Jazz Articles about Ray Drummond

Kurt Elling, Laura Ann Singh, Johannes Wallmann and Ray Drummond

by Joe Dimino
November 30, 2025

We open the 934th episode of Neon Jazz with a heartfelt tribute to a giant we lost on November 1, 2025--the incomparable Ray Drummond, bassist, educator, and pillar of the jazz world. From his 2006 gem 1-2-3-4, we spin “Little Waltz" to honor his legacy and say goodbye to a true master. From there, the show widens into a kaleidoscope of sound featuring Gino Amato, Zack Lober, Kurt Elling, Johannes Wallmann, Pat Mariano, and Bill Coon. We spotlight standout cuts ...

Frank Tiberi, Joe Lovano and George Garzone: Tiberian Mode

by Jim Worsley
May 7, 2020

While the three tenor saxophone soloists with piano, bass, and drums was already a proven sextet formula, the Tiberian Mode is one of vast reproportioning and accelerated creativity. Led by big band divinity Frank Tiberi and two of his disciples, George Garzone, and Joe Lovano, the project unleashes power, vigor, and contrasting jazz sensibilities. Attention is piqued even before listening when you learn that the first song is the first and last section of John Coltrane's “Giant Steps" ...

Jackie Ryan: Doozy

by Larry Taylor
November 4, 2009

This two-CD set is vocalist Jackie Ryan's third recording and it's definitely a keeper. On the heels of her 2007 success, You And The Night And The Music (Open Art Productions), which landed on the charts, also appears destined for success.

With her clear, rich voice, Ryan undoubtedly has one of jazz's great vocal instruments--no low-note warble or reedy high notes for her and with a 3-1/2 octave range, she handles each song with aplomb. In addition, she has a ...

Tim Armacost: Brightly Dark

by Alexander M. Stern
October 7, 2003

The ghost of John Coltrane hovers over Brightly Dark. At times, Tim Armacost sounds startlingly like the late saxophonist, especially when he plays soprano, as he does on 'Afro Pentameter' and on the title track. Armacost is an extremely talented musician and an excellent composer, but he is still somewhat lacking in originality. Not that anyone can blame him for choosing to emulate Coltrane. In a scene from Woody Allen's Manhattan, Allen is told by an angry friend that he ...

Benny Golson Quintet: That's Funky

by AAJ Staff
January 22, 2003

Looking back past the rule of Parliament to the age of Horace Silver, Benny Golson’s That's Funky pays tribute to Louis Armstrong through two renditions of his popular favorite “Mack the Knife." While the opening “funky version" starts off a bit sluggish and includes some pinched soloing by Nat Adderley, Monty Alexander’s firm comps make it swing and Golson’s smooth lines give it at least three pennies worth of class. On the “modern bebop version," Adderley’s lines are much more ...

Tim Armacost: The Wishing Well

by Joel Roberts
June 1, 2000

A quick look at his bio, and a quick listen to his accomplished new release on Double-Time Records, makes clear that 37-year-old Tim Armacost is no run-of-the-mill tenor saxophonist. A well-travelled, broadly educated New Yorker (via L.A., Washington, Tokyo, Amsterdam and India), Armacost draws heavily on the Coltrane and Rollins legacies, but has enough fresh musical ideas and sheer instrumental muscle to avoid falling into the trap of mere hero worship.

Armacost begins the proceedings here with a lush, leisurely ...

Tim Armacost: The Wishing Well

by AAJ Staff
June 1, 2000

In order to play true jazz, a musician needs to assimilate all that went before him, paying particular attention to those artists who charted the course and defined the vernacular for the specific instrument that he has set out to master. In music, nothing ever gets pulled out of thin air. You carry forth a linage, and hopefully along the way, through intense study and careful examination, you can extend that lineage by putting your own fingerprint on what you ...