Jazz Articles about Lonnie Plaxico

About Lonnie Plaxico

Album Review

He was part of the crowd surrounding Wynton Marsalis’ jazz revival in the late ‘80s, yet bassist Lonnie Plaxico has been seen in the spotlight far too little during the past decade. Yet, with a resume that includes work as a musical director for Cassandra Wilson and an inclination for the genre-bending grooves of the M-Base movement, Plaxico is in a singular position to be chameleon-like in his versatility. That may have something to with the approach and title of ...

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Album Review

Lonnie Plaxico: Melange

by David Adler
August 1, 2001

Lonnie Plaxico’s Blue Note debut is similar in thrust to last year’s Emergence (Savant). The emphasis is on funk, yet the frequent complexity of Plaxico’s writing harks back to his M-Base roots, especially on tunes like “Short Takes," “T.O.P.," “Patois," and the title track. Apparently the disc grew out of two different sessions — the first with Tim Ries on sax and Lew Soloff on trumpet, the second with regular band members Marcus Strickland and Jeremy Pelt in their stead. ...

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Album Review

Lonnie Plaxico: Melange

by Jim Santella
August 1, 2001

Experience has taught Lonnie Plaxico that a tenor saxophone and trumpet front line works best. His 6th recording as a leader combines straight-ahead, modern mainstream, and Tower Of Power funk. At 40, the bassist has paused to reflect on which jazz styles are meaningful; his session includes variety with significance. Plaxico writes out the arrangements in detail. As musical director for Cassandra Wilson's touring band, he's aware of what works. That professional relationship began in 1987. Prior to that, Plaxico ...

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Album Review

Lonnie Plaxico: Melange

by AAJ Staff
July 1, 2001

Lonnie Plaxico is one of those in-demand bassists, like Peter Washington or Dwayne Burno, who shows up on album after significant album, but, like most bassists, stays in the background. Attempting to gain radio play in the early 1990's, Plaxico led some of his own CD's, but fell into the smooth-jazz format in an effort to attain record-sales success. It didn't work. As Plaxico says, “I wasn't playing the music that reflects my experiences, and I still wasn't making money." ...

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Album Review

Lonnie Plaxico: Melange

by AAJ Staff
July 1, 2001

The fine bassist Lonnie Plaxico, while still somewhat obscure to many, has now been a hard-working sideman on the jazz scene for some twenty years. He has quietly compiled an impressive resume via Dexter Gordon, Art Blakey, Von Freeman, Dizzy Gillespie and Jack DeJohnette's Special Edition band in earlier years, and M-BASE comrades Greg Osby, Steve Coleman, Geri Allen, and Cassandra Wilson in later ones. Plaxico has now acted as the musical director for vocalist Wilson for the past 6 ...

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Album Review

T.K. Blue: Eyes of the Elders

Read "Eyes of the Elders" reviewed by James Nichols

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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Album Review

T.K. Blue: Eyes Of The Elders

Read "Eyes Of The Elders" reviewed by AAJ Staff

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 ...