Jazz Articles about Joe McCarthy

About Joe McCarthy

Album Review

Joe McCarthy's New York Afro Bop Alliance Big Band: The Pan American Nutcracker Suite

Read "The Pan American Nutcracker Suite" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
February 5, 2023

Yes, Peter Tchaikovsky's timeless Nutcracker Suite is basically holiday music; and, yes, the 2022 holiday season is squarely in everyone's rear-view mirror. Even so, there is always room for a fresh approach to the annual festive staple, which is what drummer Joe McCarthy's New York Afro Bop Alliance Big Band brings to The Pan American Nutcracker Suite. The Nutcracker has been rhythmically amended before, but never quite like this, as McCarthy and the band use the strong ...

Album Review

Joe McCarthy's Afro Bop Alliance Big Band: The Pan American Nutcracker Suite

Read "The Pan American Nutcracker Suite" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci

by Richard J Salvucci
September 29, 2022

"The Nutcracker" is a holiday staple and, as many musical and dance companies around the United States and Europe will tell you, thank Heaven for it. The musicians and performers may eventually lose their sanity from repeat performances, but the ballet is a money-maker as sure as holiday sales generate commercial profits for retailers. Besides, someone is inevitably hearing it for the first time, and children--even some adults--seem to enjoy it. This year, the season starts early with ...

Album Review

Afro Bop Alliance Big Band: Revelation

Read "Revelation" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
August 16, 2016

Revelation is the sixth recording by drummer Joe McCarthy's sixteen-year-old Afro Bop Alliance (the last three by the big band after three by smaller incarnations), the first that has come this way for review. As McCarthy's stalwart ensemble is based in the Washington, D.C. area, the supposition is that a number of topnotch armed services musicians may be onboard, an inference that proves correct with names such as Luis Hernandez, Vince Norman, Jim Roberts, Brian MacDonald, Matt Niess, Rich Sigler, ...

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Live Review

Joe McCarthy & The Afro-Bop Alliance

by Matt Merewitz
June 8, 2004

Not many Latin bands are making it these days without a singer. If you live in an urban area, you may notice the plethora of channels on your car radio playing salsa, meringue and cha-cha... they all feature a heaping dose of vocalists. Vocals may be an important part of the tradition, though it's the instrumentalists that appeal to this writer, and I'm happy to report that there are a few bands out there struggling to make it in an ...