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Derrick Gardner & The Big dig! Band: Still I Rise
by Jack Bowers
Trumpeter Derrick Gardner, a Chicagoan who has performed around the world with a who's who of jazz luminaries from Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie and Frank Foster to Nancy Wilson, Tony Bennett and Harry Connick Jr., to name only a few, traveled to Winnipeg, Canada, to assemble and record his Big Dig! Band, several sizes removed from Gardner's sextet, The Jazz Prophets, a working group since it was formed in New York City in 1991. Gardner not only shines as trumpet ...
Continue Reading20 Seattle Jazz Musicians You Should Know: Jeff Johnson
by Paul Rauch
The city of Seattle has a jazz history that dates back to the very beginnings of the form. It was home to the first integrated club scene in America on Jackson St in the 1920's and '30s. It saw a young Ray Charles arrive as a teenager to escape the nightmare of Jim Crow in the south. It has produced such historical jazz icons as Quincy Jones and Ernestine Anderson. In many instances it has acted as a temporary repose ...
Continue ReadingJeff Johnson: Suitcase
by Dan McClenaghan
Bassist Jeff Johnson traveled the United States from the 1970s until 1990. He followed the work during his time of transience, and played an array of styles, from R&B to country, from blues to pop, and jazz. Then he put his suitcase down in Seattle and evolved into something of a house bassist for Origin Records, backing pianists Jessica Williams and Hal Galper, saxophonist Mark Taylor, vocalists Carrie Wicks and Jeff Baker, drummer John Bishop, and many more.
Continue ReadingHal Galper Trio: Trip the Light Fantastic
by Dan McClenaghan
About eighty percent of the jazz piano players out there can fit into one of two schools: that of the introspective, harmonically rich Bill Evans mode; or the more percussive and gregarious Bud Powell bebop approach. There's also a small slice of the that pie that draws it primary inspiration from bright and splashy Art Tatum/Oscar Peterson pre-bop playing style, along with various subsets. Then there are those who take a foundation of one of those approaches and craft something ...
Continue ReadingJeff Johnson: Seattle Sounds
by Elliott Simon
Jon Alberts / Jeff Johnson / Tad BrittonApothecaryOrigin Records2009 Chad McCulloughDark Wood, Dark WaterOrigin Records2009 Bassist Jeff Johnson is an integral part of a vibrant Seattle scene. His approach is an emotive one and his work as a leader--check out Free (Origin, 1999)--derives its power from a contagious soulful openness. But it is as ...
Continue ReadingJon Alberts / Jeff Johnson / Tad Britton: Apothecary
by Dan McClenaghan
An Internet search for the Fu Kun Wu Lounge in Seattle, Washington's Ballard neighborhood, reveals one patron's assessment of it as “one of the best kept secrets of the Seattle Jazz Scene." Many of the city's dynamic Origin Records stars perform in the converted Chinese herbalist's shop; players like pianists Bill Anschell and Marc Seales, saxophonist Hans Teuber and bassist Jeff “Free" Johnson. So how the lounge remains a secret is a mystery.Pianist/entrepreneur Jon Alberts, the owner of ...
Continue ReadingJeff Johnson: Tall Stranger
by John Barron
Bassist Jeff Johnson has built a stellar reputation in jazz circles, having worked with pianists Hal Galper and Jessica Williams and appearing on over two-dozen recordings for Origin Records. For his fourth release as a leader, Tall Stranger, the Seattle-based Johnson, along with saxophonist Hans Teuber and drummer Billy Mintz, delivers an intriguing set of stripped-down compositions, emphasizing a free-form approach to group improvisation.
The trio converses in a confident, unhurried manner throughout the disc. Teuber's breathy, warm ... Continue Reading
