Jazz Articles about Roy McCurdy

About Roy McCurdy

Album Review

Marina Pacowski: New Jazz Standards, Volume 7

Read "New Jazz Standards, Volume 7" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
June 6, 2025

To those who know--really know--their breathtaking jazz trumpeters, Carl Saunders was definitely in a class by himself. Simply put, there was nothing Saunders could not do on the horn, from nailing seemingly insurmountable high notes to creating intricate and mind- blowing solos, all the while making it seem so effortless that many listeners thought he must have found and harnessed a secret weapon of which others were unaware. What many of his admirers did not know was ...

Album Review

Peter Smith: Smitty Straightens Out

Read "Smitty Straightens Out" reviewed by Thierry De Clemensat

by Thierry De Clemensat
April 11, 2025

Smitty Straightens Out captivates from the very first notes, drawing the listener into a world where the composer and pianist masterfully channels his years of experience into a singular, compelling and spectacular style. One can already sense the power of its live performance, as the artist's greatest strength undoubtedly lies in the sheer effectiveness of his arrangements. Peter Smith served as Associate Music Director for two seasons of The Four on Fox, working directly with contestants alongside musical directors Rickey ...

Album Review

Cannonball Adderley: Burnin' In Bordeaux: Live In France 1969

Read "Burnin' In Bordeaux: Live In France 1969" reviewed by Stefano Merighi

by Stefano Merighi
April 10, 2025

Altra nuova perla della Elemental Music, e sempre con la produzione di Zev Feldman, “Burnin' in Bordeaux" (doppio CD) celebra il magistero di Julian Cannonball Adderley, un poeta assoluto del sax contralto, e la solidità nonché la brillantezza del suo quintetto di fine anni '60. Adderley, scomparso a soli 46 anni nel 1975, è stato fedele alla sua idea di jazz anche in un periodo in cui le trasformazioni si succedevano in fretta e in cui il grande ...

Album Review

Cannonball Adderley: Poppin In Paris: Live At L'Olympia 1972

Read "Poppin In Paris: Live At L'Olympia 1972" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
April 26, 2024

In his most natural setting--onstage alongside brother Nat Adderley--and accompanied by pianist George Duke, bassist Walter Booker and the trusty Roy McCurdy on drums, Cannonball Adderley pops and bops to all heart's content on Poppin' In Paris: Live at the Olympia 1972 . Appearing as part of the Paris Jazz Festival, the band holds true to its unspoken credo--defy expectations--and steams straight ahead into Duke's epic rent party stomp “Black Messiah." It is a colorful jazz-rock fireworks display ...

Album Review

Cannonball Adderly: Burnin’ in Bordeaux: Live in France 1969

Read "Burnin’ in Bordeaux: Live in France 1969" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
April 20, 2024

Intent on burning down the house, Burnin' in Bordeaux: Live in France 1969 finds Cannonball Adderley gleefully passing out the matches. Captured very, very, very live at the Bordeaux Jazz Festival in March 1969, Adderley and his fired up co-arsonists--pianist Joe Zawinul, cornetist Nat Adderley, Jr., bassist Victor Gaskin, and drummer Roy McCurdy--go scorched earth from the flare-up with Zawinul's spiky ember, the uber-toned “The Scavenger." It rips, it roars. It runs wild the rapids and holds strong the ramparts. It ...

Album Review

Ray Vega & Thomas Marriott East West Trumpet Summit: Coast to Coast

Read "Coast to Coast" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
July 31, 2023

Coast to Coast is the third East West Trumpet Summit recorded by Ray Vega and Thomas Marriott in a musical partnership that has spanned nearly three decades. The years have been kind, and when it comes to playing persuasive jazz, neither Vega nor Marriott appears to have lost a step. Marriott, a native of Seattle, and Vega, New York-born and bred, first met in 1995, and the mutual admiration and respect was immediate. Their first two albums as co-leaders were ...

Album Review

Ray Vega & Thomas Marriott East West Trumpet Summit: Coast to Coast

Read "Coast to Coast" reviewed by Paul Rauch

by Paul Rauch
June 16, 2023

For some people, the whole notion of an east-west summit of anything in jazz brings up the perceived differences over time between American west coast jazz and its east coast counterpart. The basic premise is that jazz on the American west coast is a cousin to the cool jazz movement, a calmer, less soulful part of the tradition that relies more on composition and arrangement than the playing of individual improvisers. East coast jazz is seen more as hard driving, ...