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Felipe Salles: Tiyo's Songs Of Life
by Jack Bowers
Talk about remarkable origins; the music on Tiyo's Songs of Life, performed by tenor saxophonist Felipe Salles' quartet, was written by Tiyo Attallah Salah-El while he was serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole in a Pennsylvania prison. In spite of his circumstances, Salah-El never lost his love for life, an upbeat frame of mind that is ever-present in these nine sparkling originals. While imprisoned, he earned bachelor's and master's degrees and founded the Coalition for the Abolition ...
read moreFelipe Salles, Zaccao Curtis, Avery Sharpe, Jonathan Butler: Tiyo's Songs Of Life
by Dan McClenaghan
Embarking on an errant path in his youth led saxophonist Tiyo Attallah Salah-El to life in prison, without the possibility of parole. That is about as grim as it gets, but Salah-El, rather than giving in to defeat, turned himself into a behind-the-bars composer, author and activist. He passed in 2018, but his music came to the attention of saxophonist Felipe Sallas via prison abolitionist Lois Ahrens, who had befriended the imprisoned saxophonist Salaah-El, and even provided him with fifty ...
read moreMcCoy Tyner / Freddie Hubbard Quartet: Live At Fabrik
by Chris May
Warning! Highly Flammable Material! This superb album, recorded in Hamburg in 1986 and never previously released, ought to come with a caution, so incendiary is it. Strictly speaking, Live At Fabrik presents pianist McCoy Tyner's trio with bassist Avery Sharpe and drummer Louis Hayes and guest artist Freddie Hubbard on trumpet and flugelhorn. In actuality, Hubbard's power-packed presence transforms the unit into a co-led quartet, as the cover art acknowledges. The 2 x CD album is, in ...
read moreAvery Sharpe: 400: An African American Musical Portrait
by Angelo Leonardi
Sono passati quattrocento anni dal primo agosto 1619, quando una nave olandese sbarcò una ventina di africani nell'insediamento inglese di Jamestown in Virginia. Erano stati sottratti a un bastimento spagnolo diretto in America latina ma visto che erano stati battezzati--e il codice inglese proibiva di ridurre in schiavitù dei cristiani--lavorarono come servitori a debito. Una sorta di escamotage che fu spazzato via presto, diventando ufficiale schiavismo con la conquista della colonia inglese da parte degli Stati Uniti. Il ...
read moreAvery Sharpe: 400: An African American Musical Portrait
by Troy Dostert
In 1619 the White Lion, a British privateer which had just successfully raided a Spanish slave ship, arrived in the Jamestown colony with its contraband cargo of twenty-some African slaves. Thus began the tumultuous legacy of the African American experience in North America—a four-hundred-year saga that bassist Avery Sharpe traces skilfully and poignantly on 400: An African American Musical Portrait. Sharpe has never been reluctant to acknowledge the forces that have shaped him musically and culturally. His Legends ...
read moreAvery Sharpe: Running Man
by Bruce Lindsay
Avery Sharpe has an extensive history as a bandleader, a composer and a first-call bassist with musicians such as Yusef Lateef, and Pat Metheny. He was also McCoy Tyner's bassist for almost 20 years. No surprise, then, that Running Man is a rhythmically strong album of straight-ahead jazz tunes. The bassist's compositions move from funky, upbeat, tunes to gently lyrical ballads. Craig Handy's saxophone playing is key to the changing moods. “Running Man," dedicated to athlete Jesse ...
read moreAvery Sharpe Trio: Live
by Dan Bilawsky
Creating an intriguing program and a well-balanced live set is an art form in and of itself. This becomes all the more challenging when dealing with small group formats, such as duo or trio settings. Bassist Avery Sharpe--best known for his work with McCoy Tyner in the '80s and '90s--proves to have exceptional skills in this department, in addition to his more obvious abilities as a supremely talented bassist and composer. This seven song program--recorded live at the Fraser Performance ...
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