Jazz Articles

like 554

Litchfield Jazz Festival 2009

by Marcia Hillman
August 13, 2009

Litchfield Jazz FestivalKent, ConnecticutJuly 31-August 2, 2009 For two and a half days this past weekend, jazz invaded Connecticut with the arrival of the 14th Annual Litchfield Jazz Festival. This year, in a new home on the Kent School grounds in Kent, Connecticut, this major musical event, hosted by WBGO broadcaster and jazz journalist Michael Bourne, presented what seemed to be “a cast of thousands" of jazz artists geared up to play their best for an audience ...

like 353

John Law / Sam Burgess / Asaf Sirkis: Congregation: The Art of Sound Volume 4

by Jakob Baekgaard
August 13, 2009

In music, the material of the artist is sound. Music is the shaping of sound. It's no coincidence, then, that British pianist John Law has named his ambitious tetralogy The Art of Sound. The final installment, Congregation: The Art of Sound Volume 4, finds Law working with the same trio--bassist Sam Burgess and drummer Asaf Sirkis--as he did on the very first release in the series, The Art of Sound (33 Jazz, 2007).

One of the advantages of ...

like 240

New Tricks at Cecil's Jazz Club

by David A. Orthmann
August 13, 2009

New Tricks Cecil's Jazz Club West Orange, New Jersey July 17, 2009

Over the past few years, the northern New Jersey-based band New Tricks has painstakingly developed a distinctive sound during weekly sessions in the basement studio of saxophonist Mike Lee. It is almost bad form to single out contributions of the tightly knit quartet's members, which include Lee, trumpeter Ted Chubb, bassist Kellen Harrison and drummer Shawn Baltazor. An excellent, self-titled compact disc ...

like 245

3Quietmen / Stefano Battaglia: Bartokosmos

by Glenn Astarita
August 13, 2009

3Quietmen is a young Italian trio that draws inspiration from composer Bela Bartok's Mikrokosmos, a prominent work consisting of 153 piano pieces. Fellow countryman and revered modern jazz pianist Stefano Battaglia joins the band for these pieces that waver between jazz and groove-based abstractions, shaded with electronics. It's a polytonal feast for the ears, as the musicians execute circular mini-motifs and cunning paradigm shifts, punchy ostinatos and brawny group-centric interplay.

Battaglia occasionally calms the waters via airy, jazz-based ...

like 872

Stanley Clarke Trio: Jazz in the Garden

by Carl L. Hager
August 13, 2009

Stanley Clarke Trio Jazz In The Garden Heads Up International 2009

In the mid-1970s when Stanley Clarke rose to prominence playing electric bass in the powerhouse band Return To Forever, it had been his beautiful touch on acoustic bass that originally attracted the notice of the band's founder, keyboard player Chick Corea. The rock star flash and approbation that accompanied his ensuing solo efforts and collaborations with everyone from keyboard player George ...

like 209

Anekdoten: Chapters

by John Kelman
August 13, 2009

The influence of art rock bands like King Crimson continue to be felt into the new millennium, but when progressive rock began to make a comeback in the early 1990s--first in the underground, then in recent times to an even larger audience--albums that had been overlooked back in the day suddenly became hugely influential. Anekdoten began life as a Crimson tribute band, gradually introducing its own material into the mix and, ultimately, becoming an original band, taking the symphonic side ...

like 365

Take Five With Joe Albano

by AAJ Staff
August 13, 2009

Meet Joe Albano:Joe Albano, a native of Boston, MA, began his instrumental studies at 14 with local hometown hero, saxophonist Ray DeNice. Quickly gravitating to the saxophone, and ignoring all logic and reason, he attended the Berklee College of Music in Sept of 2000. He graduated in 2005 and holds a B.A. in Professional Music. His performance studies were with such luminaries as saxophonists George Garzone and Joe Lovano, clarinetist Harry Skoler, pianist Joanne Brackeen, trombonist Hal Crook ...

like 165

Tom Beckham: Rebound

by Hrayr Attarian
August 13, 2009

Catchy tunes and intelligent soloing do not a masterpiece make, but they do create a memorable and enjoyable listening experience. Tom Beckham's third album as a leader finds him in sympathetic, although slightly overbearing, company of saxophonist Chris Cheek and a rhythm section led by pianist Henry Hey. Beckham has a unique approach to the vibraphone and does not sound like anyone else. He also composed all the pieces here--smartly crafted, varied and complex enough to be ...

like 229

Mark Colby: Reflections

by Jack Bowers
August 12, 2009

Reflections, the eighth CD as leader or co-leader by one of the Chicago area's most undervalued treasures, tenor saxophonist Mark Colby, is a tribute, he writes, to “the things that shaped and moved me when I was just a kid," as well as to friends, family and artists who nourished his growth and served as a catalyst for his becoming a musician. The studio date is dedicated to Colby's father, “who started me on my journey at age eight," and ...

like 684

Paul Taylor: Creating a Signature

by Woodrow Wilkins
August 12, 2009

One of the knocks on smooth jazz has been that it's too commercial. Being commercial isn't necessarily a bad thing. There's nothing wrong with creating a product with the primary objective being to appeal to as many potential customers as possible. However, when it comes to music, too often the drive for sales, radio play and that elusive “hit single" leads to a bland product. Like food in a school cafeteria, it's sustenance without seasoning.With Burnin' (Peak, 2009), ...