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Ron Blake, feat. Reuben Rogers & John Hadfield: SCRATCH Band
by Jack Bowers
There several interesting features that single out saxophonist Ron Blake's new recording with what he refers to as his SCRATCH Band. First, the Puerto Rican-born Blake, best known for his work on tenor saxophone, plays baritone sax on five of the album's nine numbers, tenor sax on only three, tenor and soprano (separately) on one of his four original compositions, “Appointment." Second, the SCRATCH Band is actually a duo with bassist Reuben Rogers on four tracks, a trio with drummer ...
Continue ReadingRalph Bowen: Keep the Change
by C. Andrew Hovan
I can still remember the impression that Ralph Bowen made on a young jazz enthusiast trying to break into radio and be part of the hip jazz crowd. I had decided to get involved with the programming end of a local non-profit arts support organization and on a letter perfect July evening our committee had lined up a double bill that included Kevin Eubanks and the mid '80s collective Out Of The Blue. An hour or so before OTB was ...
Continue ReadingRon Blake: Mistaken Identity
by Jack Bowers
Once hailed as a promising young lion, Puerto Rico-born saxophonist Ron Blake is more a crafty old fox these days, bringing his wealth of experience and undeniable talent to bear on Mistaken Identity, his first album as leader in fifteen years. To assure a broad comfort zone, Blake invited guitarist Bobby Broom, a longtime friend and music partner, to join him alongside drummer Kobie Watkins and bassists Nat Reeves (five numbers) and Reuben Rogers (four). Among the ...
Continue ReadingKendrick Scott: Corridors
by Chris May
Some of the press releases coming out of Blue Note's Los Angeles HQ since the pandemic have been ripe for inclusion in British satirical magazine Private Eye's Desperate Marketing column. In this, the Eye prints particularly egregious, or just plain laughable, attempts by publicists to hook-up what they are selling with headline news events, or to make eye-wateringly hyperbolic claims, or to manufacture an intellectual or cultural context for an artefact where none such exists. True, one ...
Continue ReadingJimmy Greene: Gifts and Givers
by C. Andrew Hovan
The two-tenor battle is not a new idea, with iconic pairings from the jazz pantheon running the gamut from Dexter Gordon and Wardell Gray to Eddie “Lockjaw" Davis and Johnny Griffin. In more recent times, Eric Alexander and Grant Stewart have fueled the fire with their own incendiary adventures as heard on the current albums Wailin' (Criss 1258) and Cookin' (Criss 1283). As with any healthy blowing session, the idea is to keep each player on his toes while pushing ...
Continue ReadingKendrick Scott: Corridors
by Mike Jurkovic
Drummer Kendrick Scott's A Wall Becomes A Bridge (Blue Note, 2019) was everything to everybody and then some. Optimistic yet well aware of the roiling contradictions beneath it all, the formidable Corridors, its revivalist tenor intact, carries on that spirit of interplay and common alliance. Breaking from the start with the loping, street-smart, stride of “What Day Is It?" Scott with Corridors take a sure journey, featuring conversant saxophonist Walter Smith III and the equally versed bassist Reuben ...
Continue ReadingCharles Lloyd: Tone Poem
by Eric Gudas
Charles Lloyd and The Marvels' April 2017 performance at UCLA's Royce Hall, with guest vocalist Lucinda Williams, was nothing but highlights--from Lloyd's dance moves across the stage as one or other of his bandmates soloed, to Williams' impassioned performances on such songs as Bob Dylan's “Masters of War" and Jimi Hendrix's “Angel." They also played a song by Beach Boys. ("In My Room"). But the night really got going when the band played about fifteen minutes of Ornette Coleman material, ...
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