Jazz Articles

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Al Jarreau: The Very Best of: An Excellent Adventure

by Jeff Winbush
December 13, 2009

Al Jarreau is the most successful jazz singer of his time and has enjoyed a career that spans four decades. Oddly though, Jarreau has been never been represented with a career-spanning compilation, and his fans have been patiently waiting for a comprehensive overview. They will have to keep waiting. An Excellent Adventure casts a wider net than the now out-of-print Best of Al Jarreau (Warner Brothers, 1996), but with only 16 tracks is far from definitive. There's ...

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December 2009

by AAJ Staff
December 13, 2009

Jesse Stacken and Kurt KnuffkeCornelia Street CafeNew York, NY November 8, 2009When pianist Jesse Stacken and trumpeter Kirk Knuffke played Cornelia Street Café (Nov. 8th) to celebrate their SteepleChase duo release Mockingbird, they surveyed not only Monk and Ellington tunes--the album's focus--but also demanding works by Lennie Tristano and Charles Mingus. Their repartee was crisp and in the pocket and their choices seemed to emphasize the sheer expressive range of canonical jazz. Case in ...

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NYNDK: The Hunting Of The Snark

by Mark Corroto
December 13, 2009

Jazz collective NYNDK's The Hunting of the Snark takes its title from a Lewis Carroll poem that inspired Norwegian composer Arne Nordheim's contemporary composition, written for the 1994 Winter Olympics opening ceremony.

Formed in 2003, the band, led by trombonist Chris Washburne, saxophonist Ole Mathisen, and pianist Soren Moller, is a transcontinental collective from New York (NY), Norway (N), and Denmark (DK). They have released two prior recordings, Nordic Disruption (2007) and their self-titled 2004 debut, both on Jazzheads. Here ...

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Cedar Walton: Voices Deep Within

by Russ Musto
December 13, 2009

Since 2001, Cedar Walton's regular excursions into Rudy Van Gelder's legendary Englewood Cliffs studio for the HighNote label have consistently resulted in some of this century's finest mainstream jazz recordings. On Voices Deep Within he continues the tradition, once again demonstrating the vitality and endurance of (t)his music. Despite his ever growing popularity and critical acclaim (and next month's NEA Jazz Mastership), Walton has not yet been elevated to his deserved place in the pantheon of the greatest jazz pianists--alongside ...

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Billy Harper: Blueprints of Jazz, Vol. 2

by George Kanzler
December 13, 2009

Tenor saxophonist Billy Harper has been keeping the jazz fires kindled by the ritualistic, incantatory side of the classic John Coltrane Quartet stoked and burning bright for over a quarter-century. Here Harper's working quintet, augmented by a second bassist, presents a program redolent of the processional and the chant. Over it all, Harper's coruscating, brawny tenor strides like a colossus (only Sonny Rollins may have a richer, fuller tone) with a charged intensity matching the roiling, loping, massed rhythms of ...

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Bob Downes Open Music Trio: Flashback

by Roger Farbey
December 12, 2009

Bob Downes may be a name unfamiliar to many, but to some his name is synonymous with an electrifying period in British jazz. Downes was on the cusp of this new movement and recorded some idiosyncratic albums between 1969 and 1970. Deep Down Heavy was almost a rock album, whereas the as yet un-reissued Open Music recorded for Philips was much nearer to the free jazz genre. Two others were Diversions a trio album (for his own label Openian) and ...

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Henry Grimes, Paul Dunmall & Andrew Cyrille: The Profound Sound Trio at the Vortex, London

by John Sharpe
December 12, 2009

The Profound Sound Trio: Henry Grimes, Paul Dunmall & Andrew Cyrille The Vortex London, England November 23, 2009

A buzz of anticipation gripped a full house at the Vortex for the London debut of the Profound Sound Trio--a collective of British reedman Paul Dunmall and a heavyweight rhythm section of Andrew Cyrille on drums and Henry Grimes on bass. Their genesis as a trio came in 2006 when Grimes traveled to England ...

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A New World Christmas: Twentieth Century Masters, Piffaro, The Renaissance Band and Stephen Chatman

by C. Michael Bailey
December 12, 2009

The “New World" here is not only America but the post-19th century. Great Britain is most responsible for the expansion of the holiday canon in the 20th century with music by Holst, Vaughn Williams, Finzi, Howells and Warlock. The American side of the pond is fortunate to have two composers with big ideas regarding Christmas fare, even it their efforts weren't directed as such. Minnesota native-cum Canadian composer Stephen Chatman provides new music as well as new wine skins for ...

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Random Touch: A Way From the Heard

by Glenn Astarita
December 12, 2009

The Illinois based-trio had its origins in the 1970s and is steeped within experimental and improvisational factors. Over the years, the musicians have investigated numerous slants, comprising the acoustic-electric element amid heavy-duty and, wily percussion jaunts, evidenced on their exploratory 2009 LP, Turbulent Flesh. Yet free-expressionism rules the roost within the musicians' core methodology. And they interject moments of humor to complement feisty sojourns into sizzling, hyper-mode free-jazz persuasions.

Featuring Scott Hamill's torrid and squealing, avant-rock electric guitar ...

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The London Jazz Festival

by Nick Catalano
December 12, 2009

A fitting climax to my stay here in London was the jazz festival which has become something of a major classic. Most Americans don't realize it, but someone figured out that there are about 800 jazz fests annually in Europe and, if that is true, then the London festival should rank near the top in quality of production.

The festival ran nine days (Nov.13-22) and featured some familiar American stars, e.g., Sonny Rollins, Branford Marsalis, Chick Corea, Bill Frisell, John ...