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Weekend Listening (And Viewing) Tip: Brent Jensen
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Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
Bassist Bren Plummer’s live radio broadcast a couple of days ago (scroll down two items) prompted me to check out the KNKX-FM website. There, I found a post about another Pacific Northwest jazz luminary, alto saxophonist Brent Jensen, who was recently video-recorded in one of the station’s live sessions. (Jensen and bassist Jeff Johnson are pictured left.) KNKX host Abe Beeson put together an entry that includes four pieces by Jensen and his quartet with Johnson, guitarist Jamie Findlay and ...
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Bill Evans: Very Early '70s
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Bill Evans changed in early 1972. The pianist who had looked like a gaunt accountant in the 1960s sported a mustache by 1971. A year later, his hair was college-campus long. He also sounded different. Instead of playing with poetic patience and lots of space, Evans sounded more agitated in his keyboard attack. This visual and artistic transformation has been attributed to a wide range of factors, from fusion's atmospheric influence to his growing frustration with the pianos he had ...
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Chico O'Farrill: Latin Modernist
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Looking back, 1951 and '52 were groundbreaking years for jazz. Bebop was still lingering, cool jazz had already begun in '49, the R&B-influenced hard bop was just emerging and so was the relaxed sound of West Coast jazz. But these years also were important for Latin jazz and the dominant role played by Chico O'Farrill in its development. Up until 1951, the sound of Latin jazz was dominated by Machito and His Afro Cubans (above), a group that formed in ...
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Roger Guérin: Paris Meeting
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Paris in the 1950s was a special place. Unlike most urban areas in Europe, the city had endured little physical damage during World War II. Miraculously, it was spared German and Allied bombings during its capture, occupation and liberation. The toll on its population was a different story. City residents lived in harsh conditions under Nazi control, enduring cruelty, deportations and deaths at the hands of the Gestapo and German occupiers. When Allied forces liberated Paris in August 1944, residents ...
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Blossom Dearie: Sings Broadway
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Russ Garcia probably wasn't the best choice to arrange Blossom Dearie's 1960 album, Soubrette Sings Broadway Hit Songs. The show tunes are dated for 1960 (most are from forgettable shows of the 1930s and '40s), many of the songs could be classified as novelty numbers, and the arrangements are too cute by half. In some respects, that was the fault of the album's concept. A soubrette is an actress or other female performer playing a lively, flirtatious role in a ...
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StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Keyon Harrold comes home
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St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
This week, let's take a look at some videos featuring trumpeter Keyon Harrold, who will be coming back home to perform next Wednesday, February 7 and Thursday, February 8 at Jazz at the Bistro. Harrold, who grew up in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, has been in the spotlight recently thanks to the release in September of The Mugician, his second album as a leader. Featuring guest appearances from guitarist and singer Gary Clark Jr., rapper Big K.R.I.T., R&B ...
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James P. Johnson And “Carolina Shout”
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Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
Today, February 2, is the birthday of James P. Johnson (1894-1955), who developed stride piano as an art form within an art form. In his time, piano cutting contests were proving grounds—most often in Harlem apartments—where competing pianists showed their stuff. If James P was playing, their stuff was likely not to be good enough. Johnson’s most famous composition was “Carolina Shout,” a test of a pianist’s swing, power and rhythm. He recorded it several times. Many pianists, critics and ...
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Videos: Three Guitar Masters
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Since it's Friday, I thought I'd end the week by sharing with you three separate videos of true jazz guitar masters—Louis Stewart, Joe Pass and Lenny Breau. I think you'll agree that all three are at their finest here. In each case, I found videos you wouldn't be able to stop watching even if you had to go: Here's Irish guitarist Louis Stewart and British bassist Peter Ind playing Baubles, Bangles and Beads... Here's nearly 45 minutes of Joe Pass... ...
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