Jazz Articles about Ian Hendrickson-Smith

Adam Shulman Septet: West Meets East

by C. Andrew Hovan
January 15, 2023

Quiet as it's kept, too many of today's finest jazz artists are given short shrift by an industry that seems to value product of a fleeting nature over true craft and a reverence for the jazz legacy. This makes it particularly challenging for a talent like Adam Shulman to break through to a wider audience. A fixture on the Bay Area scene since 2002, the pianist has a knack for accompanying singers such as Paula West and often performs as ...

Michael Leonhart Orchestra: The Normyn Suites

by Angelo Leonardi
March 28, 2022

Gli eclettici sviluppi orchestrali di Michael Leonhart, tra maestosi affreschi evocativi e trascinanti momenti rock e soul, tornano a entusiasmarci con questo magistrale The Normyn Suites, dove la poetica della leggerezza convive con scelte di vivo impatto ritmico e timbrico. Le due forti propensioni musicale dell'autore sono ben bilanciate: quella impressionista (che ha caratterizzato opere ammalianti come Lovers di Nels Cline e il suo The Painted Lady Suite) e quella legata alla popular music, maturata nelle collaborazioni con Steely Dan, ...

Ian Hendrickson-Smith: The Lowdown

by Jack Bowers
December 16, 2020

American alto saxophonist Ian Hendrickson-Smith and Canadian tenor saxophonist Cory Weeds had been gigging together for almost two decades, mostly in Canada, but hadn't preserved any of their encounters on record until Hendrickson-Smith invited his companion to join him for a studio date in November 2019 at the renowned Rudy Van Gelder Studios in Englewood Cliffs, NJ. The album was planned as a tribute to drummer Lawrence Leathers who died in June of that year, age thirty-seven. Leathers' nickname was ...

Ian Hendrickson-Smith: The Lowdown

by Pierre Giroux
November 6, 2020

Those who thought that the re-emergence of vinyl records might be a passing fad as a saleable medium in this era of CDs, streaming and MP3 downloads, are proving to be wrong. The latest sales figures produced by RIAA for the first half of this year show vinyl sales at $232 million compared to CD sales at $130 million. This is the the first time in 34 years that this happened.So with the wind in his sales (sic), ...

Adam Shulman Septet: West Meets East

by Jack Bowers
August 14, 2020

The “west" here is represented by San Francisco-based pianist and group leader Adam Shulman, the “east" by the other half-dozen members of Shulman's impressive septet. Even though the reasons that led to the alliance are ambiguous, what matters is the payoff, and that is more than admirable from any vantage point. As if to mirror the ensemble's six-and-one makeup, Shulman wrote six of the album's seven engaging numbers; the seventh (the rapid-fire “Whose Blues") was composed by ...

"Killer" Ray Appleton: Naptown Legacy

by AAJ Italy Staff
May 14, 2013

Quanti batteristi vorrebbero un'adolescenza come quella di “Killer" Ray Appleton? Nato a Indianapolis nel 1941, ha iniziato a suonare le percussioni a nove anni, formandosi in quella fervida scena musicale accanto a Freddie Hubbard, James Spaulding, Melvin Rhyne, Larry Ridley e altri protagonisti dell'hard-bop anni cinquanta. In quel periodo Indianapolis era uno dei centri propulsivi del jazz moderno: da lì sono venuti Wes e Buddy Montgomery, J.J. Johnson, Slide Hampton, Pookie Johnson e molti altri strumentisti, che hanno contribuito a ...

Ian Hendrickson-Smith: Presenting & Blues in the Basement

by Ivana Ng
July 8, 2007

Night Crawlers Presenting Cellar Live 2007 Ian Hendrickson-Smith Blues in the Basement Cellar Live 2007

With the dog days approaching, Presenting captures the cool, refreshing atmosphere of The Cellar Jazz Club. The Night Crawlers recorded at the Vancouver venue in order to capture the raw feel of a live performance, a ...