Jazz Articles

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Loren Stillman: Winter Fruits

by Mark F. Turner
November 6, 2009

Loren Stillman's Winter Fruits is an impressive follow-up to the saxophonist's stellar Blind Date (Pirouet Records, 2007). The increasingly visible altoist has been spotted on a number of recordings including Paul Motian's On Broadway, Vol. 5, (Winter & Winter (2009), yet found time to refine his own music. Through a couple of lineup changes with new members Ted Poor (drums) and Nate Radley (guitar) and the return of Gary Versace (now on organ), Stillman's release maintains a stylized and highly ...

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Clint Eastwood Presents Johnny Mercer: The Dream's On Me

by Samuel Chell
November 6, 2009

Johnny Mercer Clint Eastwood Presents Johnny Mercer: The Dream's On Me TCM 2009

Film director Clint Eastwood's love of jazz and American popular song is far from a secret, especially following his feature-length biopic about alto saxophonist Charlie Parker (Bird, 1988), during which the ever restless Eastwood got the idea to produce a feature-length film about pianist Thelonious Monk, released somewhat later during the same year as Straight No Chaser. Hence, it should surprise ...

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Jonas Knutsson/Mats Oberg: Live

by Raul d'Gama Rose
November 6, 2009

An alluring aspect of this record, even before the first notes are heard is that it is simply titled Live. Expectation is enormous. It is a “live" record. What will happen? The elasticity of the jazz idiom fills the musical prospect with great expectation. Finally, performing on this record are the magnificent Swedish saxophonist, Jonas Knutsson and pianist, Mats Oberg an artist of prodigious talent, who played on Zappa's Universe (Verve, 1991), conducted by Joel Thome and scores of sadly ...

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Take Two: Variations on Dave Brubeck

by Dr. Judith Schlesinger
November 6, 2009

The music of pianist Dave Brubeck has been cherished throughout the world since the mid 1950s. While he's written orchestral, choral and sacred work, his most familiar are jazz tunes like “Strange Meadowlark," “Blue Rondo A La Turk," “Three To Get Ready," “Unsquare Dance" and that mega-hit “Take Five," written by his band mate, alto saxophonist Paul Desmond, and forever linked to Brubeck. This repertoire has been played and recorded a zillion times by admiring jazz musicians, and it's strong ...

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Komeda Project: Requiem

by Budd Kopman
November 6, 2009

With the magnificent Requiem, pianist Andrzej Winnicki and saxophonist Krzysztof Medyna solidify and enhance their reputations as the prime promoters of the essential music of the Polish pianist and composer Krzysztof Komeda (1931-1969). Komeda is widely recognized as the founder of modern Polish, and in a wider sense, European modern jazz. That he worked in Poland under Communist oppression is important. At its heart, jazz refuses to be pigeonholed, and it both allows and demands that its practitioners be utterly ...

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Take Five With Karen Segal

by AAJ Staff
November 6, 2009

Meet Karen Segal: Originally from Boston, Massachusetts and based in San Francisco, Karen played with Marilyn Mazur (Miles Davis) and Suzanne Fasteau (Bill Evans) in Copenhagen as a teenager. She co-founded the acid-jazz band “Red Clay" with David Brown (Brazzaville, Beck) in Los Angeles in the early 1990's. Karen has studied with teachers including Dean Brown (Marcus Miller), Cedric West (BBC Radio Orchestra) Jean Marc Belkadi, & Ron Eschete. Karen has been leading her trio in the Bay Area since ...

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Mike Reed's People, Places & Things: About Us

by Mark Corroto
November 6, 2009

The saying might go something like, “Those ignorant of history are doomed to repeat it." For composer/bandleader Mike Reed, his knowledge of jazz history allows him the freedom to cherish and exalt the past.

Reed's prior disc, Proliferation (482 Music, 2008), revitalized Chicago jazz music from 1954-1960, covering tracks by under-appreciated artist Wilbur Campbell, Frank Strozier, Sun Ra, and John Jenkins. This first of three recordings heralded the past; a future recording will find principal players from the ...

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Chris McGregor: Our Prayer

by Stuart Broomer
November 6, 2009

Chris McGregor (1936-1990) is best known as the pianist/leader of the Brotherhood of Breath and its small band antecedent the Blue Notes, the group that he formed in South Africa in 1963. The inter-racial band elected for a voluntary European exile from their homeland and its policies that would ban their very right to assemble. In the heady '60s, their blend of bop and Township rhythms rapidly melded with free jazz, creating one of the most dynamic musical mixes of ...

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Edgar Van Asselt Quartet and Quintet: A Smooth Journey

by Elliott Simon
November 6, 2009

Pianist Edgar van Asselt teams his fine trio with tenor saxophonist David Schnitter and trumpet player Nico Schepers for A Smooth Journey, an album that both swings hard and lovingly embraces. Schnitter is perhaps best known for his stint with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers in the '70s and as a hard bopper who can carry a session on his own. Here, however he is wonderfully immersed in these van Asselt originals as he converses with the catchy hooks and pairs ...

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Matthieu Donarier: Live Forms

by Jean-Marc Gelin
November 6, 2009

Matthieu Donarier presents his second album with his usual trio, following the widely acclaimed Optitopic in 2004. This new live album, recorded in Saint-Nazaire and Angers, once again showcases the strong intimacy between these three musicians, who have been playing together since their school years and their time at the CNSM. It is with them that Matthieu Donarier, known for his work in other ensembles (with Daniel Humair, Alban Darche, or Patrice Caratini), emerges as both a complete saxophonist and ...