Jazz Articles about Doug Beavers

About Doug Beavers

Album Review

This is a Reunion that Chris Parker was lucky to celebrate. In August 2023, eight months after recording his fifth album as leader and while vacationing in his native Oregon, Parker suffered a serious stroke that left him (temporarily) unable to walk or use his left hand when playing the piano. Before that misfortune struck, Parker had re-scored for septet a dozen songs he had been playing for years in various formats, from solo or trio to quartet or quintet. ...

Album Review

Spanish Harlem Orchestra: Swing Forever

Read "Swing Forever" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
July 4, 2025

La prorompente miscela di “salsa dura" con elementi afrocubani e influenze jazz torna in questo nono disco della Spanish Harlem Orchestra, sempre guidata dal suo fondatore Oscar Hernández. Se il precedente album era dedicato alla memoria dei grandi bandleader Manny Oquendo, Barry Rogers, Andy e Jerry Gonzalez stavolta ci si ispira allo swing delle big band, ovviamente sul modello latino. La funzione di questa musica è radicata nel ballo e un giudizio estetico superficiale può giudicarla troppo codificata: il suo ...

Album Review

Joe Syrian: Secret Message

Read "Secret Message" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci

by Richard J Salvucci
April 14, 2025

A title like Secret Message does make a listener wonder what it might be. Is it deeply subversive, like the Zimmerman Telegram, or apocalyptic, like Fatima? Of course, as someone is reputed to have said, 'Sometimes, a cigar is just a smoke.' So it is possible to over-interpret a title, which may, in the final analysis, simply be a title. Joe Syrian is a Detroit-based drummer, a city that can claim Brian Blade, J. C. Heard, ...

Album Review

Joe Syrian Motor City Jazz Octet: Secret Message

Read "Secret Message" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
December 15, 2024

No fuss, no frills here, simply forty-seven or so minutes of generally bright and engaging straight-ahead jazz, stylishly performed by drummer Joe Syrian's admirable Detroit-based octet. This is music the group plays often, blending standards from the Great American Songbook with more recent themes by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, Leon Russell and others. The congenial session opens with a pair of well-traveled standards--"Bye Bye Blackbird," and “Star Eyes"--and closes with two more- -"Night and ...

Album Review

Spanish Harlem Orchestra: Imagenes Latinas

Read "Imagenes Latinas" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
February 2, 2023

L'ottavo album della Spanish Harlem Orchestra celebra il secondo decennio della formazione e colleziona un'altra nomination al Grammy, dopo averne vinti tre. Guidata dal pianista e compositore Oscar Hernández, la big band è una delle voci più acclamate del latin jazz, e si pone sulla scia dei leggendari Manny Oquendo, Barry Rogers, Andy e Jerry Gonzalez alla cui memoria il disco è dedicato. L'impronta stilistica della Spanish Harlem è ovviamente legata alla quarantennale storia musicale del leader, formatosi ...

Radio & Podcasts

Jelly Roll Morton, Bruce Forman & Doug Beavers

by Joe Dimino
August 29, 2021

We begin the 714th Episode of Neon Jazz with veteran jazz artist Doug Beavers. We also present a track from John Coltrane off his LP Crescent that inspired Doug journey into jazz. We also take a listen to a number artists releasing new music in 2021 including Yaala Ballin, Steve Feifke, Jihee Heo and Perry Smith. The final cut on this hour comes from a legend who fueled many careers in the late great Michael Brecker. The theme is new ...

Album Review

Spanish Harlem Orchestra: The Latin Jazz Project

Read "The Latin Jazz Project" reviewed by Mark Sullivan

by Mark Sullivan
July 31, 2020

When last heard from, the salsa powerhouse Spanish Harlem Orchestra was celebrating fifteen years of playing together with Anniversary (ArtistShare, 2018). There have always been elements of Latin jazz in the group's music, and Artistic Director Oscar Hernández is a noted Latin jazz pianist, so it was only a matter of time until they presented a full program of it. In addition to his arrangements, Hernández contributed several compositions, and is a prominent soloist. The band contains some ...