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Jazz WORMS: Squirmin'
by Jack Bowers
The Denver-based quintet Jazz WORMS recorded its first album, Crawling Out, in 1987. Based on the time it took to record a second, Squirmin', they may as well be called the Jazz SNAILS. To be fair, there are reasons why the next go-round took so long to materialize, the most conspicuous being success. In '87 the members of the quintet were relative newcomers to the jazz scene, merely finding their way; since then they have led busy and successful lives ...
Continue ReadingKeith Oxman: Two Cigarettes In the Dark
by Jack Bowers
What's a sure way to make a pretty good tenor saxophone-led quartet even better? Simple. Invite a second tenor and make sure his name is Houston Person. That's what Denver-based Keith Oxman has done to further enhance his quartet's splendid new album, Two Cigarettes in the Dark, sharing the front line with Person on six of the session's ten tracks. To say that Person brightens every number he's on would be understating the case; as the saying goes, he could ...
Continue ReadingKeith Oxman: Two Cigarettes In the Dark
by Edward Blanco
With the impressive Two Cigarettes in the Dark, Denver-based saxophonist Keith Oxman delivers what is most probably one of the finest albums on the contemporary jazz scene today. Imagine being in a dark room where you see nothing and suddenly two cigarettes are lit; naturally your attention will be focused on the cigarettes and the smoke they produce. On this album, the two burning sticks are Oxman and legendary sax man Houston Person together lighting-up the place. The ...
Continue ReadingPhil Urso/Carl Saunders: Salute to Chet Baker
by Jack Bowers
Phil Urso won’t remember this, but many years ago—nearly half a century, in fact—I heard him playing in a small club in Washington, DC, and was so impressed that I approached him after the gig and said he sounded to me like Zoot Sims. I made his day then, and now I’d like to give it another try. Urso and trumpeter Carl Saunders have joined forces to sculpt this warmhearted tribute to the incomparable but self-impaled Chet Baker, and although ...
Continue ReadingPhil Urso and Carl Saunders: Phil Urso and Carl Saunders Salute Chet Baker
by C. Michael Bailey
The East and West Coast varieties of jazz in the '50s and '60s were as unique and identifiable as the same hip-hop genres they predated. The great purveyors of the West Coast Sound'Art Pepper, Bill Perkins, Hampton Hawes, Shorty Rogers, Bud Shank, Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker, and Phil Urso'were all able shake over ice the hot bebop of the East Coast, producing a dry and complex brand of modern jazz. The latter two names of this group are forever linked ...
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