Jazz Articles about Lou Marini

About Lou Marini

Album Review

There is something comforting about the way Mike Catalano's A Trio Affair brings his musical trilogy to a close. This release returns to where the story began in 1989 with A Rio Affair, followed 18 years later by A Manhattan Affair. Listening to this album, it feels as if Catalano is less interested in revisiting those albums than in recalling what he liked about them, namely the meeting of New York jazz and Brazilian rhythms. Catalano has also ...

Interview

Lou Marini: A Solo Career Starting At The Age Of 80

by Mark McKergow
August 29, 2026

Saxophonist “Blue" Lou Marini came to the fore in the 1970s as a member of the Saturday Night Live Band and with The Blues Brothers on film, albums and stage. After a lifetime as an in-demand sideman (notably 26 years and counting with James Taylor), Lou has finally started to release albums under his own name, including Playtime (Hip Pickles, 2026) by Lou Marini and the Italian Groovers. Lou was in Rimini, Italy at the end of a short Italian tour during the ...

Radio & Podcasts

Lou Marini Speaks His Mind

by David Bixler
March 2, 2022

Multi-instrumentalist Lou Marini has been visible in American popular music for decades. Woody Herman, Blood Sweat Tears, SNL, The Blues Brothers, and James Taylor are just a few of the iconic names that grace his resume. Throughout his time with these high-profile groups, Lou remains an artist dedicated to his craft. When his touring schedule was erased because of the pandemic, he turned to composing music for large ensemble that will soon be recorded. In this episode of LINER NOTES, ...

Album Review

Bill Warfield and the Hell's Kitchen Funk Orchestra: Smile

by Jack Bowers
June 21, 2020

Having no idea what to expect from an ensemble labeled the Hell's Kitchen Funk Orchestra, the game plan must be to advance with caution, as any orchestra with trumpeter Bill Warfield at the helm can't be all bad. After listening, it becomes clear that the game plan was sound and the premise accurate: Smile, the HKFO's second recording, isn't all bad. The question is: did Warfield and the orchestra have its own game plan? If snatching every ingredient within reach ...

Album Review

Lou Marini: Starmaker

Read "Starmaker" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
October 13, 2012

Lou Marini's Starmaker is a reflection of the veteran reedman's professional life, with eight originals ranging from jazz, to blues and other related genres. Known by the moniker “Blue Lou," Marini has starred in the classic “The Blues Brothers" and has played with such diverse ensembles as Woody Herman's orchestra, Blood, Sweat and Tears, guitarist/composer Frank Zappa, trumpeter Lew Soloff and singer/songwriter James Taylor. Raw emotionality and effervescent zest permeate all of the tunes as Marini alternates ...

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Album Review

Lou Marini & the Magic City Jazz Orchestra: Lou's Blues

Read "Lou's Blues" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
August 2, 2004

Lou's Blues, an exercise in ultra-modern composing, arranging and blowing by Lou Marini Jr. and the Magic City Jazz Orchestra, may bring a smile to the face of many big-band enthusiasts and leave others shaking their heads in bewilderment. It depends on one's point of view. Marini, whose influences include blues, rock and free jazz as well as more traditional rhythms, harmonies and lyrical devices, lays them all on the table in eight inclusive charts that resist easy appraisal or ...