Jazz Articles

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Lee Konitz / Martial Solal: Star Eyes

by Matthew Miller
July 11, 2009

Lee Konitz and Martial Solal were in the 15th year of their recorded relationship in the fall of 1983 and their easy rapport is evident within the first notes of “Just Friends," the breezy opener of Star Eyes. After a cursory harmonic introduction by Konitz, Solal enters with a characteristically buoyant counterpoint that sends the altoist to the height of his register. The liberties the duo take with the familiar standard sound every bit as fresh today as they must ...

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Nathan Eklund: Trip to the Casbah

by David Adler
July 11, 2009

Trumpeter Nathan Eklund's first two CDs as a leader, The View from Afar and The Crooked Line, both featured pianist Joe Elefante as the harmonic anchor. Eklund's newest, Trip to the Casbah, finds guitarist John Hart playing that role, giving the music a bit more of an economical, riff-oriented flavor. The all-original program also includes Donny McCaslin on tenor, Bill Moring on bass and Tim Horner on drums, powerhouses all. The front and inside cover art shows Eklund with flugelhorn ...

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Tito Puente: The Complete 78's Volumes 1 - 3, Dance Mania, Jazz & Live at the 1977 Monterey Jazz Festival

by Russ Musto
July 11, 2009

Tito Puente The Complete 78's Volumes 1--3 Fania 2009 Tito Puente Dancemania: Legacy Edition 2-CD Set RCA-Legacy 2009 Tito Puente Jazz Fania2009 Tito Puente Live At The 1977 Monterey Jazz Festival Monterey Jazz Festival2009 No musician was more responsible in ...

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Chip White: More Dedications (Vol. II)

by George Kanzler
July 11, 2009

A versatile drummer busy on the Chip White has published a book of his poems about jazz musicians, I'm Just the Drummer in the Band. Each is a concise, rhymed bio-celebration of the jazz musician, a poetic jazz encyclopedia entry if you will, often incorporating album titles and/or prominent stylistic characteristics of the musician. More Dedications is his second album to use some of them as launching points for compositions dedicated to their subjects. One of the ...

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The Neil Young Archives Vol. 1 (1963-1972)

by Doug Collette
July 11, 2009

Neil Young's Archives project has been subject to so many delays, and rumors arising out of those delays, that its eventual release—as a 10-disc box set as well as in other formats—is almost an anticlimax. The project is, however, the work of a master singer, guitarist and songwriter who has studiously refused to look back or repeat himself during the course of his recording career. So let's instead say its eventual release is a delayed, or perhaps prolonged climax.

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TD Canada Trust Toronto Jazz Festival 2009

by Alain Londes
July 10, 2009

TD Canada Trust Toronto International Jazz Festival Toronto, Ontario, Canada June 26-July 5, 2009

The TD Canada Trust Toronto Jazz Festival enjoyed its 23rd edition this year with a structure similar to that of recent years. The Mainstage concerts in front of City Hall were a nightly focal point as well as key locations such as the Grandmasters series at the Four Seasons Center for the Performing Arts for Sonny Rollins and the Gary Burton ...

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Joe Morris / Petr Cancura / Luther Gray: Wildlife

by Troy Collins
July 10, 2009

Widely revered in avant-garde music circles for his innovative approach to the electric guitar, Joe Morris' decision to take up the contrabass in 2002 was initially met with apprehension from certain corners of the new music community. Fears that the singular guitarist might disavow his primary axe have been dispelled, replaced by a burgeoning parallel discography charting Morris' remarkable growth as a bassist.

Wildlife is the most recent document of Morris' increasingly impressive bass prowess and his first ...

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Resonance Big Band / Sammy Nestico-SWR Big Band / Buselli-Wallarab Jazz Orchestra / Alf Clausen Jazz Orchestra

by Jack Bowers
July 10, 2009

Resonance Big Band Plays Tribute to Oscar Peterson Resonance Records 2009

First things first: there will never be another Oscar Peterson. Period. Even so, there are others who come remarkably close to retracing his legendary footsteps. Fellow Canadian Oliver Jones is one, Romanian-born Marian Petrescu another. It is the virtually unknown thirty-something Petrescu who undertakes the awesome task of sitting in for OP on the Resonance Big Band's CD, Plays Tribute to ...

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Bill Anschell / Brent Jensen: We Couldn't Agree More

by C. Michael Bailey
July 10, 2009

By definition, the classical or jazz duo is the most intimate performance format. Intimacy requires two parties sharing with a base empathy. An example is Eddie Daniels and Roger Kellaway's A Duet of One (2008, IPO), where the two principles shared a great love for the mainstream and its sensitive presentation.

Enter west coasters, pianist Bill Anschell and soprano saxophonist Brent Jensen, with We Couldn't Agree More. This instrument combination instantly recalls the Steve Lacy and Mal Waldron recordings of ...

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Vision Festival 2009: Day 2

by John Sharpe
July 10, 2009

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

All-Star Collective / Bill Cole's Untempered Ensemble / Sun Ra Arkestra14th Annual Vision Festival Abrons Arts Center New York, New York June 10, 2009

Chapter Index All-Star Collective Bill Cole's Untempered Ensemble Sun Ra Arkestra

Continuing a tradition by which the Vision Festival celebrates the lifetime's achievement of one of the ...