Jazz Articles about Anwar Marshall

About Anwar Marshall

Album Review

Joey DeFrancesco: Live at Keystone Korner

Read "Live at Keystone Korner" reviewed by Andrew Schinder

by Andrew Schinder
October 5, 2026

Joey DeFrancesco is one of the most tragic stories of 21st-century jazz. After the deaths of mid-twentieth-century organ greats Jimmy Smith and Larry Young, the Hammond B-3 became somewhat unfashionable until DeFrancesco's dynamic, virtuosic style helped reignite the jazz community's passion for the instrument. DeFrancesco was prolific and engaging and the perfect ambassador for the organ, until a sudden heart attack tragically cut short his life at age 51, while he was still in the prime of his career. A ...

Album Review

Orrin Evans and the Captain Black Big Band: Walk A Mile In My Shoe

Read "Walk A Mile In My Shoe" reviewed by Steve Plever

by Steve Plever
August 4, 2025

A glance through the track list--with covers of Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye and two swing-era vocal standards--could give you the wrong impression. Yes, this is a very accessible and soulful album, but it is serious and heartfelt jazz, with Orrin Evans' personal stamp making it work. Blues, soul and gospel sounds share the stage here with swing, straight-ahead and avant-garde influences--no surprise given Evans' decade of playing with the Mingus Big Band. Evans' piano sets the tone ...

Album Review

Orrin Evans and the Captain Black Big Band: Walk A Mile In My Shoe

Read "Walk A Mile In My Shoe" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
October 25, 2024

Il nuovo disco di Orrin Evans e della sua Captain Black Big Band ci ricorda l'importanza delle radici per la comunità musicale afroamericana: il gospel, il blues, le big band, i cantanti e strumentisti storici. Una risorsa che è anche identità collettiva e forza culturale. Come ha sempre fatto in passato, il pianista e bandleader di Philadelphia s'ispira alla tradizione per rinnovarla e arricchirla, con passione e freschezza. Stavolta le orchestrazioni sono funzionali alle interpretazioni di quattro prodigiosi ...

Album Review

Chris Oatts: Personalities

Read "Personalities" reviewed by Victor L. Schermer

by Victor L. Schermer
August 15, 2022

Saxophonist Chris Oatts is a graduate of the jazz program at Temple University's Boyer College of Music and Dance and the nephew of revered saxophonist—and faculty member of Temple University—Dick Oatts. This reviewer heard Chris Oatts at Chris' Jazz Café (similarity in the names purely coincidental) in September, 2021, with his quintet featuring one of his teachers and mentors, Terell Stafford, on trumpet. In that set, Oatts stayed within the bebop/hard bop traditions and showed exceptional sophistication, inventiveness, and resilience ...

Album Review

Greg Duncan: Sound Duality

Read "Sound Duality" reviewed by Troy Dostert

by Troy Dostert
July 27, 2022

Trumpeter Greg Duncan moved from Chicago to Philadelphia in 2020, and the change of environment brought about more than an altered geography. It gave Duncan the chance to forge some creative partnerships with two new ensembles, both of which are found on Sound Duality. The first, a conventional quartet, utilizes the talents of pianist Tim Brey, bassist Sam Harris, and drummer Anwar Marshall, while the other is an organ trio, with Marshall maintaining the drum duties alongside Duncan and organist ...

Album Review

Melanie Charles: Y'all Don't (Really) Care About Black Women

Read "Y'all Don't (Really) Care About Black Women" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
November 22, 2021

Questo primo album della cantante Melanie Charles per l'etichetta Verve apre alla cantante di Brooklyn un pubblico più ampio della nicchia dove ha operato finora: quell'universo dove s'incontrano nu—jazz, neo—soul, spiritual jazz e sperimentazioni elettroniche con campionamenti e remixaggi. Attiva da un decennio in quest'area la Charles non è solo una splendida vocalist ma una talentuosa strumentista (flauto, tastiere), arrangiatrice e songwriter. Quest'album è un appassionante tributo alle donne afroamericane attraverso nuove interpretazioni di classici legati a ...

Album Review

Victor Gould: In Our Time

Read "In Our Time" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
September 21, 2021

Over the course of his first endearing works, 2016's stunning, NPR Debut Of The Year Clockwork (New Fresh Sounds), Earthlings (Criss Cross, 2018) and the lush Thoughts Become Things (Criss Cross, 2019), pianist/composer Victor Gould has exhibited a relaxed romanticism, an unerring lilt to his music. A warm empathy that draws you into the joyful, reflective and quiet moments abounding on In Our Time. As the sum and advocate of his influences, young Gould not only has a ...