Jazz Articles

like 372

Mike Barone Big Band: Flight of the Bumblebee

by Robert J. Robbins
October 9, 2009

For a quarter-century, Mike Barone provided arrangements for Doc Severinsen's NBC-TV <em>Tonight Show</em> Band, but these were seldom heard by anyone except the studio audiences for the actual telecasts (although excerpts were audible to viewers as intros and exits from commercial breaks). Since the band's dissolution more than fifteen years ago, however, Barone has been recording many of these charts with his own Los Angeles-based ensemble, and Flight of the Bumblebee is just the latest in this string of CDs ...

like 204

Rob Parton: Rob Parton Quartet

by Jack Bowers
October 9, 2009

It's always a pleasure to welcome a new CD by the remarkably talented Chicago-based trumpeter Rob Parton, even one that is untitled and places Parton in a (mostly) quartet framework. The downside is that one can't hear Parton play lead trumpet, another area in which he excels, as any perusal of his superb (albeit recently demised) JazzTech Big Band would readily affirm.

Parton always recruited only the best available sidemen for his large ensemble, and the same is true here ...

like 473

Jim Black / Alas No Axis: Houseplant

by Glenn Astarita
October 9, 2009

Stylistically, revered progressive-jazz drummer Jim Black's Houseplant might not signify a radical departure from his four previous albums for the Winter & Winter record label, spanning 2000-2006. However, Black's substantial imprint on jazz--and here, jazz-rock--offers a mark of distinction due to his quirky, and sly manner of filling in the blanks from behind the kit. And true to form, he punches out some torrid backbeats throughout this sprightly session, featuring his longtime musical group, Alas No Axis.

Tenor ...

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David "Honeyboy" Edwards: Bringing the Delta Blues to Norwich

by Bruce Lindsay
October 9, 2009

David “Honeyboy" EdwardsNorwich Arts CentreNorwich, EnglandOctober 1, 2009

David “Honeyboy" Edwards walked slowly across the stage of the Norwich Arts Centre, settled himself into his chair at the centre of the platform as the sell-out audience's warm applause gradually subsided, strapped on an electric guitar and asked “Y'all ready for the blues?" The crowd yelled and whistled in answer, then settled down to enjoy an hour of songs from a man who, at 94 years ...

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Vijay Iyer Trio: Historicity

by Chris May
October 9, 2009

There is much that is exciting about pianist Vijay Iyer and almost as much that is irritating. The excitement is in the music and the irritation in the miasma of cerebralization that surrounds it. The most recent instance of the latter comes with the packaging for Historicity. Any album title which requires a fairly lengthy liner note to explain it, and which starts, elliptically and gratuitously, with a quote from Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci's The Prison Notebooks, rings alarm bells. ...

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Little Buddy: 3 Hour Tour

by Chris M. Slawecki
October 9, 2009

It might seem like a long journey from a Pennsylvania steel town to Texas, but not if you travel along the electric strings of blues guitarist Mark Kormanik.

3 Hour Tour is Kormanik's sixth CD as the leader of Little Buddy, which also features longtime bandmates Doug Brown on bass and vocals and John Huhn on drums and percussion. Little Buddy has become a familiar face on the east coast blues festival and club circuit by sharing bills ...

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Positive Catastrophe: Garabatos Volume One

by Jerry D'Souza
October 9, 2009

Positive Catastrophe has several things going for it. Disaster is not one of them. This 10-piece band, which has been active in New York City since 2007, is the offspring of co-leaders Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet, flugelhorn) and Abraham Gomez-Delgado (percussion, voice). Bynum has long been a powerhouse in improvised music. Gomez-Delgado is also an active participant who believes that it is important to know one's roots before making them part of the experience. He thus brings in his own ...

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John Abercrombie: Wait Till You See Her

by Francis Lo Kee
October 9, 2009

John Abercrombie = 3242, whose history with ECM stretches back to the early '70s, now releases his fourth CD with the same quartet of violinist Mark Feldman and drummer Joey Baron, newcomer Thomas Morgan replacing previous bassist Marc Johnson. Though there are rambunctious moments, Abercrombie chooses to open with “Sad Song," a somewhat misleading title. The playing is tender, thoughtful and melodically floating, speaking to an artist's confidence that one doesn't have to start a journey by proving how fast ...

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Jim Snidero: Crossfire

by Ken Dryden
October 9, 2009

Since his days as a student at North Texas State University, alto saxophonist Jim Snidero has built quite a discography but this session, with his current working band of guitarist Paul Bollenback, bassist Paul Gill and drummer Billy Drummond, is a rare chance to hear him in a pianoless setting. Crossfire is Snidero's 15th CD as a leader, with the bulk of the session focusing on his challenging originals. The title track is a solid opener, full ...

like 553

The Story Of Jazz Saxophone

by AAJ Staff
October 9, 2009

For some, the saxophone is the sound of jazz. The unique fusion of brass and woodwind that is the sax found an electrifying vibrato in the hands of jazzmen that truly changed the world. The pale “pure" tone of the instrument, as first used in classical compositions, vanished in a musical blast of slurs ( Coleman Hawkins and Johnny Hodges, occasional exciting “false-fingering" (Lester Young) and runs almost too fast, for some at the time, to listen to (Charlie Parker). ...