Jazz Articles about James Spaulding

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David Murray: Hope Scope

by Fran Kursztejn
November 2, 2025

There should be no doubt of David Murray's position. Since the death of Eddie Harris, he is the finest tenor saxophonist in jazz, arguably one of the most prolific bandleaders in the modern age. He stands among a rare few reedmen working to redefine the sonic quality of their instrument. Looking back at any of Murray's work, he is defined by a highly ambitious, omnitraditional palette and a blaring emotionalism that brings his searing intellect right home. He is a ...

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Alan Shorter: Mephistopholes to Orgasm Revisited

by Stefano Merighi
June 20, 2025

In questo CD dedicato ad Alan Shorter (tromba, flicorno, composizione) si ripropongono le sedute integrali di Orgasm (1968), precedute però da “Mephistopheles," di tre anni precedente, che figurava nella scaletta di The All Seeing Eye, del più celebre fratello Wayne. È un pezzo di una cupezza angosciante, sostenuto da un pedale ritmico minaccioso, dalle cui spire fioriscono severi interventi dei fiati e delle percussioni. Con i due fratelli Shorter, suonano James Spaulding (alto), Freddie Hubbard (tromba), Grachan Moncur III (trombone), ...

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Alan Shorter: Mephistopholes To Orgasm Revisited

by Chris May
January 22, 2024

It is often said of a musician, be they alive or no longer with us, that they deserve to be better known. This is emphatically true of the wayward trumpeter and composer Alan Shorter, who was overshadowed during his lifetime by his brother, Wayne Shorter, and who continues to be passed over today in 2024. Some responsibility for his obscurity lies with Alan Shorter himself. Known as Doc Strange to his teenage schoolmates in Newark, New Jersey, ...

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Hank Mobley: The Complete Hank Mobley Blue Note Sessions 1963-70

by C. Andrew Hovan
March 8, 2020

The music world has changed considerably since Michael Cuscuna and Charlie Lourie founded their boutique reissue label Mosaic Records back in 1983. From its inception, vinyl was still the preferred format, shortly to be overtaken by the popularity of the compact disc. At the cusp of vinyl's recent resurgence, Mosaic briefly got back into that format only to find themselves on the brink of closing up shop. Fortunately, the powers that be have forged on and recent CD boxed sets ...

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James Spaulding: An Emotion Of Notes

by Maxwell Chandler
February 4, 2008

James Spaulding's pedigree is an impressive one. He has been called upon to add his touch on both alto saxophone and flute for countless classic 1960s Blue Note albums. Now, as a leader and owner of the Speetones label he continues to add to his rich legacy.AAJ contributor Maxwell Chandler spoke with Spaulding about his long and distinguished career, his work on some of the classic Blue Note releases of the 1960s, playing with Max Roach, Sun Ra ...

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James Spauding: The Spoiler & The Right Touch

by Francis Lo Kee
August 5, 2007

Stanley Turrentine The Spoiler Blue Note-RVG 2007 Duke Pearson The Right Touch Blue Note-RVG 2007

Alto saxophonist and flutist James Spaulding has been an important contributor to modern jazz for decades. Both Duke Pearson's The Right Touch (1967) and Stanley Turrentine's The Spoiler (1966) are arranged by composer/pianist Pearson who calls ...

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James Spaulding: Round To It!

by Brandt Reiter
August 23, 2005

High quality hard bop from one of the pillars of the music.

Master alto saxophonist and flutist James Spaulding has been an A-list sideman since the late fifties, when he worked frequently with Sun Ra. During the sixties he could be found on countless Blue Note recordings, lending invaluable support to such legendary artists as Wayne Shorter, Bobby Hutcherson, and Freddie Hubbard. (The Joe Chambers ballad “Mirrors," from Hubbard's 1964 release Breaking Point, in which Spaulding's delicate flute inseparably twines ...