Jazz Articles about Will Lee

About Will Lee

Album Review

There is something comforting about the way Mike Catalano's A Trio Affair brings his musical trilogy to a close. This release returns to where the story began in 1989 with A Rio Affair, followed 18 years later by A Manhattan Affair. Listening to this album, it feels as if Catalano is less interested in revisiting those albums than in recalling what he liked about them, namely the meeting of New York jazz and Brazilian rhythms. Catalano has also ...

116

Liner Notes

Joe Beck: Beck

by Arnaldo DeSouteiro
July 17, 2026

Beck is back! A perfectionist, gifted with a sharp sense of self-criticism, Joe Beck (born on July 29, 1945, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) was making good music (and a lot of money) when he disappeared from the NY music scene in 1971 to become a dairy farmer in Vermont. After his professional debut with Paul Winter's group in 1964, he had played with such masters as Gary McFarland, Charles Lloyd, Chico Hamilton, and Gil Evans, on whose orchestra he was a ...

Radio & Podcasts

Celebrating The Third Story at 10 with Will Lee and Amanda Sidran

by Leo Sidran
February 4, 2024

Ten years ago, on a bit of a whim, I invited bassist Will Lee to come over to my home studio in Brooklyn to do an interview with me for a new project I was starting: a podcast. A year or two earlier, my friend had turned me on to Marc Maron's WTF podcast, and I was totally hooked on the concept of casual long form interviews among peers. At the time Maron spoke almost exclusively to comics, and I ...

Liner Notes

Steve Khan: Arrows

by AAJ Staff
January 25, 2023

By Steve Khan With The Blue Man not selling as well as Tightrope, Dr. George Butler requested that I have a co-producer for the next CD. I was lucky to be able to land the engineering / production talents of my old and dear friend, Elliot Scheiner. Elliot and I had recorded together on countless sessions, but perhaps most people link us together because it was Elliot who recommended me to Donald Fagen and Walter Becker for AJA, which, of ...

Album Review

Mike Levine: Just Chillin

Read "Just Chillin" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
April 7, 2021

A proponent of the more relaxing side of the jazz spectrum, pianist and keyboardist Mike Levine presents his fourth album as leader, offering thirteen primarily original pieces falling decidedly within the smooth jazz category. A talented composer, Levine's music seems to eschew the core jazz tenet of improvisation in favor of catchy melodies perfect for those chilling-out moments that overwhelm us all sooner or later. A first-call musician by anyone's count, Levine draws on his vast experience performing ...

Album Review

Oz Noy: Snapdragon

Read "Snapdragon" reviewed by Mike Jacobs

by Mike Jacobs
November 17, 2020

It's an old sentiment but it still holds that great instrumental chops, enthralling as they may be, are fairly meaningless on their own. And quite frankly, they are pretty ubiquitous these days with the internet exposure machine going full tilt. Given all that, it's quite easy for the listener to become inured with technical prowess-- especially wizardry of the fretboard. So to say Oz Noy is a fantastic guitarist just isn't enough anymore. It's fortunate then that what ...

Album Review

Wayne Krantz: Write Out Your Head

Read "Write Out Your Head" reviewed by Mike Jacobs

by Mike Jacobs
May 9, 2020

What do you want from Wayne Krantz anyway? It's a particularly relevant question when new release time rolls around for the guitar icon(oclast). Not that Krantz himself seems to give the question much thought. He's more known for being preoccupied with things like inventing (and reinventing) himself, exploring and capturing ineffable group mojo, or pushing the envelope toward things he has yet to try or accomplish. And, as many longtime Krantz fans would surely tell you, rightfully so. ...