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Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band: The Reset
by Jack Bowers
Gordon Goodwin's dynamic Big Phat Band rumbles back onto the scene with The Reset, a somewhat less-than-big-phat album whose dual purpose, according to Goodwin, is to express hope and gratitude in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic and to honor one of Goodwin's mentors, the late Sammy Nestico. Goodwin calls the album an EP, whose twenty-eight minute playing time places it in roughly the same ballpark as a vinyl LP from the good old days before digital recording and streaming. ...
Continue ReadingStaci Griesbach: My George Jones Songbook
by William H. Snyder
Some might question why write an All About Jazz review of an album featuring songs made popular by George Jones? Duke Ellington had the answer when he said, “There are simply two kinds of music, good music and the other kind ... the only yardstick by which the result should be judged is simply that of how it sounds. If it sounds good it's successful; if it doesn't it has failed." Staci Griesbach and her colleagues have made good music ...
Continue ReadingDoc Stewart Big Band Resuscitation: Code Blue!
by Jack Bowers
"Doc" is much more than a nickname to Chris Stewart: it's a profession. And straight-ahead jazz is far more than a pastime: it's a passion. For the past sixteen years, Doc Stewart's day gig has been ER physician at the Mayo Clinic Hospital in Scottsdale, AZ. Long before that, however, Stewart was a working musician who played alto sax with a number of big bands including those led by Tom Kubis, Ladd McIntosh, Matt Catingub, Louie Bellson, Toshiko Akiyoshi / ...
Continue ReadingDoc Stewart and Big Band Resuscitation: Code Blue!
by Edward Blanco
Those who subscribe to the notion that big band music is a dying musical art form, are obviously unaware of Chris “Doc “ Stewart and his star-studded Resuscitation big band that have just given the genre a shot in the arm, a jolt of electricity and some life-saving musical medicine with the amazing Code Blue! An alto saxophonist by passion and pleasure, Stewart is actually an emergency room doctor with the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, AZ, practicing the trade for ...
Continue ReadingPhil Upchurch: Tell The Truth!
by AAJ Staff
If Phil Upchurch would unroll a list of albums on which he has played, ever since his start in the very early 1960's, it would be as long as his arm--and it would still dangle from his hand for at least the same length again. Always busy as a back-up guitarist, Upchurch's versatility and his ability to slip into any format obscure his true musical personality.Is he a blues guitarist, as he was with Muddy Waters and Buddy ...
Continue ReadingPhil Upchurch: Tell the Truth!
by Dave Hughes
Phil Upchurch, who has been a highly in-demand session and touring guitarist and bassist for three and a half decades (and released twenty previous albums along the way), has now released one of his most personal and satisfying CDs yet, Tell the Truth. And the title is apt; Upchurch was able to make this album with his current working band performing the music of his choice, without having to comply with record company directives to use big-name guest stars or ...
Continue ReadingPhil Upchurch: Tell the Truth!
by Dave Hughes
Phil Upchurch, who has been a highly in-demand session and touring guitarist and bassist for three and a half decades (and released twenty previous albums along the way), has now released one of his most personal and satisfying CDs yet, Tell the Truth. And the title is apt; Upchurch was able to make this album with his current working band performing the music of his choice, without having to comply with record company directives to use big-name guest stars or ...
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