Jazz Articles about Jimmy Lyons

Jimmy Lyons & Sunny Murray Trio: Jump Up

by Glenn Astarita
June 15, 2012

Renowned Cecil Taylor trio alumni, alto saxophonist Jimmy Lyons and drummer Sunny Murray reunited in Switzerland and summoned young bass wunderkind John Lindberg for a tour de force captured live at Jazz Festival Willisau in August, 1980. Reissued and remastered, this release highlights the band's unbridled energy and resounding clarity, abetted by the crystalline audio. It sounds like it's fresh out of the box, featuring Lyons operating in tenth gear with his radical free-bop stylizations, paving the way for future ...

The Emergence of Jimmy Lyons

by Robert Levin
August 1, 2010

[Editor's Note: From Jazz & Pop Magazine, 1970] Since 1960, when he began working with Cecil Taylor, alto saxophonist Jimmy Lyons has been developing from a somewhat diffident musician into one of the more potent voices in the New Music. In recent recordings and appearances with Taylor, Jimmy has been playing with a glowing assertiveness and an often stunning beauty. This past spring, Jimmy's first record under his leadership, Other Afternoons on the French BYG ...

Jimmy Lyons: Jimmy Lyons Box Set

by Rex Butters
December 3, 2003

Add Jimmy Lyons' name to the list of under-appreciated jazz musicians. Despite several solo albums and side projects, his destiny irrevocably links him to Cecil Taylor. No other musician has a longer association with the revolutionary pianist, and no other musician seemed so intent on keeping Taylor honest jazzwise. While as fearless and inventive as anyone playing free jazz, the alto saxophonist always kept something of Charlie Parker in his playing no matter how far outside he went. That effervescent ...

Various Artists: Monterey Jazz Festival: Forty Legendary Years

by Chris M. Slawecki
October 1, 1997

In my wilder, more unforgiving days, I might have merely typed up the personnel and set list and submitted only that in review of Monterey Jazz Festival: Forty Legendary Years, and argued to the powers-that-be that if the reader couldn’t comprehend its abundant magnificence of music from the unadorned facts, my descriptive and persuasive prowess would be of slight use.

I must have grown either more wise or more foolish since then.

Make no mistake: Monterey Jazz Festival: Forty Legendary ...