Jazz Articles about George Coleman

About George Coleman

Album Review

There is an old-world saying that some folks are just born with an old soul. Pianist and social media conqueror Emmet Cohen--his pandemic- founded livestream, Live From Emmet's Place, has been viewed by millions across the globe--proves, positively, that the old wisdom still stands and forever will. For within the heart and soul of every jazzman and jazzwoman, the warm essence of the music's ever-painful, resilient, triumphal past resides. A compatriot who does not mind growing up alongside ...

Album Review

Roy Brooks: The Free Slave

Read "The Free Slave" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
March 9, 2026

Esistono molte ragioni per non farsi sfuggire questa splendida riedizione (anche in vinile dal master originale analogico). Primo: Il nome del batterista Roy Brooks resta ingiustamente dimenticato anche se gli unici raffronti possibili--musicalmente parlando--sono con Tony Williams ed Elvin Jones. Affetto da un disturbo bipolare Brooks fu spesso internato in case di cura e in carcere ma fu protagonista per anni nei gruppi di Horace Silver, di Yusef Lateef, Charles Mingus e Max Roach. È deceduto nel 2005 a 67 ...

Album Review

Roy Brooks: The Free Slave

Read "The Free Slave" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
November 5, 2025

Roy Brooks's The Free Slave, newly reissued on Time Traveler Recordings as a 180-gram vinyl LP, stands as a passionate tribute to the drummer's remarkable artistry and his often overlooked role as one of the most rhythmic thinkers of the post-bop period. Recorded live by Muse Records on April 26, 1970, at Baltimore's renowned Left Bank Jazz Society, the session features Brooks leading a stellar quintet that includes trumpeter Woody Shaw, tenor saxophonist George Coleman, pianist Hugh Lawson, and bassist ...

Album Review

George Coleman: With Strings

Read "With Strings" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
September 23, 2025

Sooner or later (usually later), a jazz saxophonist (or other instrumentalist) will entertain a desire to leave his or her normal comfort zone and record an album with “class." In other words, cue the string section and get ready to score some ballads. Tenor virtuoso George Coleman, who likely needs no introduction to even the more casual jazz fan, is the latest to take the With Strings plunge, diving headlong into a number of sumptuous, string-laden arrangements by Bill Dobbins. ...

Radio & Podcasts

George Coleman, Anne Mette Iverson, Sylvie Courvoisier with Wadada Leo Smith, and Keith Jarrett with Gary Peacock and Paul Motian

by Hobart Taylor
September 17, 2025

Regeneration... New and old music featuring George Coleman, a newly released historic Keith Jarrett Trio recording, and astounding new music from Anne Mette Iverson as well as Sylvie Courvoisier with Wadada Leo SmithPlaylist Craig Taborn /Marcus Gilmore/Nels Cline “Queen King" from (Trio of Bloom) (Pyro clastic) 00:00 Anne Mette Iversen “TBQE (To Be Questioned Eventually)" from Marbles (Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records) 8:56 Host Speaks 15:44 Johnathan Blake “Last Breath" from My Life Matters (Blue Note) 17:18 Sylvie Courvoisier ...

Album Review

George Coleman: George Coleman with Strings

Read "George Coleman with Strings" reviewed by Jack Kenny

by Jack Kenny
September 2, 2025

The allure of recording with strings has captivated many jazz icons, from Stan Getz and Dizzy Gillespie to, most famously, Charlie Parker. For some, it is a pursuit of a different kind of respectability, an envying nod to the classical world. For George Coleman, a revered NEA Jazz Master, it was a chance to expand his artistry. As he explained in an interview with Rob Shepherd (2024): “I try not to be close-minded but instead try to expand my interest ...

Album Review

George Coleman: George Coleman with Strings

Read "George Coleman with Strings" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
August 31, 2025

Tenor saxophonist George Coleman decided to leave the orbit of trumpeter Miles Davis in 1964. Or he got an elbow to the ribs and a hip check to leave the quintet, to be replaced by Wayne Shorter in the saxophone slot. Three top-notch live albums came out of the group that featured Coleman: In Europe: Live at the Antibes Jazz Festival (1964); My Funny Valentine: In Concert (1965); and “Four and More:" In Concert (1966), all on Columbia Records. Add ...