Jazz Articles

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A Bold World Christmas: Sylvia Bennett, Eddie Allen, The Hot Club of San Francisco

by C. Michael Bailey
December 14, 2009

Here is the middle of the road in holiday music. There is a little bit of something for everyone here: the contemporary caroling of Sylvia Bennett, the smart jazz of Eddie Allen, and the Django Reinhardt guitar tang of The Hot Club of San Francisco.

Sylvia BennettIt's Christmas Time with Sylvia BennettNaxos2009

Based on Sylvia Bennett's previous recordings, There Will Never Be Another You (Out of Sight Music, 2006) and Songs From My Heart ...

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Paul Wertico's Mid East/Mid West Alliance: Impressions of a City

by John Kelman
December 14, 2009

For those only familiar with his work in Pat Metheny Group, drummer Paul Wertico's extracurricular career will be something of a shock. He may have been all light cymbal work and gentle pulses with PMG, but on albums like The Sign of Four (Knitting Factory, 1997)--a freewheeling session with Metheny in a “beyond"-Song X (Nonesuch, 1985) mood, über-free guitarist Derek Bailey and intrepid percussionist Gregg Bendian--Wertico proved that PMG's accessible grooves were but only one of his many diverse interests.

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Foot Job Band and Tongs: between porno, rock and a jazz place

by Mark Corroto
December 14, 2009

Back in 1980s and early 1990s in New York, musicians were reinventing jazz and the “downtown scene," as it was called, was focused on the The Knitting Factory club. Artists like saxophonists John Zorn, John Lurie and Thomas Chapin, guitarist Marc Ribot and cellist Tom Cora became famous. While they were schooled in the traditional, their rediscovery of the spark and energy that can be found in jazz was a revelation. Bands like Lounge Lizards, Jazz Passengers, Naked City, Doctor ...

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Oscar Feldman: Oscar e Familia

by Raul d'Gama Rose
December 14, 2009

Oscar Feldman is ready, with Oscar e Familia, to put his own stamp on the alto saxophone. Not since the fire of Jackie McLean, the cool breeze of Lee Konitz, Eric Dolphy's rhythmic advances, Ornette Coleman's Harmolodic theories, and Steve Coleman's mBase concepts, has someone attempted to create a new language for that instrument. True, Charlie Parker presided over the advent of the most enduring revolution in music: bebop. Now, however, Feldman has, as an alto saxophonist, made a dramatic ...

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Jose Rodriguez: Moments In Life

by Nicholas F. Mondello
December 14, 2009

Sometimes fascinating listening experiences can emanate from surprising sources. Such is the example with Moments in Life, an excellent CD from bassist Jose Rodriguez. Here a string quartet plus rhythm section delivers a five-finger handful of wide-ranging, highly enjoyable music with more than a dollop of Latin sauce. While there is no straight ahead jazz or exotic experimentation either in repertoire or its performance, in Moments in Life Rodriguez has chosen a series of selections from well-known ...

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Paul Wertico: All In A Day's Work

by Cicily Janus
December 14, 2009

Seven-time Grammy winner Paul Wertico, a name long-synonymous with innovation and Herculean energy/talent in the world of drums, has stepped out of the box once again to present an album that defies genre boundaries. In addition to the usual suspects of his trio including guitarist John Moulder and bassist Brian Peters, Wertico has combined forces with Israeli guitarist Dani Rabin and saxophonist Danny Markovitch to form the Mid East/Mid West Alliance. The product of this marriage of talent recently came ...

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Jay Epstein: Easy Company

by Bruce Lindsay
December 13, 2009

One or two jazz standards, a handful of intriguing left-field choices, some interesting originals and one truly exceptional re-working of a classic love song-- Easy Company is an album of pleasing surprises, performed by three extremely talented musicians. Drummer Jay Epstein leads the trio and contributes all five original compositions, but this is a genuine group performance on which all three players shine. The album opens with left-field choice number one: John Williams' “Imperial March," better known ...

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Jazz Icons, Series 4

by Ken Dryden
December 13, 2009

Jazz Icons Series 4 Naxos 2009

The fourth volume of the Jazz Icons DVD series, available individually or in a boxed set, compiles live videos by seven jazz greats never issued commercially, all with detailed liner notes and a bumper crop of period photographs. The performances are in black and white with excellent audio and the long camera shots are a refreshing change from MTV-like darting images, the only downside being the occasional announcer ...

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Bojan Z Tetraband: Humus

by Chris May
December 13, 2009

The rocket fuelled, electro-acoustic Tetraband quartet began life as a trio pianist Bojan Zulfikarpasic formed with drummer Sebastian Rochford and electric bassist Ruth Goller in 2007. Paris-based Z grew up in what was then Yugoslavia, and the Balkans' dance rhythms have long been a feature of his playing. On tour in Europe, Rochford and Goller, both members of British punk-jazz iconoclast Acoustic Ladyland, brought a heat and groove to the music which perfectly matched Z's passionate double-fisted style.

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Ambrose Jackson

by A. Henkin
December 13, 2009

[Ed. Note: We are saddened to report that Mr. Jackson succumbed to a five-year battle with prostate cancer prior to publication of this article.] In the jazz world, an enormous amount of credence is given to the musician who appears on, to use the parlance, “countless sessions." Yet this ignores circumstances that can take a player on a different path and one can have significance even with the sparsest of discographies. An excellent example of this phenomenon ...