Jazz Articles

like 263

Jackie Ryan: Doozy

by Larry Taylor
November 4, 2009

This two-CD set is vocalist Jackie Ryan's third recording and it's definitely a keeper. On the heels of her 2007 success, You And The Night And The Music (Open Art Productions), which landed on the charts, also appears destined for success.

With her clear, rich voice, Ryan undoubtedly has one of jazz's great vocal instruments--no low-note warble or reedy high notes for her and with a 3-1/2 octave range, she handles each song with aplomb. In addition, she has a ...

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Keith Tippett and Julie Tippetts: Couple in Spirit in Cambridge, UK

by John Sharpe
November 4, 2009

Keith Tippett and Julie Tippetts Kettle's Yard Cambridge, UK October 16, 2009

Pianist Keith Tippett and his wife Julie Tippetts ("Tippetts" was the pianist's original name, but he dropped the terminal “s" early in his career, though his wife retains it in her name) have been making music together for over forty years, but their duo concerts remain special events, with just a few airings each year. Their rare appearance in Cambridge ...

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Lee Shaw Trio: Blossom

by Jeff Dayton-Johnson
November 4, 2009

Curiously, it happens that one of the most exciting “young" pianists on the scene today is an eighty-something year-old woman named Lee Shaw. Shaw's playing has an energy and freshness that sounds great alongside other new rising stars of the piano-trio idiom: Aaron Goldberg, Aaron Parks, Robert Glasper, Yaron Herman and Elan Mehler.

Shaw's story is recounted in a DVD documentary included with her 2008 release, Live In Graz (Artists Recording Collective). For many years she led a rhythm section ...

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Take Five With Prince Bulo

by AAJ Staff
November 4, 2009

Meet Prince Bulo: Instrument(s):Bass/composer.Teachers and/or influences?Richard Bona, John Patitucci, Anders Jormin.I knew I wanted to be a musician when...I saw musicians doing their thing in church when I was a kid. I slowly taught my self to play the piano and then switch to bass when I reach university.Your sound and approach to music:My sound and approach to music include the vast ...

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Walter Lang Trio: Eurasia

by Dan McClenaghan
November 4, 2009

German pianist Walter Lang is big in Japan, with Eurasia being the sixth CD released there on the M&I Records label. A listen to any of these discs reveals something for the discerning taste of the Japanese jazz fan. Lang records mostly in the trio format--piano, bass and drums--and his approach in this setting can be said to fall in the interactive Bill Evans Trio mode, with a graceful lyricism, a supple use of touch, and an exquisite ...

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Aki Takase / Louis Sclavis: Yokohama

by Nic Jones
November 3, 2009

Aki Takase is making a real burden for herself with this the latest in her hopefully ongoing series of Intakt releases. With every successive one it's not just a simple matter of the quality going up but rather a matter of different facets of her ability being revealed. As these releases have all been documents of duos, the effect is almost rhetorical, as if she's intent on making a case for that sparse setting and what can be achieved in ...

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Anders Christensen Trio: Dear Someone

by Jakob Baekgaard
November 3, 2009

Throughout the years, Danish jazz has been blessed with a host of talented bassists such as Bo Stief, Jesper Lundgaard and Jesper Bodilsen, but one name, in particular, has reached across the country's borders and become synonymous with virtuosity and melodic invention. The late Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen was most famous, perhaps, for playing with Oscar Peterson and Ed Thigpen in what has to be one of the legendary pianist's most successful formations. The shadow of the great Dane has, however, ...

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Danish Divas: Mona Larsen, Malene Mortensen, Katrine Madsen

by Jakob Baekgaard
November 3, 2009

In 2009, Danish vocal jazz is enjoying a golden age. Never before has there been such a wide variety of high quality female jazz singers in Denmark as there is now. Singers like Cecillie Nordby, Sinne Egg and Sidsel Storm are all worthy of international recognition, but they're only the tip of the iceberg.

Stunt Records has specialised in bringing out the best in Danish mainstream and modern jazz and they also have a significant roster of jazz singers. In ...

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trioVD: Fill It Up With Ghosts

by Chris May
November 3, 2009

While Oliver Weindling's Babel label has recorded some of Britain's most lyrical and mellifluous artists, including vocalist Christine Tobin, guitarist Phil Robson and the post-bop mutationist band Polar Bear, it has also, true to its name, championed some of the country's most iconoclastic noise-jazz outfits, notably Acoustic Ladyland and Led Bib.

Leeds-based trioVD, though no stranger to gentle neo-ambient beauty, mostly inhabits the latter category, its six feet firmly planted in high-decibel thrash attacks combining the outer reaches ...

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Dave Evans: Sad Pig Dance

by David Rickert
November 3, 2009

One way that guitarists expand the harmonic possibilities of their instrument is through the use of open tunings. By tuning the guitar differently than the standard EADGBE arrangement (for instance, to an open chord), a whole new world of sounds and textures becomes available.

New age guitarists were quick to adopt this method to create beautiful melodies that went nowhere. Dave Evans, however, was one who coupled his love for open tunings with his knack for writing good ...