Jazz Articles

like 749

The Story of Jazz Trumpet

by AAJ Staff
October 9, 2009

The trumpet was the lead instrument in early jazz: it is the loudest solo instrument, the natural leader of a group of individuals, if you will. So, early trumpet pioneer Buddy Bolden (there is a photograph of him with a jazz band in 1894!) is most likely the first known jazzman simply because he was a trumpeter. And the trend continued with Freddie Keppard and one Louis Armstrong. The two most well-known jazzman to the general public, Armstrong ...

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Allan Holdsworth Trio: Gatineau, Canada

by John Kelman
October 8, 2009

Allan Holdsworth TrioMaison de la Culture de Gatineau Gatineau, Canada September 28, 2009

In a trio, changing only one member can make a tremendous difference. It's been two years since guitar legend Allan Holdsworth last performed in eastern Canada but, with an eight-city tour focused largely in the province of Quebec, it's a very different trio than that of his long overdue return to the Montreal Jazz Festival in 2007. Longtime bassist Jimmy Johnson was still ...

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Jason Marsalis: Music Update

by J Hunter
October 8, 2009

It's not like Jason Marsalis has been invisible since he released Music in Motion (Basin Street, 2002); his name's just been on the back of CD booklets instead of the front. With Music Update, Marsalis is back at the top of the bill, except he's brought a different set of sticks with him, or more specifically, a new set of mallets.

Well, not completely new, it seems Marsalis began experimenting with the vibraphone as a primary instrument about eight years ...

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Stormy Weather: The Life of Lena Horne

by C. Michael Bailey
October 8, 2009

Stormy Weather: The Life of Lena Horne James Gavin Hardcover; 608 pages ISBN: 0743271432 Simon and Schuster 2009...it just keeps rainin' all the time...

If James Gavin's biography of trumpeter Chet Baker, Deep In A Dream (Knopf, 2002), was a study of the slow motion, black hole implosion of a life into addiction and dissolution, then Stormy Weather: The Life of Lena Horne is a survey in the ...

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Vijay Iyer Trio: Historicity

by Troy Collins
October 8, 2009

The art of the piano trio has enjoyed a healthy renaissance over the past two decades, as a plethora of new stars have ascended the ranks to uphold and advance the tradition. Ethan Iverson, Brad Mehldau, Jason Moran, and Matthew Shipp are just a few of the adventurous younger artists whose notion of the trio is anything but staid, yet firmly linked to the hallowed format's core principles of intimate three-way communication.

Add to this short list Vijay ...

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Barbra Streisand: Love Is The Answer

by Jeff Winbush
October 8, 2009

On paper it must have seemed like a stroke of genius. Pair Barbra Streisand, the most successful vocalist in the world with Diana Krall, the critically acclaimed and commercially successful jazz stylist, turn them loose in the studio with selections from the Great American Songbook and wait for the magic.Unfortunately, there's no magic and little chemistry between Streisand and Krall on Love Is The Answer, as the results are more fizzle than sizzle.Streisand is a woman ...

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Ryan Blotnick: Everything Forgets

by Martin Gladu
October 8, 2009

Ryan Blotnick Everything Forgets Songlines 2009

While there are no fast rules or proven paths for developing a craft and career as an improvising musician, most players arrive at free playing and pure expression in the course of their development rather than starting their careers there. In other words, the artistic process leads more commonly to abstraction than it leads to formalism. (This can also be observed in the visual arts, with ...

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Kornstad: Dwell Time

by Eyal Hareuveni
October 8, 2009

Prolific Norwegian reed player Håkon Kornstad is known for his conceptual and genre-bending work, beginning with the free improvising Kornstad Trio, experimenting with electronics on Wibutee, exploring chamber Jazz with fellow countryman, pianist Håvard Wiik and bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, or collaborating with hip vocalist Anja Garbarek. On his second solo release he follows but still diverts from Single Engine (Jazzland Recordings, 2007). Whereas the latter focused on a variety of musical gestures and a wide spectrum of emotions and ...

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John Surman: Brewster's Rooster

by Jeff Stockton
October 8, 2009

Over 150 years experience! That's how the band saxophonist John Surman assembled for Brewster's Rooster could be advertised. Surman first played with drummer Jack DeJohnette in the late '70s and DeJohnette and guitarist John Abercrombie first worked together earlier that decade. Rounded out by bassist Drew Gress, Surman revisits straight-ahead jazz after essaying an eclectic range of recordings. On “Hilltop Dancer," Surman's tone on baritoneis solid and assured, never tempted by the extremes available on the big horn and Abercrombie's ...

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Taylor Ho Bynum & Spidermonkey Strings: Madeleine Dreams

by Ivana Ng
October 8, 2009

Madeleine Dreams is about as odd as the novel upon which it is based. Taylor Ho Bynum and SpiderMonkey Strings weave deftly through the magical realism of Madeleine is Sleeping, a novel written by Bynum's sister Sarah Shun-lien Bynum. Vocalist Kyoko Kitamura flows through the divide between dream and reality with grace. She narrates the first seven tracks, the lyrics of which are excerpts from the story, with a smoky alto that at turns belongs to a ...