Home » Jazz Articles » Virginia Mayhew
Jazz Articles about Virginia Mayhew
Virginia Mayhew Septet: A Simple Thank You
by Dan McClenaghan
This is about the coolest cover art you'll ever see on a CD: Saxophonist Virginia Mayhew in blue tones, as bald as an egg (cancer treatments), in partial profile, eyes closed, in an apparent state of repose. She looks like a sleek android discovered in arctic ice. Cool as hell.The music on Mayhew's fifth CD, A Simple Thank You, is every bit as cool as the cover art. There's nothing android-ish about Mayhew's step into arranging, writing and ...
Continue ReadingVirginia Mayhew: Sandan Shuffle
by AAJ Italy Staff
Non ancora ventenne ha avuto esperienze di studio e di ingaggi con Earl Hines e Frank Zappa, ha suonato in seguito nelle orchestre di Toshiko Akiyoshi e Sahib Shihab, ha collaborato con giganti come Clark Terry e Kenny Barron, è leader di diversi gruppi e apprezzata didatta e talentuosa arrangiatrice. Un bel biglietto da visita quello che può presentare Virgina Mayhew, sassofonista californiana con questo Sandan Shuffle alla quarta incisione da leader. Sandan è il terzo livello di cintura nera ...
Continue ReadingVirginia Mayhew: Sandan Shuffle
by Terrell Kent Holmes
Convention bores Virginia Mayhew. So it's no surprise that Sandan Shuffle, her fourth release as a leader, doesn't merely embrace the unconventional, but seizes it in a bear hug. Right at the top, the blues-inspired title track is played seven to the bar, not eight and Mayhew's tenor grooves like mad. Her sax smiles throughout an inventive Calypso arrangement of “Let's Fall In Love, with Kenny Wessel laying down cool guitar lines. Bassist Harvie S contributes the ...
Continue ReadingVirginia Mayhew: Sandan Shuffle
by Michael P. Gladstone
I had a chance to see Virginia Mayhew a few years ago in a sideman gig where she appeared as part of an all-femme quintet backing a singer. From memory, the other musicians were Allison Miller, Kendra Shank and Roberta Picket. My recollection of Mayhew's performance was that she was clearly the most pressing reason to be there. She displayed strong and melodic playing on tenor sax, plus a few numbers on soprano sax. There was nothing tentative about Mayhew's ...
Continue ReadingVirginia Mayhew: Sandan Shuffle
by Dan McClenaghan
Who's this Virginia Mayhew woman anyway, Dexter Gordon's daughter? Sonny Rollins' niece? She plays the saxophone like a blood relative of those two giants on Sandan Shuffle. Actually, we know the reedist well from her standout 2003 effort, Phantoms, as an artist who has embraced the mainstream mode and ridden it with vigor and supreme assurance into the top level of straight-ahead saxophonists.Since Dexter Gordon's name came up, Mayhew opens the disc with the original title tune, which ...
Continue ReadingVirginia Mayhew: Sandan Shuffle
by Jerry D'Souza
Virginia Mayhew has a third degree black belt in karate, a level known as sandan. Thus the title of her newest release. The exciting music on Sandan Shuffle is turned around and played with a loquacious spirit, swinging with a delightful sensibility and even shuffling.
Mayhew's tone is deep, dark and flinty. Even as she carves a burnished edge, she pours warmth and emotion into the music. She has a sense of fun too, and she wastes no time in ...
Continue ReadingVirginia Mayhew: Sandan Shuffle
by Jim Santella
Karate requires discipline and hard work. So does effective musicianship.
Most of the martial arts require fast, aggressive motions that are accompanied by slower, more controlled moves. Sometimes, the hand must stop at precisely the right place or someone will get hurt. This requires constant practice.
So does playing the saxophone. And Virginia Mayhew does that very well. She also has a third degree black belt in karate (sandan). Her study of the martial arts and ...
Continue Reading
