Jazz Articles

like 818

Graham Collier: Directing 14 Jackson Pollocks

by Nic Jones
August 11, 2009

Graham Collier Directing 14 Jackson Pollocks Jazz Continuum 2009

Reissues can have a telescoping effect on our perception of an artist because they focus on music from the past, which in British bandleader and composer Graham Collier's case can be anything up to 40 or so years old. In the intervening decades his role as a composer has changed fundamentally, as has his place within a band. As a composer/director he now occupies a ...

like 360

The Wood Brothers: The Wood Brothers: Up Above My Head

by Doug Collette
August 11, 2009

Highlights of The Wood Brothers' live performances invariably include ingenious renditions of choice covers in addition to their own well-wrought originals. So it stands to reason they'd find it perfectly natural to put together this mini-album of outside material by the likes of Beck and Allen Toussaint, among others.

Returning to the strictly two-piece alignment from which they began and upon which they have built on their successive studio work, Up Above My_Head bristles with joyous energy right ...

like 246

Leonisa Ardizzone: A Constellation in the East

by C. Michael Bailey
August 11, 2009

"For unto whomsoever much is given, of her shall be much required..."

Renaissance men and women still exist. For example, the intrepid Dr. Leonisa Ardizzone is the executive director of The Salvadore Center, a non-profit educational organization centered in New York city dedicated to educating young students and their teachers about architecture, structural engineering and urban design. In addition to her scholarly and philanthropic pursuits, Ardizonne is a wife, mother and...jazz musician. That is an embarrassment of riches.

Ardizzone has ...

like 358

Miami Saxophone Quartet: Fourtified

by Jack Bowers
August 11, 2009

Before even blowing a note, the Miami Saxophone Quartet has earned bonus points by doing something other such groups would be wise to emulate: it has added a rhythm section (at least on three of Fourtified's nine tracks). There's even a second quartet--viola, cello, two violins--on the aptly named three-movement “Jazz Suite for Double Quartet," Latin percussion (courtesy of Richard Bravo) on “Spunky" and “Seventh Sign," and a guitarist (Dan Warren) on “Spunky." To add more spice to the bill ...

like 277

Take Five With Charmaine Clamor

by AAJ Staff
August 11, 2009

Meet Charmaine Clamor: The creator of Jazzipino, Charmaine Clamor is America's foremost Filipina jazz and world vocalist. With two consecutive albums in the JazzWeek World Music Top-10, Charmaine has been credited with introducing Filipino languages, melodies, and musical instruments to listeners around the globe. She records internationally for Viva Records and in the United States for FreeHam Records. In 2009, she was given a special FAMAS Award ("Filipino Oscar") as Philippines Best Jazz Singer.Instrument(s): Vocals.Teachers and/or ...

like 218

Ozric Tentacles: The Yumyum Tree

by Glenn Astarita
August 11, 2009

Twenty-five years and still going strong, legendary U.K. prog-rock outfit Ozric Tentacles releases its first studio album since 2006's The Floor's Too Far Away (Magna Carta Records). Interestingly enough, the musicians recently moved to Colorado to hone in on the U.S. festival and jamband scenes.

This 2009 date doesn't proclaim anything strikingly new, when considering the band's signature fusion of prog and space rock; however, it does present a rather phantasmagorical climate, teeming with MIDI treatments and a ...

like 304

Stan Getz: Legacy

by Jack Bowers
August 10, 2009

Here's a pleasant surprise: “previously unissued material" by tenor sax giant Stan Getz that by and large deserves to be more widely disseminated and heard. Legacy is comprised of five sessions spanning the years 1980-86, including three numbers with the Woody Herman Herd and another with Getz and pianist Jimmy Rowles performing Rowles' “The Peacocks." The other seven tracks embody three quartet dates.

While the sound is uneven, as one would expect on such a compilation, the audio's not as ...

like 757

Why George Russell Will Always Live in Time

by Raul d'Gama Rose
August 10, 2009

A measure of just how underrated a musician he was in his lifetime is reflected in the fact that even three days after he passed on most of the major publications had not even reported his death, much less celebrated his life in the glowing terms that he so richly deserved. Perhaps this was because oddly enough he may have spent a lifetime mostly in the quietude of musical intellectualism rather than in its practice. That is, after all how ...

like 291

Ian Dogole and Hemispheres: Crossroads

by Raul d'Gama Rose
August 10, 2009

Ian Dogole is a percussionist of considerable skill, character, invention and individuality. This ensemble that he has put together--Hemispheres--might otherwise be passed over as just another world fusion group. It is also graced by multi-reed artist Paul McCandless, who just happens to be co-founder of the legendary band, Oregon. The uniqueness of Crossroads is further evidence that Dogole has stamped this ensemble to a large extent with his individualism. This is also a kind of counterbalance for McCandless, who cannot ...

like 651

Lainie Cooke: Speaking to the Heart

by Esther Berlanga-Ryan
August 10, 2009

When Lainie Cooke sings, the heart sinks in poetry made music; air seems to stop to avoid interrupting the flowing of such a magical, beautiful voice. She fills the barely-noticeable silence between notes with a voice that caresses the heart. Her life has been a jazz-bound adventure inspired by an early need to entertain others, landing her in New York City at a very young age.

It's Always You (Harlemwood Records, 2008) is only her second studio album ...