Jazz Articles about Dave Nelson

About Dave Nelson

Album Review

Ma Rainey: Mother of the Blues, The Complete Paramount Recordings, 1923-1928

Read "Mother of the Blues, The Complete Paramount Recordings, 1923-1928" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
July 18, 2026

Many music writers and historians consider Gertrude “Ma" Rainey the matriarch of American blues. Beginning her career in the dust of Southern tent shows and minstrel circuits, she became one of the first professional entertainers to bridge the raw, rural folk traditions of the deep south with the theatrical polish of vaudeville. Known for her commanding contralto voice, gold-capped teeth, and openly bisexual lyrics--most famously in “Prove It On Me Blues"--Rainey did not just perform the blues; she codified them ...

Album Review

Magos Herrera: Aire

by Angelo Leonardi
May 30, 2023

Se amate l'universo musicale latino nelle sue varie espressioni--più o meno jazzisticamente orientate--verrete coinvolti profondamente da questo disco intenso e sorprendente. Magos Herrera è una cantante e compositrice messicana poco nota in Italia ma considerata tra le massime vocalist contemporanee. Magos risiede a New York dal 2008 e in due decenni ha pubblicato dischi ricercati, spaziando da contenuti jazzistici (ad es. Distancia con Aaron Goldberg e Lionel Loueke) a personali incursioni nel patrimonio musicale di Centro e Sudamerica ...