Jazz Articles about Gerald Cannon

About Gerald Cannon

Album Review

Roy Hargrove was a unifying figure in jazz. He could move fluidly between straight-ahead bebop, hard bop, ballads, hip-hop, Afro-Cuban rhythms, and neo-soul without ever seeming to compromise his musical identity. This album, Bern, issued for the first time as a posthumous release, is a spectacular marker of a band playing at the highest level. A good band will always produce acceptable music; a great band will sometimes surpass even itself. One of the deepest pleasures in jazz ...

Album Review

Roy Hargrove: Bern

by Pierre Giroux
April 18, 2026

The appearance of Bern, a previously unreleased recording from May 4, 2000, at the International Jazzfestival in Bern, Switzerland, is the kind of archival find that reminds listeners how electrifying Roy Hargrove could be live. Released by Time Traveler Recordings on LP for Record Store Day, with CD and digital download versions to follow later. This set captures the late trumpeter in a moment of confident maturity, blending respect for tradition with the restless creativity that defined his career.

Album Review

Susanne Alt: Dark Horse

Read "Dark Horse" reviewed by Neil Duggan

by Neil Duggan
January 23, 2026

In 2024, saxophonist Susanne Alt released Royalty For Real (Venus Tunes); the album was a homage to her mentor, the late trumpeter Roy Hargrove. It featured bassist Gerald Cannon and drummer Willie Jones III. Their seven-year collaboration in Hargrove's band brought a tight, intuitive groove to the session, complemented further by keyboardist James Hurt. From that same session comes Dark Horse, which features seven Alt compositions plus a Charlie Parker cover.The album owes its origins to Alt arriving ...

Album Review

La Tanya Hall: If Not Now, When...

Read "If Not Now, When..." reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
January 3, 2026

With If Not Now, When... , La Tanya Hall emerges not just as a vocalist but as a storyteller, deeply connected to the quiet power of a well-chosen song. This is her most personal statement yet, an album crafted with intention rather than for show, where each track earns its place through lyrical depth and emotional impact. Hall avoids the obvious, assembling a selection of lesser-known material that invites the listener inward, asking for attention rather than applause. Supporting this ...

Album Review

Roy Hargrove's Crisol: Grande-Terre

Read "Grande-Terre" reviewed by Chris May

by Chris May
October 21, 2024

Increasingly and with growing momentum, right up until he died at the young age of 55 in 2018, Roy Hargrove was a standard bearer for a new kind of African American jazz. The recipe embraced a variety of styles--jazz, Afro-Cuban music, funk, hip hop and soul--and it influenced a generation of musicians in jazz and beyond. But Hargrove never abandoned jazz, the foundation stone of his style. Instead he regarded other genres as part of a rainbow ...

Album Review

Eddie Henderson: Witness To History

Read "Witness To History" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
February 14, 2024

Make no mistake: it is the hot buttered soul, “Shaft"-like theme of “Scorpio Rising" that first snags one's attention. But once snagged, the old cool sets in and Witness To History, trumpeter Eddie Henderson's self curated soundtrack, unwinds with a wicked fervor. A deep, wicked joy. Henderson--who has pretty much seen it all from the impulsive, jazz rock Realization (Capricorn, 1973) through The Cookers to the still palpable Shuffle and Deal (Smoke Avenue, 2020)--looks back for a PBS ...

Album Review

Gerald Cannon: Live At Dizzy's Club: The Music of Elvin & McCoy

by Pierre Giroux
January 19, 2024

In the heart of the jazz universe, bassist Gerald Cannon pays homage to a couple of legendary figures Elvin Jones and McCoy Tyner with his album Live at Dizzy's Club: The Music of Elvin & McCoy. Not only is the recording an acknowledgement of the many years Cannon spent playing with Elvin and McCoy, but it is also a virtuosic tribute to the drummer and pianist who defined their dynamic interplay as part of the John Coltrane Quartet during the ...