Jazz Articles
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Honoring Eddie Henderson
by Steven Roby
When a jazz musician rolls into Denver for a performance, it's not often that a documentary film and immersive art exhibition await them. But jazz-great Eddie Henderson is no ordinary musician, nor has he led an ordinary life. A few hours before Henderson played a two-show set at Denver's premier jazz venue, Dazzle, an exhibit called Time and Spaces: The Life of Eddie Henderson opened to the public at the CU Denver Experience Gallery in the Denver Performing ...
Continue ReadingBetty Bryant: Lotta Livin'
by Jack Bowers
First, double-check to make sure there aren't any misprints. No, it's an honest-to-goodness fact that Betty Bryant--who sings, plays piano, wrote four of the nine numbers and arranged half a dozen on her fourteenth album--really was almost ninety-four years old when Lotta Livin' was recorded in 2023. Bryant's rough and edgy voice is remarkably strong and steady, while her piano playing simply defies any generational labels. As a vocalist, no note seems out of her reach, and ...
Continue ReadingNew Music From Ches Smith, Eva Novoa, Arve Henriksen & Harmen Fraanj, And More
by Bob Osborne
On this show we feature new music from Ches Smith, Eva Novoa, Arve Henriksen & Harmen Fraanj, Matthieu Bordenave, Adam Schroeder & Mark Masters, Ewart Asplund Ricks Trio , Christoph Gallio Day & Taxi, Recabarren Menares Vazquez, Ken Vandermark's Edition Redux, Drazek Fuscaldo Drake Aoki Jones & Abrams, and a recording from the 1960s from Michael Garrick.Playlist Show Intro 00:00 Ches Smith “Sweatered Webs (Hey Mom)" from Laugh Ash (Pyroclastic) 01:00 Eva Novoa “Rocket Man" from Novoa / ...
Continue ReadingMr. Roboto, Meet Mr. Mahavishnu
by Patrick Burnette
This episode's title is a wee bit misleading. The boys don't meet Mr. Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, of course) but rather Matt Phillips, long-time listener to the podcast who just happened to write a very good book on the famous fusion guitarist called John McLaughlin: From Miles and Mahavishnu to The 4th Dimension. The book covers the whole of McLaughlin's recorded career--not just his best known years with the Mahavishnu Orchestra--and our conversation is also wide-ranging. And, no, Mike hasn't turned ...
Continue ReadingBob James: Jazz Hands
by Dan McClenaghan
Let us groove into a H.G. Wells mode and ride a time machine back to 1979 and revisit One On One (Tappan Zee), pianist Bob James' collaboration with guitarist Earl Klugh. The disc won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance. It was a polished production, full of catchy rhythms and bright, memorable melodies--music that was as widely engaging as it could be. Now turn that time machine's dial to fast forward and revisit 1990's Grand Piano Canyon (Warner ...
Continue ReadingEmmet Cohen Trio At Gates Concert Hall
by Steven Roby
Emmet Cohen Trio June Swaner Gates Concert Hall Denver, CO February 3, 2024 Neither snow nor rain nor gloom of night will keep Emmet Cohen fans from coming out to see him and his trio perform in concert. That was the case last Saturday night at the Newman Center for the Performing Arts. Bundled up to brave the impact of a recent snowstorm, concertgoers showed up well before the doors opened. Swaddled ...
Continue ReadingRuth Goller: Below My Skin
by Chris May
Since the mid noughties, Italian-born, British-based bassist Ruth Goller has been one of the backline-going-on-frontline heroes of British jazz, starting with her work with Acoustic Ladyland and Melt Yourself Down and continuing through an honour roll of convention-defying bands. “Below My Skin," on which Goller is joined by drummer Tom Skinner (Sons Of Kemet, The Smile), is taken from Goller's resolutely uncategorisable album Skyllumina (International Anthem), due in March 2024. Its 10 tracks feature Goller in dialogue with nine different ...
Continue ReadingJoel Dorn's Nine Lives: Label M and Live at the Left Bank
by C. Michael Bailey
This article was first published at All About Jazz on March 6, 2001. It wasn't but a few years ago that veteran record producer Joel Dorn and a business partner founded 32 Records, a label devoted to re-releasing the old Muse and Landmark catalogs and releasing previously unheard live recordings by major jazz artists. Previous to that, Dorn had been the founder of Night records and a producer and A&R guy for Nesuhi Ertegun's Atlantic Records. He has ...
Continue ReadingArt Pepper: Smack Up
by Richard J Salvucci
There are certain players and recordings that make an indelible first impression. The circumstances usually involve a degree of ignorance: Who is that? What is he (or she) doing? How did this recording escape notice when so many others did not? A very personal reaction to Art Pepper. Urgency. Intensity. Listen to me. Before the name, there was the sound and the piercing tone that can only come out of some dark emotional depth. A listener did not ...
Continue ReadingMatthieu Bordenave: The Blue Land
by Mike Jurkovic
Getting across the great open land beneath big sky country is full of epic moments. The Blue Land, French saxophonist Matthieu Bordenave's second for ECM, is that migrant's diary. As he so skillfully rendered on his 2020 ECM debut La Traversée, Bordenave again enters the studio conjoined with the assertive mood swings of bassist Patrice Moretand the rapidly moving divertimentos of pianist Florian Weber. Only this time he adds to that valorous energy the meatier, Art Blakey-like sentiments ...
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