Jazz Articles about Various Artists

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Various Artists: Cincinnati Jazz Collection, Volume III: The Blues

by Jim Santella
January 1, 2001

Like most other metropolitan areas around the world, Cincinnati has a fruitful jazz and blues scene. Where would we be without this kind of tradition? The songs tell stories. Long, detailed stories with just enough innuendo to make it interesting. And when that organist, pianist, guitarist, or saxophonist stretches out... it’s time for passion. This is music that you feel.

Like volumes one and two of the Cincinnati Jazz Collection, volume three features local artists representative of the city’s jazz ...

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Various Artists: Bhangra Beatz

by AAJ Staff
January 1, 2001

Bhangra Beatz truly lies at the fringes of jazz, if one uses the standard of improvisation to classify music. This disc relies upon a heavy production aesthetic, yet the presence of live drum work as well as scattered melodic string and flute solos rescues it from the realm of pre-processed Indo-pop. Bhangra music has its roots in the annual harvest celebration of Punjab, a state at the northern border of India with Pakistan. With the influence of British beats and ...

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Various Artists: Convergent Evolution

by AAJ Staff
December 1, 2000

Ambient music has been around about 25 years now, and has become a recognized genre, which even has its own subgroups such as “dark ambient", “drones," and “techno-ambient." The basic requirements for the “core" ambient style haven't changed much in those years: long, minimal note lines drifting through an ocean of reverb, accented with bits of percussion here and there. And yet even within these restrictions, musical creativity can shine forth, and ambient has developed over the years. Some of ...

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Various Artists: Swing This, Baby! III

by Todd R. Brown
December 1, 2000

Throughout the 20th Century, jazz musicians and fans have maintained that “swing is the thing,” but it takes more than matching zoot suits to make a tune really cook.

And while it’s admirable that a new generation of revved-up fans are reviving America’s pop music of the 30s and 40s, the neo-swing scene is, unfortunately, devoted as much to superficial schtick (in terms of lyrical content as well as fashion) as it is to the hot music of the WWII ...

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Various Artists: Originations

by David Adler
December 1, 2000

This was an idea whose time had come. Nearly every member of Chick Corea’s Origin has a solo record or two out on Corea’s Stretch label. (Drummer Jeff Ballard’s trio project is not far off at the time of this writing.) With Origin and on their own, these young players and composers have been creating great new music, and it makes perfect sense to feature highlights of their work on a compilation disc. Serious jazz fans with limited budgets can ...

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Various Artists: Jam Miami: A Celebration Of Latin Jazz

by Jim Santella
December 1, 2000

From a live appearance in May, Jam Miami is a fiery Latin jazz performance with big band, starring Arturo Sandoval, Chick Corea, Poncho Sanchez and Pete Escovedo. Sandoval lets loose in front of a home audience and sets the standard by which the entire cast judges itself. Naturally, everyone rises to the occasion. Dave Samuels emulates the late Cal Tjader on “Soul Sauce.” Ray Vega and Dave Valentin spew dragon’s fire in a tribute to the late Tito Puente. Oscar ...

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Various Artists: Chicago in Mind

by Ed Kopp
December 1, 2000

Chicago is best known for the electric blues style that arose there during the 1940s and continues to thrive today. Less celebrated is an earlier form of Chicago blues that originated in the 1920s. This acoustic style achieved great popularity during the Depression years when Southern blacks flocked to Chicago seeking jobs in the city’s factories, stockyards and slaughterhouses. (Chicago’s slaughterhouses have long been alluded to in blues songs. Think of how frequently you’ve heard the term “killing floor" in ...