, bass; Scott Drewes, drums; Xavier Perez, sax; Vito ...

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Ralph Towner / Paolo Fresu: Chiaroscuro

by David McLean
December 27, 2009

Continuing his long and fruitful relationship with Manfred Eicher's ECM Records--yielding a slew of successful solo records and concerts, acclaimed group work with Oregon and Solstice (also featuring Jan Garbarek), and duo work with John Abercrombie, Gary Peacock and Gary Burton--guitarist/pianist Ralph Towner has become something of an icon for the German label. Chiaroscuro marks another chapter in Towner's longstanding interest in duo work, this time pairing himself with Italian trumpeter Paolo Fresu. This largely restrained and meditative duo explores, ...

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Two Lisa Mezzacappas Shake Up LA

by Neal Colgrass
December 27, 2009

Lisa MezzacappaCafe Metropol, Eagle Rock Center for the ArtsLos AngelesDec. 5 and 6, 2009Lisa Mezzacappa led two concerts in Los Angeles in December, one imbued with a musical smile and one with the ferocity of a howling, avant-garde battleground. Her smile was easy to love; the avant-garde battle required a little more effort. Amazingly, the same jazz movement inspired both gigs, proving it can still amuse and unsettle audiences some 45 years after ...

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Kirk MacDonald Quartet: Songbook Vol. 1

by Jerry D'Souza
December 27, 2009

Kirk MacDonald first recorded when he was 13. Since that time he has gone on to establish his reputation as one of Canada's finest saxophone players. Over the years, Macdonald has played as a sideman and has led his own bands which have varied in size, the biggest being the 19-piece Kirk MacDonald Jazz Orchestra. The wide angle of the situations he plays in has given him a perspective that is both perspicacious and judicious, opening a field that he ...

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Anthony Braxton: Creative Orchestra (Koln) 1978

by Troy Collins
December 26, 2009

The 1970s were an exceedingly fertile time period for composer Anthony Braxton, whose considerable output was primarily documented by Arista Records, including his Creative Orchestra Music, which encapsulated the entire history of jazz--from Scott Joplin to Albert Ayler. One of these albums, the seminal Creative Orchestra Music 1976, was recently reissued as part of Mosaic Records' Braxton box set. Recorded live in Koln, Germany, on May 12, 1978, Hatology's double disc reissue, Creative Orchestra (Koln) 1978, presents interesting contrasts to ...

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The Music of Art Blakey: 90th Birthday Celebration at the Iridium, NYC

by Dave Kaufman
December 26, 2009

Golden Boy: The Music of Art Blakey--90th Birthday Celebration David Weiss and 11 Musicians The Iridium Jazz Club New York, New York December 5, 2009

The great drummer and long-standing band leader Art Blakey would have celebrated his 90th birthday this past October. In honor of that event, trumpeter, composer and arranger David Weiss assembled a cast of excellent young and not so young musicians to pay tribute to the great ...