Jazz Articles

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Umbria Jazz: Days 4-6, July 13-15, 2009

by Michael J. West
July 20, 2009

Days 1-3 | Days 4-6 | Days 7-10 The next three days of the Umbria Jazz began with two concert series that promised to be intriguing. American vibraphonist Joe Locke performed three times with Italian pianist Dado Moroni and saxophonist Rosario Giuliani at the very small Oratorio Santa Cecilia church. The trio is recording an album, presumably culling the best performances from all three concerts.

The other series, which the 2009 program calls “One of the feathers in the ...

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Gilgamesh: Another Fine Tune You've Got Me Into

by Nic Jones
July 20, 2009

British bass guitarist Hugh Hopper's recent death in the summer of 2009 throws this reissue into some sad relief. Recorded and originally released some 31 years ago, the fare is fusion of an order made rare by the fact that it's played with a measure of diffidence and an absence of empty technical fireworks. In short the music, all of it written by band members, gets the chance to breathe, yet its airy, listener-friendly surface resounds at deeper, more profound ...

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Molde Jazz: Day 4, July 16, 2009

by John Kelman
July 20, 2009

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 Supersilent / HuntsvilleMolde JazzMolde, NorwayJuly 16, 2009There are those who think that jazz is “moldy fig" music--music for gray hairs and no hairs. There's also some concern that the music will die as the baby boomer generation begins to enter retirement and, ultimately, leave this mortal coil. Nothing could be further from the truth, based ...

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Joe McBride: Lookin' for a Change

by Woodrow Wilkins
July 20, 2009

There is The Great American Songbook, that vast repertoire of songs culled from musicals, vintage jazz and early rock--songs that have been tapped dozens of times by artists young and old. It gets to the point that whenever the word “cover" is mentioned, eyes roll and stomachs begin to turn. So it's a pleasant change of pace when an artist picks songs that aren't on everybody else's radar. Joe McBride takes that approach with Lookin' for Change.McBride, a ...

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Warren Smith: Old News Borrowed Blues

by Jerry D'Souza
July 20, 2009

Warren Smith (drums, vibraphone, percussion) does not have a deep discography as a leader, and so any recording by him is most welcome. All the music on this CD has been performed live but never released, and the wait makes hearing it all the sweeter.

Though his work as leader has been thin, Smith has played and recorded with some of jazz's more challenging musicians including Anthony Braxton, Muhal Richard Abrams, George Russell and Julius Hemphill. He was ...

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Take Five With Jakob Elvstrom

by AAJ Staff
July 20, 2009

Meet Jakob Elvstrom:I was born in 1966 on the Funen island in Denmark, being the oldest of three. I graduated from the Conservatory in Aarhus in 1995 with saxophone as my major, and since then I've been making a living playing and teaching music.Instrument(s):Saxophone (alto, soprano, baritone, tenor)Teachers and/or influences?Listened a lot to David Sanborn, Paul Desmond and Lou Donaldson.I knew I wanted to be a musician when...

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Trespass Trio: "...was there to illuminate the night sky..."

by Glenn Astarita
July 20, 2009

In the album notes to Trespass Trio's “...was there to illuminate the night sky...", saxophonist Martin Kÿchen provides a colorful yet somewhat fragmented essay, regarding the evisceration of society, partly tied into the Iraq war and the everlasting Israel-Palestine conflict. He sets the stage for a life force panorama, iterated through the power of music that casts a dour or ominous state of affairs. Recorded in Norway, the Scandinavian trio exercises some bloodletting here.

The injustices of society ...

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George Wein: Back to Doing His Thing

by R.J. DeLuke
July 20, 2009

Not many people stand in shoes similar to the ones in which jazz impresario George Wein now finds himself. Having invented the jazz festival more than half a century ago, his name is synonymous with the Newport Jazz Festival, his first and most well-known child of that genus. He led a company that expanded on the flagship festival in the Rhode Island resort city and produced a number of festivals at one time, including those in New Orleans, Saratoga Springs ...

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Vision Festival 2009: Day 6

by John Sharpe
July 19, 2009

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7

Planet Dream / Fred Anderson Trio / Michelle Rosewoman and Quintessence / Whit Dickey/Eri Yamamoto/Daniel Carter / Peter Brotzmann's Full Blast Trio 14th Annual Vision Festival Abrons Arts Center New York City June 14, 2009

Chapter Index Planet Dream Fred Anderson Trio Michelle Rosewoman and Quintessence Whit Dickey/Eri Yamamoto/Daniel Carter Peter ...

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Mikkel Ploug Group: Harmoniehof

by Mark F. Turner
July 19, 2009

Danish guitarist Mikkel Ploug, a rising player in the vein of such contemporaries as Kurt Rosenwinkel and Torben Waldorff, articulates his own vocabulary--one that contains folk, rock, and modern jazz sensibilities. Harmoniehof, the follow-up to Ploug's eponymous 2006 debut on Fresh Sound New Talent featuring saxophonist Mark Turner, further illuminates his tightly knit band. Turner's ubiquitous voice (constant session work, and a member of the critically acclaimed collaborative group Fly), has been an integral part of Ploug's ...