Jazz Articles

like 295

Matt Newton: PUSH

by Jerry D'Souza
July 10, 2009

Toronto, Canada-based pianist Matt Newton comes up with a convincing performance on his debut, PUSH. Born in Ottawa, Newton started on classical music before he moved to jazz. After his education, he began playing gigs at clubs and at the jazz festivals in Toronto and in Ottawa, appearing as a sideman on two CDs. With that under his belt, Newton decided to get his own CD in the works.

Newton's music reflects his sense for melody and his ...

like 406

Donald Malloy: Spirituality

by C. Michael Bailey
July 10, 2009

Jazz's most searing spiritual statement is not John Coltrane's A Love Supreme (1964, Impulse!); it was his recording, “Alabama," released a year earlier on Live at Birdland (1963, Impulse!). Written in the wake of the Ku Klux Klan's bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham on September 15, 1963, “Alabama" was an improvisation on rage, sorrow, and loss in the cotton-humid climes of the pre-Civil Rights Act Deep South.

Nina Simone addressed the church bombing with much different ...

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George Cartwright: Send Help

by Glenn Astarita
July 10, 2009

Saxophonist George Cartwright's prominence in the development of New York City's downtown scene, and lengthy affiliation with the cutting-edge progressive, jazz-rock unit Curlew, spawn an imprint of musical authenticity. Cartwright surges forward with this 2008, quartet-based effort recorded at The Cedar Cultural Center and The Walker Art Center's festival in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where the Mississippi-born artist takes up residence these days.

Raw, wild and often captivating, the quartet also injects a prominent fun-factor into the program. At times, ...

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Toshiko Akiyoshi-Lew Tabackin Big Band: Mosaic Select

by Ken Dryden
July 10, 2009

Pianist Toshiko Akiyoshi overcame numerous challenges during her long career, immigrating to a new country, establishing herself as both a top bandleader and composer/arranger, in addition to the difficulties of maintaining a large jazz ensemble. Her husband, tenor saxophonist and flutist Lew Tabackin, was a star soloist in her big band and he helped her recruit top musicians when she formed the band in 1973. Akiyoshi recorded numerous albums until disbanding the group in 2003, though many of these excellent ...

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Eyran Katsenelenbogen: 88 Fingers

by Terrell Kent Holmes
July 10, 2009

With the release of 88 Fingers, add the name Eyran Katsenelenbogen to the expanding roster of exciting pianists on the scene today. Katsenelenbogen draws from jazz, classical and the Great American Songbook for tunes that allow him to show off his amazing sound and bold-faced technique. Throughout 88 Fingers, Katsenelenbogen plays with confidence and deep emotion. He is also a bit of a trickster, as he shows on the mischievous dance of “Lover," with its eyeblink homages ...

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Khan Jamal: Cool

by Francis Lo Kee
July 10, 2009

Always interesting and quite different from one to the next, vibraphonist Khan Jamal's recordings have charted a unique course through the world of improvisational music, from trio recordings with bass and drums or guitar and drums to sessions with great horn players (eg. Grachan Moncur III, Byard Lancaster, Charles Tyler, et. al.) to the somewhat psychedelic (1972's Drum Dance To The Motherland). Cool, self-released minimally by Jamal in 2002, is no exception. Originally recorded in 1989, the ...

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The Music Instinct: Science and Song

by AAJ Staff
July 9, 2009

Elena Gillespie reports on Daniel Levitin's PBS film The Music Instinct: Science And Song and explores new directions in music cognition theory.

Long ago when I was caring for a woman dying of Alzheimer's, she gifted me with a beautiful rendition of a classical piece of music on her piano. I remember that moment clearly; mostly bedridden, she had wandered downstairs in her nightgown, drawn to the magnificent baby grand piano in her library. Ghost-like, very beautiful with ...

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Matt Renzi: Lunch Special

by Blaine Fallis
July 9, 2009

Lunch Special should win a marketing award for having the freshest CD design concept, although the actual photo of linguine with oysters used as the CD imprint may not be as fresh as the music itself. At least the designer was nice enough to reveal a relatively clean plate inside the tray card once the CD is removed. However, a long and winding piece of linguine is not a bad way to describe a typical sax line from Matt Renzi, ...

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Trio 3 + Geri Allen: At This Time

by Chris May
July 9, 2009

The publicity surrounding the release of At This Time is making much of the addition of a pianist to Trio 3's saxophone, bass and drums line-up. Arguably, however, the inclusion of a keyboard, played by Geri Allen, isn't the album's most significant feature. True, during the course of the group's 23-year history, most of its work has been piano-less. But its unofficial curtain-raiser, Synthesis (Leo, 1986), made under bassist Reggie Workman's name, featured pianist Marilyn Crispell alongside the trio of ...

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Another Palace, Another King: John Mayall in Cologne

by Phillip Woolever
July 9, 2009

John Mayall Die Kantine Koln, GermanyMay 12, 2009 Sometimes a mix of the old and the new is a formula yielding timelessness. The latest soulful and rollicking incarnation of John Mayall and his blues-based sidekicks, assembled just a few months back, reportedly assures a new album due out this fall. If this current lineup--Rocky Athas (guitar), Greg Rzab (bass), Jay Davenport (drums), and Tom Canning (keyboard)--manages to capture even half the energy and ...