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Delfeayo Marsalis Uptown Jazz Orchestra: Crescent City Jewels
by Jack Bowers
Among the four musically talented Marsalis brothers from New Orleans, Delfeayo is the one who plays trombone. He is also the one who leads the impressive Uptown Jazz Orchestra in Crescent City Jewels, an affable salute to his beloved home town. The playlist spans the gamut from blues to ballads, breezy bon bons to flat-out burners, and the UJO is brightly polished and at ease in every mood and at any tempo. The New Orleans vibe is ...
Continue ReadingBranford Marsalis & Joey Calderazzo: Face on the Barroom Floor
by Scott Lichtman
On “Face on the Barroom Floor," the duo of Branford Marsalis and Joey Calderazzo pay tribute to Wayne Shorter by distilling one of Shorter's most beautiful pieces into its essentials. The sentiment might be interpreted as “a lovelorn individual drinks himself into forgetfulness. We hope for a happier future for him." Marsalis and Calderazzo take the original arrangement, performed by Weather Report, and leave only the piano and soprano saxophone, playing them plaintively with sparse block chords and a honking ...
Continue ReadingDelfeayo Marsalis: Crescent City Jewels
by Pierre Giroux
Delfeayo Marsalis' release Crescent City Jewels is a vibrant tribute to the resilience and spirit of New Orleans, expertly captured by his Uptown Jazz Orchestra. The album reads like a journal from Marsalis, full of musical moments that celebrate life's joys. Featuring an array of veteran musicians and rising stars from the Crescent City, it is a high-energy collection that showcases the vitality of big-band jazz with an infectious New Orleans flavour. The session's blend of jazz standards, original compositions ...
Continue ReadingTilles Jazz Festival 2024
by Dan Bilawsky
Tilles Center, nestled within Long Island University's Post campus in Brookville, New York, has long been committed to promoting, supporting and programming jazz. But this well-regarded venue took things to an entirely different level with its inaugural jazz festival on July 20, 2024. Working in collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center, Tilles put together an event to remember, hosting more than 70 musicians spread out across four stages. Long Island University students offered sounds of welcome as ...
Continue ReadingBook of Queens
by Doug Collette
Released in 2023 with next to no fanfare, the very gestation of the Eric Krasno/Stanton Moore Project's first effort carries a cachet all its own. Recorded at Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock, New York, and mixed by Jim Scott (Tedeschi Trucks Band, Wilco), Book of Queens is tribute to women in music wherein the nine covers offer homage to the work of musical cons such as Nina Simone, Peggy Lee, and Aretha Franklin as well as contemporary figures of note ...
Continue ReadingJazz for Hollywood: Branford Marsalis and Laura Karpman
by Ludovico Granvassu
This time we are focusing on jazz-infused soundtracks that received Academy Awards nominations for Best Original Score in a Feature Film, because jazz does a great job a propelling a movie story forward. Kudos to Laura Karpman, the composer of the soundtrack for American Fiction and Branford Marsalis for the soundtrack of Rustin, two scores that have a life of their own even without the images they were was meant to accompany.Happy listening!Playlist Ben Allison “Mondo ...
Continue ReadingA Celebration of Excellence and Musical Diversity at Day one at the 2023 Newport Jazz Festival
by Dave Kaufman
Day 1 | Day 2 | Part 3The Newport Jazz Festival is one of the planet's most fabled and celebrated jazz festivals and it has been towards the top of my bucket list for a very long time. I have attended jazz festivals for almost 40 years since my youth and finally made it to Newport on its 68th anniversary. It was magnificent--a peak lifetime musical experience. Over the festival's three-day span, I was an ecstatic whirlwind, photographing ...
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