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Jazz Articles about Billy Harper

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Album Review

Mark Masters Ensemble: Sam Rivers 100

Read "Sam Rivers 100" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


The Mark Masters Ensemble released Porgy and Bess Redefined! (Capri Records) in 2005. The music was taken from the George Gershwin/DuBose Heyward English-language opera, which was first performed in 1935. Masters' take on the classic was brilliantly expressed by the ensemble, who dug into his adventurous charts with freedom mixed with respect for the familiar and often-covered (most notably by the Miles Davis/Gil Evans teaming) original. It was a breakout effort for Masters. Billy Harper was there on tenor sax, ...

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Album Review

Mark Masters Ensemble: Dance, Eternal Spirits, Dance!

Read "Dance, Eternal Spirits, Dance!" reviewed by Jack Bowers


In 2023-24, the celebrated arranger Mark Masters led his superb southern California-based ensemble into studios to record a pair of tribute albums. The first, Sam Rivers 100, was dedicated to the music of the late saxophonist on the one hundredth anniversary of his birth; the second, Dance, Eternal Spirits, Dance!, to that of another renowned saxophonist, Billy Harper, who is not only very much alive at age eighty-two but serves as guest soloist on both recordings. Unlike ...

37
Album Review

Mark Masters: Sam Rivers 100

Read "Sam Rivers 100" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Sam Rivers 100 is the first of two homages recorded in 2023-24 by arranger Mark Masters and his blue chip southern California-based ensemble. This one pays tribute to the music of the late saxophonist Sam Rivers on the hundredth anniversary of his birth; the second, Dance, Eternal Spirits, Dance! salutes the music of tenor saxophonist Billy Harper who is the ensemble's guest soloist on both albums. Rivers, who died in December 2011, was an early bebopper who ...

10
Radio & Podcasts

Jazz from the Black Saint Label (1975 - 1989)

Read "Jazz from the Black Saint Label (1975 - 1989)" reviewed by Russell Perry


Ironically, the record label that most consistently offered an outlet for the American jazz avant-garde in the 1980s was the Italian Black Saint / Soul Note imprint. On All About Jazz, Jeff Stockton wrote, ..."from 1984 to 1989 Black Saint won the Down Beat critics poll for “Best Label" and “Best Producer" and established itself as the Blue Note of its time, a label whose mark and reputation alone assured the listener that the music would be adventurous, exciting jazz ...

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Interview

Billy Harper: A Life of Persistence and Improvisation

Read "Billy Harper: A Life of Persistence and Improvisation" reviewed by R.J. DeLuke


On stage, Billy Harper puts his lips to the tenor saxophone, stands relatively erect and sings through his horn; a strong, angular, muscular sound. There little physical gesticulation, belying the effort it takes to express feelings and emotions through the instrument. But Harper's creative statements demand attention. Over the last few years, a lot of that energy is expressed on stage with the Cookers, a star-studded septet that has been burning up the scene, gaining fans and critical ...

Album Review

The Cookers: Cast the First Stone

Read "Cast the First Stone" reviewed by AAJ Italy Staff


Quando il trombettista e arrangiatore David Weiss ha deciso di creare un sestetto formato da maestri del jazz anni Settanta si è dovuto confrontare con l'estetica del “Play-Hard-and-Mean-It". E' il manifesto di uno stile legato alla lezione dell'hard bop, ma aperto alle innovazioni modali e all'urgenza espressiva del decennio precedente. In quegli anni il pubblico era attirato più da free e fusion, così nomi dello spessore di Billy Harper, Cecil McBee o George Cables non sono entrati nel parlare quotidiano ...

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Album Review

The Cookers: Cast the First Stone

Read "Cast the First Stone" reviewed by Troy Collins


Cast the First Stone is the sophomore follow-up to Warriors (Jazz Legacy Productions, 2010), the debut recording of the all-star ensemble The Cookers, whose name was inspired by the 1965 Blue Note live album series Night of the Cookers. Lending credence to its namesake, this powerhouse septet swings mightily through a series of post-bop originals and a sole cover, bolstered by the presence of special guest, acclaimed saxophonist Azar Lawrence, whose recent resurgence has found the renowned firebrand in riveting ...


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