Jazz Articles

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Take Five With Walter Beltrami

by AAJ Staff
July 27, 2009

Meet Walter Beltrami:Studied performance and jazz composition at Berklee College of Music. Graduated in performance at Musikhochschule Luzern, CH. Three released CDs as a leader with Philology, CamJazz and Re:think-art records. Won the Luca Flores Jazz Price as best Italian soloist at Barga Jazz 2004 and one of the eight finalists world-wide of the first Gibson Montreux Jazz Guitar Competition in Montreux. I've performed with Claudio Puntin, Francesco Bearzatti, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Markku Ounaskari, Giovanni Guidi, Dan Kinzelman, and ...

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Orjan Hulten Trio: In the City

by Jakob Baekgaard
July 27, 2009

History reveals a long list of venues that have contributed positively to the recorded legacy of some of the greatest figures in jazz. Names such as The Cotton Club, The Village Vanguard, Slug's Saloon, Shelly's Manne-Hole and Bradley's carry their own aura, which is inextricably linked to the magic of the music performed by legends like Albert Ayler, Bill Evans, Duke Ellington and John Coltrane.

One of the venues in Sweden that has achieved iconic status for fans of free ...

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Henning Sieverts Symmetry: Blackbird

by Jerry D'Souza
July 27, 2009

The Beatles are given the dominant spot on Blackbird, but most of the music comes here from bassist/cellist Henning Sieverts. Sieverts--who has a long history of composition, having written for string ensembles, the theater, and groups of various size--locks in jazz and classical music, both in their individual frames and in an elegant blend, making for an alluring record.

Sieverts has an ear for melody and he weaves a rich tapestry of motif and mood. His arrangements work in tandem, ...

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Meet Kurt Elling

by Craig Jolley
July 27, 2009

This interview was originally published in February 2000.Chicago music scene On my new recording [Kurt Elling Live in Chicago, Blue Note] I'm really proud to feature a lot of the musicians who have treated me well and who have taught me and who have been on the team with me from the get-go. Not only because of the debt of gratitude that I owe them, but also just because they're really beautiful musicians and deserve to be heard, ...

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Kurt Elling: Recasting Brilliance

by Cicily Janus
July 27, 2009

When Johnny Hartman and John Coltrane recorded their one and only album together they created a moment that shaped the art of vocal jazz. An instant of beauty transformed into history. Despite a bias towards the original recording, after listening to Kurt Elling's lustrous and drawn butter version, it was clear the past could be silenced to make way for innovation. This is Elling's first recording since his hit, Night Moves (Blue Note), in 2007. To say that this album ...

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Patti Wicks Trio: Dedicated To...

by C. Michael Bailey
July 26, 2009

Pianist/singer Patti Wicks started out in New York City, moved to Florida and then each year or so since 2004 has rendezvoused with her Italian rhythm section of bassist Giovanni Sanguineti and drummer Giovanni Guillino in Italy to record successful trio sessions supplemented with a horn, typically a saxophone. For 2005's Basic Feeling (Studiottanta-Fortuna), Wicks was joined by alto saxophonist Claudio Chiara, while The Italian Sessions (2007, Studiottanta-Fortuna) joined Wicks with tenor saxophonist Gianni Basso and, in 2008, she went ...

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Cleveland Jazz Project at Nighttown

by Matt Marshall
July 26, 2009

Cleveland Jazz Project Nighttown Cleveland Heights, Ohio July 15, 2009

For the last couple of years, summer has brought two welcome certainties to Cleveland jazz fans: three weeks of warm weather and the return of the Cleveland Jazz Project. Last seen at Nighttown in June backing singer/pianist Hallie Sinclair, CJP was freed this time out to explore the aggressive spirals of the type of angular modern jazz for which they have developed a loyal ...

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Ceu at The Highline Ballroom

by Ernest Barteldes
July 26, 2009

Céu Highline Ballroom New York City July 21, 2009

On her first US tour in support of her recently released CD Vagarosa (Six Degrees, 2009), the São Paulo-based singer-songwriter took the stage backed by a solid quartet formed by DJ Marco (sampler, turntables), Zé Nicro (bass), Samuel Fraga (drums) and Guilherme Ribeiro (guitar, keys). The group kicked off with a dreamy psychedelic-funk number that immediately got fans moving, and followed that with another new ...

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Masuo: Life Is Good

by Jeff Winbush
July 26, 2009

Japanese-born/New York-based Yoshiaki Masuo is a professional and accomplished guitarist. He is not a particularly accomplished vocalist, but still chooses to sing on six of Life is Good's eleven tracks. Therein lies the potential pitfall of a self-produced album such as this. There's nobody behind the controls to suggest to Masuo that it might be better to play to his strengths and try to minimize his weaknesses.The recording quality is not first rate with a sound that comes ...

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Kevin Tkacz Trio: It's Not What You Think

by Bruce Lindsay
July 26, 2009

Bassist Kevin Tkacz is joined by Bill Carrothers on piano and Michael Sarin on drums for his first trio release, It's Not What You Think, a mix of composed and improvised tunes recorded in Brooklyn, New York, during March 2007. On his website, Tkacz describes the CD as “seven improvisations, two notated compositions, and one thoughtlessly re-interpreted standard." The standard is Rodgers and Hart's “It's Easy to Remember" but the trio's re-interpretation sounds far from thoughtless: the ...