Willie Jones

Roy Hargrove's Crisol: Grande-Terre

by Chris May
October 21, 2024

Increasingly and with growing momentum, right up until he died at the young age of 55 in 2018, Roy Hargrove was a standard bearer for a new kind of African American jazz. The recipe embraced a variety of styles--jazz, Afro-Cuban music, funk, hip hop and soul--and it influenced a generation of musicians in jazz and beyond. But Hargrove never abandoned jazz, the foundation stone of his style. Instead he regarded other genres as part of a rainbow ...

Sun Ra: The Futuristic Sounds Of Sun Ra - 60th Anniversary Edition

by Doug Collette
October 10, 2022

Produced by Tom Wilson, the same man who also helmed recordings by the Mothers of Invention, Bob Dylan and the Velvet Underground, The Futuristic Sounds Of Sun Ra may belie its title when described as one of the most accessible titles in his lengthy discography. Nonetheless, like its concert companion piece, At Inter-Media Arts, April 1991 (Modern Harmonic, 2016), the relatively concise approach overseen by its famous studio supervisor can reasonably function as the gateway into that vast universe of ...

Tom Scott with Special Guest Phil Woods: Bebop United

by Michael P. Gladstone
May 11, 2006

The unblemished record of Pittsburgh's Mancheaster Craftsmen's Guild as a venue for recording jazz albums continues with the this new recording from Tom Scott with special guest Phil Woods. Scott has amassed a lengthy discography which has reflected high energy fusion, pop-soul and smooth jazz over the past two decades. His earlier years, however, found him playing strongly as a member of the Don Ellis and Oliver Nelson Big Bands.

In 1992, Scott returned to the mainstream with Born Again, ...

Tom Scott: Bebop United

by Jim Santella
February 25, 2006

For Bebop United Tom Scott convened a a group of veterans for a straight-ahead live auditorium performance in Pittsburgh. His cohesive ensemble interprets each selection with a comfortable groove and a lot of soul. Featuring Phil Woods on three numbers, the concert brings slow ballads and up-tempo romps to its audience convincingly. Trumpeter Randy Brecker and tenor saxophonist Scott provide much of the dialogue, each bringing a warm presence to the concert.

For “His Eyes, Her Eyes, soloists ...

Tom Scott: Bebop United

by John Kelman
February 23, 2006

He's had a multifaceted career in almost every imaginable area of jazz--not to mention working as a gun for hire on albums by singer/songwriters like Joni Mitchell and Carole King. It's easy to forget that saxophonist Tom Scott actually started out as a jazz traditionalist. While his own albums have leaned more towards fusion and contemporary jazz, the early days of his career found Scott cutting his teeth on albums by Oliver Nelson, Don Ellis and Thelonious Monk.

So when ...

Sun Ra: The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra

by Matthew Wuethrich
January 19, 2003

Sun Ra stated that he wanted to create otherworldly emotions on this album. These emotions are “disguised as jazz,” to quote one of Ra’s poems. The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra, recorded in 1961, consists of a range of simmering, swinging, riffing tunes full of deft counterpoint. On the surface, these tunes show a rather restrained side of Ra and his Arkestra, yet below that surface lurk some unsettling emotions. Some might mistake those unsettling feelings for detachment, or worse, ...