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Steve Khan: Subtext
by Dan Bilawsky
Guitarist Steve Khan's latter day work has been increasingly focused on Latin jazz fusion of various shapes, so the scope and direction of Subtext should come as no surprise to his longtime followers. This album arrives three years after Parting Shot (Tone Center, 2011) and runs along similar lines. That one was an originals-heavy, percussively-coated session that dipped into the songbooks of Thelonious Monk ("Bye-Ya") and Ornette Coleman ("Blues Connotation" and “Chronology"); this one is a mostly covers companion piece ...
Continue ReadingThe Complete Arista Albums Collection
by John Kelman
When fusion first emerged in the late 1960s/early '70s with artists like trumpeter Miles Davis, pianist Chick Corea and guitarist John McLaughlin, the emphasis was on guitar and keyboard heavy lineups like Return to Forever and Mahavishnu Orchestra, with an equally strong predilection for the intensity and volume of rock and a kind of thundering funk that was different than the kind of music coming from R&B and soul artists like Stevie Wonder and Earth, Wind & Fire. Parallel to ...
Continue ReadingSteve Khan: Parting Shot
by Mark F. Turner
It's tough for artists to remain viable in a fast-paced environment in which hype is focused on the latest flavor of the week or whatever technology and media is creating a buzz. As usual, jazz gets caught in the flux, but guitarist Steve Khan continues to demonstrate that it's not just about the technology or complexity, but the music and who's playing it. Off the heels of the superb live recording The Suitcase (Tone Center, 2008), Khan continues his love ...
Continue ReadingSteve Khan: Parting Shot
by John Kelman
Evolution is one of those things where an artist either gradually shifts direction, or makes sudden quantum leaps. Guitarist Steve Khan has done both in a career dating back four decades, and the first of three hot fusion records for Columbia as a leader, Tightrope (1977), that fit firmly in The Brecker Brothers camp, but, with an in-your-face guitar presence that ran the occasional risk of over-dominance. Khan had a clear epiphany with Evidence (Arista, 1980), an overlooked gem interpreting ...
Continue ReadingSteve Khan: The Making of "Parting Shot"
by Steve Khan
The term, “parting shot" can certainly be interpreted in any number of ways. Perhaps for most of us, it would be best defined like this: “a threat, insult, condemnation, sarcastic retort, or, gesture delivered while departing." I choose to view it as the latter, thinking of a light punch to the shoulder as the final gesture! This interpretation led me to invent my own Spanish title: “Golpe de partida." I think that someone else would have chosen, “La última palabra"--the ...
Continue ReadingSteve Khan: The Suitcase
by John Kelman
Steve Khan's been on the comeback trail with the fine The Green Field (Tone Center, 2006)--his first as a leader in nine years--and even more impressive Borrowed Time (Tone Center, 2007), so keeping up the momentum is a very good thing. While not a new recording, The Suitcase captures the guitarist in performance with one of his hottest trios ever--contrabassist Anthony Jackson and drummer Dennis Chambers. Recorded in Köln, Germany in 1994, the two-disc set represents a comprehensive ...
Continue ReadingSteve Khan: The Suitcase
by Mark F. Turner
Steve Khan The Suitcase Tone Center 2008 In the annals of rediscovered live jazz recordings, The Suitcase, by guitarist Steve Khan, ranks among the best in recent memory. Nothing is quite like the experience of live jazz, but this 1994 performance at the Stadtgarten Club in Koln, Germany, is the next best thing to having been there. The format is simple; as Khan modestly states, “It is an evening of ...
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