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Tadd Dameron: Fontainebleau & Magic Touch Revisited
by Maurizio Zerbo
Le linee guida di Fontainebleau e Magic Touch, i due capolavori di Tadd Dameron qui riuniti in un solo CD, furono teorizzate dal pianista di Cleveland sulle pagine della rivista Record Changer, in cui descrisse come la sua adesione all'estetica del bebop fosse mediata dalla classica scrittura swing. Le forme multitematiche ABA e i trasporti di chorus di “The Scene Is Clean," nonché i quattro movimenti di “Fontainebleau" che non contengono una sola nota improvvisata, forniscono prove tangibili ...
Continue ReadingDizzy, Eri Yamamoto, Cecil Payne
by David Brown
This week, we'll check in with some late '60s, early '70s Dizzy Gillespie, then a set of new quartet and solo works from pianist Eri Yamamoto. Two new works from Blue Note records follow with an archival release pairing McCoy Tyner and Joe Henderson live at Slugs Saloon 1966 followed new music by the all-star collective Out of/Info. A survey of piano styles follows with Earl Hines, Fred Hersch and Dorothy Donegan. Next, we celebrate the birthday of baritone saxophonist ...
Continue ReadingTadd Dameron: Fontainebleau & Magic Touch Revisited
by Chris May
There is much that is tragic about Tadd Dameron's story. The composer, arranger and pianist fell prey to the heroin epidemic that gripped New York's jazz world in the 1940s and 1950s. He did jail time for his addiction in 1959-60. He died at the woefully young age of 48 years in 1965. But there is nothing tragic about Dameron's legacy as a composer-arranger, the field in which he made his most important contribution to jazz. His work was unfailingly ...
Continue ReadingMiles Davis: Miles Davis With Tadd Dameron Revisited
by Chris May
1949 was a year of massive change for Miles Davis, and not in a good way. It began, in January, with him fronting the first of the recording sessions, made with a nonet, that became generically known as The Birth Of The Cool and which, if he had achieved nothing else of note, would have secured him a lasting place in jazz history. It ended with him strung out on heroin, a habit that reversed his ascent and which took ...
Continue ReadingCecil Payne: Chic Boom, Live At The Jazz Showcase
by David A. Orthmann
Although he'll always be known as the first baritone saxophonist to adapt the notoriously obdurate instrument to the complexities of bebop, some of Cecil Payne's finest music has been made during the most recent decade of his distinguished, 50-plus year career. Inspired by tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander and drummer Joe Farnsworth, two talented young players in the straight-ahead tradition, Payne came out of a premature retirement in the early 90s. Since then he has recorded six discs as a leader, ...
Continue ReadingCecil Payne: Chic Boom
by Derek Taylor
Active during the birth of be-bop Cecil Payne has been making memorable music for over sixty years. His warmly expressive baritone sound is a regular fixture in Chicago clubs like the Jazz Showcase, the venue where this affable string of dates for Delmark was taped. Payne's reservoir for Delmark is now four records deep and the label continues to champion his still largely formidable talents.
The solid cast of colleagues he enlists for the engagement similarly celebrates his reputation. Often ...
Continue ReadingCecil Payne: Payne's Window
by Derek Taylor
Cecil Payne turns seventy-seven this month. Most people who are lucky enough to reach such an advanced age have long since retired from their craft. Payne has chosen a different path and judging from the sturdy work on this disc he isn't showing many signs of slowing down in his twilight years. After over a half century in the jazz trenches he's still delivering his signature brand of versatility and style to his instrument. And as on his earlier Delmark ...
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