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Justin Hinds: Jamaican Groove
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Though Jamaican pop was recorded in English, most Americans know very little about the history of the country's music, its artists or hits. Interestingly, Jamaican rhythms are hardly foreign to American ears. For example, the following U.S. hits were powered by Jamaican rhythms: Millie Small's My Boy Lollipop, Johnny Nash's Hold Me Tight, the Beatles' Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, Eric Clapton's cover of I Shot the Sheriff, Blondie's cover of The Tide Is High, the Clash's Guns of Brixton and the Police's ...
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Terry Pollard: Detroit Legend
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Somewhere out there in the Detroit region there are unreleased tapes of Terry Pollard. The accomplished female pianist and vibraphonist recorded only one solo album, for Bethlehem in Los Angeles in January 1955. She began her recording career in the early 1950s in Billy Mitchell's Detroit quintet. Then thanks to the keen eyes and ears of vibraphonist and bandleader Terry Gibbs, she joined his band and recorded seven albums with Gibbs from 1953 to 1956. She also appeared on TV ...
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StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Spotlight on The Thing
Source:
St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
Today, let's check out some videos featuring The Thing, who will be in St. Louis later this month for a show presented by New Music Circle on Thursday, March 22 at Off Broadway. With an energetic, extroverted style that's sometimes been called “Action Jazz" (after their 2006 album of the same name), saxophonist Mats Gustafsson, drummer Paal Nilssen-Love, and bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten draw as much inspiration from punk rock and various world musics as they do from the jazz ...
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The Free Soul of Ornette
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Abstraction came late to jazz. New York's abstract expressionism art movement emerged in the late 1940s and flourished throughout the 1950s. By contrast, free jazz didn't coalesce until the late 1950s, though there were inklings of the style in the music of Lee Konitz in the late 1940s and early '50s. Not until alto saxophonist Ornette Coleman and his sidemen did free jazz begin to become a jazz genre in 1959. While the music can be difficult for listeners accustomed ...
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The Syncopated Soul of Bix
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
In the 1920s, syncopation was the iPhone and social media of its day. Invented by New Orleans musicians and popularized in gangland Chicago, the infectious sound of off-beat rhythms enhanced by wailing jazz trumpets and cornets became a national rage. Whether you were rich or poor, black or white, it made no difference. The music transcended class and race. It could be heard on 78 records and in ballrooms and bars. The music's earthy, care-free personality also permeated fashion, ushering ...
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Bobby Paunetto: Latin Vibes
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Vibraphonist Bobby Vincent Paunetto recorded only five known albums. El Sonido Moderno (1967), Paunetto's Point (1974), Commit to Memory (1976), Composer in Public (1996) and Reconstituted (1999). As a composer and arranger, Paunetto was highly regarded by all the Latin greats. Born in 1944, Paunetto began playing vibes at 17 and became friends with vibraphonist Cal Tjader. He studied at Boston's Berklee College of Music from 1969 to 1973. In 1979 Paunetto was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and gave up the ...
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StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Ben Wendel's "The Seasons"
Source:
St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
This week, the StLJN video spotlight shines on saxophonist Ben Wendel, who's coming to St. Louis for a performance on Thursday, March 15 at The Ready Room. Born in Vancouver, CA, raised in Los Angeles, and educated at the Eastman School of Music, Wendel now lives in NYC and probably is best known as a member of the collective Kneebody. who have played here in St. Louis a couple of times at Jazz at the Bistro, most recently in March ...
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Coltrane Could Leave You Breathless
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Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
Research on yet another extracurricular project involving John Coltrane has led me into several byways that the great tenor saxophonist took in his pre-“Giant Steps” days of the 1950s. One of those paths branched off from the association with Miles Davis that formed a milieu in which Coltrane flowered. After he left Davis, he formed his own band and played an essential role in changing the music’s direction. In the studio on his own in the fifties, he often had ...
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