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Marc Seales: People & Places
by Edward Blanco
Seattle pianist Marc Seales, an established sideman and retired educator from the University of Washington, maintained a long-time friendship and collaboration with such jazz luminaries as Mark Murphy and guitarist great Larry Coryell, both of whom have since passed, and last, but certainly not least, tenor saxophonist Ernie Watts. Seales reunites with saxman Watts on their latest outing entitled People & Places, a collection of six originals, plus the re-imagined Wayne Shorter classic “Palladium," and “Home Light," a tune composed ...
Continue ReadingDiana Ross & Frank Zappa: Soul Freak Symphony
by Glenn Astarita
When Diana Ross, the glittering soul siren of Motown, and Frank Zappa, the madcap maestro of musical anarchy, unveiled Soul Freak Symphony in March 1985 but was put in limbo due to contractual issues. Hence, it was not just an album--it was a cosmic detonation of sound and sanity. This 12-track hallucination melds Ross's velvety charisma with Zappa's unhinged genius, resulting in a creation so far outside the box it might as well be orbiting Saturn. The opener ...
Continue ReadingSeattle Jazz Fellowship: How One Week Told the Story of a Jazz Nonprofit's First Year
by Paul Rauch
When Seattle-based trumpeter Thomas Marriott announced the founding of a new 501(c)3 nonprofit to support the local jazz scene in his hometown, both the enormity of its possibilities and its challenges merged front and center in the collective mind of the Seattle jazz community. Over the past decade, the city had lost its two main venues that staged jazz featuring musicians from its historically vibrant scene. Both The New Orleans Creole Restaurant in Pioneer Square and Tula's Jazz ...
Continue ReadingFrank Zappa: Waka/Wazoo
by Mario Calvitti
Il programma dela pubblicazione di inediti zappiani in occasione del loro cinquantesimo anniversario, iniziato con il box set The Hot Rats Session e proseguito con i cofanetti dedicati alle Mothers del 1970 e 1971 e alla colonna sonora del film 200 Motels, prosegue ora con quello che probabilmente è il titolo più atteso, da tempo annunciato e ora finalmente disponibile. Il nuovo cofanetto Waka/Wazoo contenente 4 CD di materiale inedito e un Blu-Ray celebra i 50 anni dalla pubblicazione di ...
Continue ReadingAndy Wheelock: View from Here
by Jack Bowers
When high-caliber musicians invest time and effort to produce music they believe in, one is loath to dismiss it as anything less than persuasive. On the other hand, any assessment of Colorado-based drummer Andy Wheelock's album, View from Here, must be tempered by an awareness that this is his special view, and that of his group, and that the overall result may not be embraced with equal fervor by every ear. That is one way of saying ...
Continue ReadingDiane Schuur: Running on Faith
by C. Michael Bailey
Pianist and vocalist Diane “Deedles" Schuur and Wessell “Warmdaddy" Anderson may be the last jazz artists to have musically-anointed monikers, from a genre replete with them (Lester “Prez" Young, Billie “Lady Day" Holiday, Johnny “Rabbit" Hodges, Julian “Cannonball" Adderley and “John Birks “Dizzy" Gillespie). Schuur was named “Deedles" as a child by her mother. The name stuck and proved both inspirational and descriptive for the accomplished singer and pianist, blind from birth, who has performed with the luminaries of jazz. ...
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