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Jazz Articles about Lonnie Plaxico
Lonnie Plaxico: Melange
by AAJ Staff
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." ...
Continue ReadingLonnie Plaxico: Melange
by AAJ Staff
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 ...
Continue ReadingT.K. Blue: Eyes of the Elders
by James Nichols
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 ...
Continue ReadingT.K. Blue: Eyes Of The Elders
by AAJ Staff
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 ...
Continue ReadingJason Moran: Soundtrack to Human Motion
by David Adler
Can we all just agree that this is the debut of the year, if not the record of the year? Jazz has seen its share of excellent young players, but 24-year-old pianist Jason Moran really raises the bar with his superb Soundtrack to Human Motion. Moran explains the title as follows: “I like to think this recording could serve as the soundtrack to all movements a human might make in a given dayï." If only my daily movements were anywhere ...
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