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Something Else! Interview: Steve Lukather, of Toto
Source:
Something Else!
Steve Lukather was gearing up for a summer tour in Europe when he got the news: Rare recognition had arrived for him, not just as a co-founder of the often-overlooked band Toto but—and this is rarer still—as a sideman. Lukather was recently honored by Gibson.com, the legendary guitar-maker's official Web site, as one of the Top 10 session players of all time—a diverse list that included Steve Cropper, Jeff “Skunk" Baxter and Chet Atkins, among others. So, we asked him ...
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Requiem for Zim Ngqawana (1959-2011)
Source:
Chris Rich
By Thomas Rome From profoundest loss I struggle to speak of the passing of one of the jazz world's most significant personalities of his generation. South African saxophonist Zim Ngqawana, 51, left us far too early last night at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, victim of a stroke. Nowhere do the strikingly parallel cultural identities of South Africa and the United States (our parallel racial ethos, if you like) speak to us more intriguingly than through jazz. If, following the ...
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A Clifford Jordan Revival
Source:
Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
Rifftides reader Debra Kinzler's notice that a quartet of Clifford Jordan's admirers will revive his Glass Bead Games prompts me to post a slightly revised version of a 2007 piece about a landmark recording that became unavailable for too long. Ms. Kinzler informs us that tenor saxophonist Seamus Blake, pianist Eric Reed, drummer Billy Drummond and bassist Dezron Douglas will perform Jordan's work in an engagement May 17-22 at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola in New York. She describes the 1974 album ...
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Face of the Bass: The Atlas of Jazz
Source:
Don Mopsick
The great Milt Hinton often said that the bass is the “Atlas of jazz" because its role in the jazz band is to “carry the other instruments on its shoulders." “Bass" is often misspelled as “base" but the meaning is very similar in music, that of “foundation." In early jazz bands, bassists played the bass fiddle, the tuba, or the bass saxophone. The typical bassist of the 1920s, if he played tuba or bass sax, was expected to “double" on ...
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A Love Letter to New Orleans - An Interview with Irvin Mayfield
Source:
Groove Notes
I spoke by phone today with New Orleans trumpeter and educator Irvin Mayfield about his beautiful new book, “A Love Letter To New Orleans." Mr. Mayfield talks about the beauty of being influenced by the film Mo Better Blues, musical and cultural similarities between NOLA and places like Haiti, Cuba, Brazil, and the beauty of New Orleans and the people of the city. Click below to listen to the interview, and find a link at the bottom of the page ...
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Chris Byars: Lucky Strikes Again
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
When the names of great tenor saxophonists are tossed around, the chain of succession generally runs like this: Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Dexter Gordon, Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane. All, of course, were reed titans, and Sonny still is. A half-step below this esteemed group is a second tier of greats that include Don Byas, Wardell Gray, Stan Getz, Zoot Sims, Al Cohn, Frank Wess, Frank Foster, Hank Mobley, Eddie “Lockjaw" Davis and Wayne Shorter. Typically left out is Lucky ...
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