Jazz Articles about Ratzo Harris

Fay Victor / Herbie Nichols SUNG: Life Is Funny That Way

by Jerome Wilson
May 25, 2024

The jazz world overlooked pianist and composer Herbie Nichols in his lifetime, but musicians such as Roswell Rudd, Misha Mengelberg, and Ted Nash have tried to keep his music in circulation over the years in various projects. Vocalist Fay Victor has been entranced by his music for a long time, and in 2013, she put together a group, Herbie Nichols SUNG, to perform his tunes. This is that group's first recording together and it is excellent. In most ...

David Lopato: Short Stories

by Jack Bowers
January 26, 2024

Short Stories, pianist and composer David Lopato's seventh album, is for the most part modern in the best sense of the word. Lopato's musical influences are wide, ranging from jazz, blues and rock to avant-garde and free improvisation while embracing themes from Africa, Latin America and Asia--most notably Indonesia where he spent a year on a Fulbright scholarship learning to play the Javanese gamelan. Even when fusing these diverse bonds into a single vision, however, Lopato seldom strays from the ...

David Lahm: More Jazz Takes on Joni Mitchell

by Glenn Astarita
May 1, 2001

More Jazz Takes on Joni Mitchell signifies pianist/composer David Lahm’s follow up effort to Jazz Takes on Joni Mitchell. Once again, Lahm integrates a portion of the folk-rock singer’s body of work into the jazz genre while receiving sturdy and sympathetic support from saxophonists Roger Rosenberg and Vincent Herring along with the estimable trumpeter, Randy Brecker.

With this release, Lahm continues to delve into Ms. Mitchell’s recorded legacy while contributing three of his own compositions to this hearty mix. Herring ...