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Gary Smulyan: Boss Baritones
by David A. Orthmann
The once-popular pairings of such incisive hard-blowing saxophonists as Johnny Griffin with Eddie “Lockjaw" Davis and Gene Ammons with Sonny Stitt constitute some of the inspiration behind the making of Boss Baritones. Incorporating material penned by Griffin, Davis, Illinois Jacquet, Don Byas and J.R. Monterose indicates a healthy respect for giants who may no longer be in vogue. We can dwell on the significance of these ties to the past if we like. However, they have little to do with ...
Continue ReadingDial and DeRosa: Keep Swingin'
by Jack Bowers
Keep Swingin', a splendid new album from pianist Garry Dial and drummer Rich DeRosa, features “the music of Charlie Banacos." Charlie who? you may ask. And the answer is, there are jazz educators, and then there was Charlie Banacos, whose talent and ingenuity in the classroom influenced and inspired countless jazz musicians for more than fifty years. During that time, he designed more than a hundred courses of study and wrote half a dozen books on composition and improvisation.
Continue ReadingJohn Lang: Earotica
by Jack Bowers
There's something special about a nonet: small enough to have its own personality, yet large enough to sound at times akin to a full-size big band. Bassist John Lang leads a first-class nonet on Earotica, his fourth album as leader. Having given Lang's last disc a rather lukewarm appraisal almost two years ago, it is a pleasure to note that his new album is superior in every respect. Gone are the desultory funk and rock beats, replaced ...
Continue ReadingMark Masters: Night Talk: The Alec Wilder Songbook
by Angelo Leonardi
Ringraziando il cielo nascono ancora dischi come questo. Opere che evocano gli anni cinquanta, quando il jazz rifletteva un mondo che guardava al futuro con speranza. Un disco retrò dunque? Solo se lo si guarda superficialmente. L'omaggio di Mark Masters al songbook di Alec Wilder con Gary Smulyan protagonista, non è esercizio stilistico o lavoro di routine ma un percorso fresco e smagliante, caratterizzato dalle dinamiche orchestrazioni di Masters e dai trascinanti interventi del sax baritono. Un'opera i cui i ...
Continue ReadingThe Mark Masters Ensemble: Night Talk: The Alec Wilder Songbook
by Pierre Giroux
Alec Wilder was born in 1907 and died in 1980, and might well have been described as an eccentric renaissance man. He composed opera, musicals, film music, popular songs, and chamber music, along with publishing in 1975 one of the most read books on popular music: American Popular Song: the Great Innovators 1900-1950. The Mark Masters Ensemble is a tight knit and imaginative Octet which can stake their claim on mining the gold contained in Alec Wilder's popular ...
Continue ReadingThe Mark Masters Ensemble: Night Talk: The Alec Wilder Songbook
by Jack Bowers
Night Talk, the eighth album by celebrated arranger Mark Masters' superb West Coast-based ensemble, is subtitled “The Alec Wilder Songbook Featuring Gary Smulyan." Indeed, Smulyan's is an impressive solo voice (but hardly the only one) in an eloquent songbook that appraises eight of Wilder's tasteful compositions, including a pair of his best-known melodies, “Moon and Sand" and “I'll Be Around." As Masters arranged every number for his hand-picked octet, nothing more need be said about that save ...
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