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Jazz Articles about Stevie Wonder
Gary Clark, Jr.: JPEG RAW
by Doug Collette
In contrast to Gary Clark Jr.'s thunderous stage performances, the keen impact of which permeate Live (Warner Bros., 2014) and Live in North America 2016 (Warner Bros., 2017), his studio albums, including JPEG RAW, are ambitious eclectic pieces of work the force of which grow inexorably with repeated listening. Its title an acronym for 'Jealousy, Pride, Ego & Greed / Rules, Alter Ego & Worlds,' the man's sixth full-length album is hardly an exception to that rule. In ...
read moreRolling Stones: Hackney Diamonds (2CD)
by Doug Collette
The Rolling Stones have taken some risks of greater and lesser proportion over the course of their sixty-plus- year career, but perhaps no gamble is so great as the decision by the surviving members of the band to continue on after the passing of drummer Charlie Watts. With the blessing of their co-founder in place for the presence of musician/producer Steve Jordan at the kit, the self-appointed 'greatest rock and roll band in the world' carried on with ...
read moreSir Stevie: Jammin' on Stevie Wonder - Part 4
by Ludovico Granvassu
All good things come to an end, so here we are with the last part of our celebration of Stevie Wonder's 70th birthday in the key of jazz [check out parts one, two and three]. In this final installment tributes by Geri Allen, Stephane Belmondo and Sylvain Luc, Urbie Green, Max Ionata and Dado Moroni, Abbey Lincoln, Steve Khan, the New West Guitar Group with Gretchen Parlato, Joshua Redman the SFJAZZ Collective, and Grover Washington Jr.. Plus Stevie Wonder's first ...
read moreSir Stevie: Jammin' on Stevie Wonder - Part 3
by Ludovico Granvassu
There's so much amazing material penned by Stevie Wonder, so here we go again with the third part of our birthday special. After a dive in renditions from the '70s during part one and two, here we mix things up with a combination of contemporary stunners, like the unique take of Alicia Hall Moran on Signed, Sealed, Delivered" or the incandescent rendition of Too High" by Chris Hunter, with classics like Roland Kirk's version of Ma Cherie Amour" or Toots ...
read moreSir Stevie: Jammin' on Stevie Wonder - Part 2
by Ludovico Granvassu
Stevie Wonder has often infused his performances with compelling renditions of jazz standards like Miles' All Blues" or Coltrane's Giant Steps." In return, countless jazz musicians have looked into his Songbook for compositions that would provide them with a fertile ground for their own explorations. In the second part of our Stevie @70" special we cherry-picked tributes to his genius by the likes of Ran Blake, Cassandra Wilson, Gene Harris, Jamie Saft and many more, and a ...
read moreSir Stevie: Jammin' on Stevie Wonder - Part 1
by Ludovico Granvassu
Stevie Wonder has more entries in the Real Book than any other pop musician, The Beatles included. It is not surprising therefore that his Songbook has been mined by hundreds of jazz musicians, including the likes of Sonny Rollins, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Dexter Gordon or Herbie Hancock. To mark the 70th birthday of Stevie Wonder this week we will feature some of the best jazz renditions of his compositions. In this segment we focus, in particular, on ...
read moreStevie Wonder at Pepsi Center
by Geoff Anderson
Stevie Wonder Pepsi Center Denver, CO March 17, 2015 Is there anybody that doesn't like Stevie Wonder? Go ahead, I dare you, tell me how you don't like Stevie Wonder. Then go chase those kids off your lawn. For the legion of Stevie Wonder fans, it's fortunate that he goes out on the road every once in a while; maybe not frequently, but occasionally is much better than nothing. On the current tour, ...
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