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Jazz Articles about Dave Burrell
Dave Burrell / Sam Woodyard: The Lost Session, Paris 1979
by Mark Corroto
Listeners would be hard-pressed to name another artist besides Dave Burrell who commands such mastery across jazz's entire timeline, from its ragtime origins to its most adventurous avant-garde territories. The pianist, born in 1940, brings equal authenticity to Jelly Roll Morton's classic compositions and completely free improvisation. His discography spans the works of Thelonious Monk, Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington, while his versatility extends across calypso, reggae, stride piano, blues, bebop and opera. Burrell made his mark in ...
Continue ReadingMarion Brown: Three For Shepp To Gesprachsfetzen Revisited
by Alberto Bazzurro
Tre brani di Marion Brown e altrettanti di Archie Shepp compongono il primo dei due album riuniti, come sempre meritoriamente, in questo CD, provenendo da quello che rappresenta il debutto dell'altosassofonista georgiano su Impulse!, inciso il 1° dicembre 1966 (dopo un paio di ESP e un Fontana) e pubblicato l'anno seguente. La stessa Impulse!, come già aveva fatto con lo stesso Shepp riferendolo a Coltrane per Four for Trane, ricicla per l'occasione la stessa formula riferendo Brown al collega di ...
Continue ReadingArchie Shepp: The Way Ahead, Kwanza, The Magic of Ju-ju Revisited
by Stefano Merighi
In questa compilation dedicata ad un periodo importante di Archie Shepp, si dovrebbe iniziare l'ascolto dalla fine. Infatti, i quasi venti minuti di “The Magic of Ju-Ju," posti in chiusura del CD, sono dell'aprile 1967; il resto del repertorio è invece stato inciso nel biennio successivo. Pur non riuscendo a comprendere il criterio con cui si assemblano questi cataloghi sonori, è indubbiamente utile comparare alcuni lavori vicini eppure assai differenti di un autore come Shepp, all'epoca sugli scudi ...
Continue ReadingMarion Brown: Three For Shepp To Gesprachsfetzen Revisited
by Mark Corroto
It's not too late to catch up with alto saxophonist and composer Marion Brown. Thanks to this excellent reissue and remaster series, you can hear the innovative recordings from this master musician. This release follows his 1965/66 discs Capricorn Moon To Juba Lee Revisited (ezz-thetics, 2019) and 1966/67 discs Why Not? Porto Novo! Revisited (ezz-thetics, 2020). Chris May's excellent liner notes posit an answer to Brown's relative obscurity. He essentially lays the blame on marketing. Record labels and ...
Continue ReadingMarion Brown: Three For Shepp To Gesprachsfetzen Revisited
by Chris May
"It is often those we hear the least that we should listen to the most." So wrote the Guadeloupean pianist Jonathan Jurion on the release of his album Le Temps Fou: The Music Of Marion Brown (Komos, 2019). Just why Marion Brown has become such a rarely acknowledged figure is unclear. He possessed all the qualifications needed to go large plus a few extras for good measure. He was a good-looking man. He dressed well (telling Dave ...
Continue ReadingClifford Thornton: Ketchaoua Revisited + Arthur Jones Trio: Scorpio
by Alberto Bazzurro
Clifford Thornton è una di quelle figure rimaste fin troppo fra le pieghe della mitologia (sia detto ovviamente senza alcun intento ironico) free, e più ancora il pressoché sconosciuto altosassofonista Arthur Jones, l'uno nato a Philadelphia nel 1936 e scomparso nel 1989, l'altro nato a Cleveland nel 1940 e morto nel 1998. Questa preziosa ristampa, che allinea i dischi d'esordio in proprio di entrambi, editi a suo tempo dalla leggendaria Byg Actuel, l'uno, Ketchaoua, nel 1969, l'altro, Scorpio, due anni ...
Continue ReadingDave Burrell: Harlem Rhapsody
by Mark Corroto
It would be an error to characterize pianist Dave Burrell as a witness to history. Avant-garde jazz history that is. The octogenarian was heard in the 1960s groups of Marion Brown, Pharoah Sanders, Noah Howard, Archie Shepp, Sonny Sharrock, Sunny Murray, and Grachan Moncur III, while also exchanging ideas in New York with Albert Ayler, Sam Rivers, and Tony Williams. Burrell is not just a witness; he is the embodiment of jazz history. In the 1990s, together with David Murray, ...
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