Jazz Articles about James Weidman

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Peter Hand: Blue Topaz

by Jack Bowers
February 24, 2024

Peter Hand has a hand in almost everything on Blue Topaz, playing masterful guitar, writing seven of the album's ten engaging numbers and arranging all of them. He also spliced together a pair of blue-chip ensembles for his first small-group recording after three well-received big-band albums, and invited his longtime friend--and legendary tenor saxophonist--Houston Person to sit in on two tracks. Person had also guested on one of the guitarist's big-band recordings, Out of Hand (2014). Hand's ...

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Jay Hoggard: Raise Your Spirit Consciousness

by La-Faithia White
February 12, 2023

American jazz vibraphonist and composer Jay Hoggard is raising the spiritual consciousness with songs such as “Holy Spirit Consciousness," “Peace To You My Children," “Worship God in Spirit" and “Truth and Love" on Raise Your Spirit Consciousness Raise Your Spirit Consciousness has eight original compositions from Hoggard as well as recreations of original classics by Wayne Shorter, Duke Ellington, Stevie Wonder, and Thad Jones. Hoggard has played with Milt Jackson, Lionel Hampton, and Tito Puente, other vibraphonists throughout ...

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James Weidman: Spiritual Impressions

by Jerome Wilson
March 16, 2018

There is a long tradition of using traditional African-American spirituals as a basis for jazz explorations, but that is rarely done in one session with the breadth of approaches James Weidman uses on Spiritual Impressions. From the loping reggae beat on “Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel" to the New Orleans rumba rhythm on “No Hiding Place," he and his excellent band always find a way to bring something new to these old songs. The aforementioned “No Hiding Place" ...

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James Weidman: Three Worlds

by Donald Elfman
November 12, 2009

Three Worlds is the product of a thoughtful musical soul. Pianist James Weidman is well-versed in the traditional and modern jazz vocabulary and has found ways of deftly incorporating what's he's heard into his playing and composing. And here he adds color to his pianistics with melodica and the exotic xaphoon, a single-reed keyless bamboo wind instrument.

He's found a great assemblage of modern players to realize his various musical visions. Particularly and delightfully surprising are reedman Marty Ehrlich and ...

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T.K. Blue: Eyes of the Elders

by James Nichols
May 1, 2001

Saxophonist and flutist T.K. Blue, the artist formerly known as Talib Kibwe, continues to evolve his own brand of post-bop on Eyes of the Elders, his second release as a leader for Arkadia Jazz. Despite the pretentious title, this album contains some worthy performances by a cadre of jazz veterans and young lions. Though T.K. Blue fits the ubiquitous description of the contemporary jazzer infatuated with jazz tradition, he actually spent years paying his dues with jazz veterans including Abdullah ...

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T.K. Blue: Eyes Of The Elders

by AAJ Staff
February 1, 2001

When he was the artist known as Talib Qadir Kibwe, T.K. Blue spent a good many years as Randy Weston's musical director, and he performed on some of Weston's now-classic recordings with Melba Liston like The Spirits Of Our Ancestors and Volcano Blues. Previously, Kibwe lived in Paris for eight years after a three-year association with Abdullah Ibrahim in the late 1970's. Journeying to Africa from his Paris base throughout the 1980's, Kibwe delved deeper and deeper into the spiritual ...

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T.K. Blue: Another Blue

by Jack Bowers
October 1, 1999

Here’s a generous helping of flavorsome post–bop Jazz deliciously home–cooked by T. K. Blue (also known as Talib Kibwe, and as a conspicuously talented woodwind player, often with Randy Weston’s Spirit of Life Orchestra) and his enterprising companions. Group sizes range from duo to sextet with Blue (alto) and Weston duetting wonderfully on Dizzy’s “Night in Tunisia” and trumpet master Eddie Henderson augmenting Blue’s quartet on the impulsive finale, Miles Davis’ “Solar.” Blue plays alto on seven tracks, soprano on ...