Home » Jazz Articles » Charles McNeal
Jazz Articles about Charles McNeal
About Charles McNeal
Instrument: Saxophone, alto
Related Articles | Concerts | Albums | Photos | Similar ToTaj Mahal: Savoy
by Steve Yip
Folk/blues practitioner Taj Mahal's Savoy is to be savored. As one of the custodians of the blues, Mahal has long been a legend in his own time. This collection traverses a cultural-musical continuum in an indispensable residency in the annals of Black American music. The namesake of this album--the Savoy on Lenox Avenue in Harlem--was known as The World's Finest Ballroom and Home Of Happy Feet. In the pre-Civil Rights era, the North claimed formal equality, but segregation ...
read moreTaj Mahal: Savoy
by Dave Linn
Savoy, from Taj Mahal, is the latest entrant in the crowded field of pop music artists trying their hand at the fertile songbook of old big-band, swing-era standards. Unlike most, Mahal's roots show he's well suited to the task. He was born in Harlem in 1942. He grew up in a musical family, and his parents were both involved in the arts. His father was a jazz pianist and arranger, working with Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, and Fletcher Henderson among ...
read moreDmitri Matheny: Cascadia
by Jack Bowers
Cascadia encompasses an hour of amiable, even-tempered jazz from trumpeter Dmitri Matheny who, like several of his predecessorsChet Baker, Chuck Mangione, Guido Basso and his mentor, Art Farmer, among themfocuses exclusively on flugelhorn. Matheny uses his gorgeous tone and remarkable lyricism to paint exquisite portraits in sound throughout a program whose ten engaging numbers enfold half a dozen of his original compositions. Matheny shares the front line with saxophonist Charles McNeal whose solos (on soprano or tenor ...
read moreDmitri Matheny: Cascadia
by Dan McClenaghan
Flugelhornist Dmitri Matheny and his quintet play perfectly on Cascadia. There is no surprise therewith a rhythm section of pianist Bill Anschell, bassist Phil Sparks and drummer Mark Ivester backing the front line of Matheny and saxophonist Charles McNeil perfection is the expectation. Matheny grew up in Georgia and Arizona, spent a formative and near-obligatory stint in New York City, and played for a time in the band of pianist Amina Figarovaanother jazz artist who knows something about ...
read moreThe Jazz All Stars: The Jazz All Stars Volume 1
by Jim Worsley
The gigless times of 2020--the year of the Covid-19 pandemic--could have brought musicians and the industry to their collective knees, gasping for air. Instead, it resulted in more new music than ever before. It filled our lungs with fresh air. It filled our hearts and souls, not to mention our ears. New businesses opening, defying the odds and pursuing their dreams, is a relevant factor. Le Coq Records, emerging in 2020, boldly presents an all-star ensemblefeaturing many of ...
read moreClairdee: A Love Letter To Lena
by Nicholas F. Mondello
Revered decades after her passing, Lena Horne has remained an icon in the realms of music, stage & screen, and civil rights activism. With A Love Letter to Lena, San Francisco-based vocalist Clairdee assumes the task of saluting Horne by way of selections from Billy Strayhorn and other great American composers. And the inclusion of narration and quotes from Horne adds a special perspective and further poignancy to this fine musical effort. Old Devil Moon," originally recorded ...
read moreClairdee: A Love Letter To Lena
by Dan Bilawsky
A fixture on the Bay Area jazz scene, Clairdee has established herself as a self-assured singer and an artist who's never content in repeating an idea. Her first three albums move from the studio to the holidays to the stage, demonstrating a high level of comfort in disparate settings and seasons. This fourth projecta tribute to Lena Horne, realized after a decade of thought on the matterwill likely extend that reputation while marking her as a strong conceptualist.
read more