Home » Jazz News
Video / DVD News
Timely announcements covering new album releases, tours, concert series, special events, job postings, crowdfunding campaigns and more. You can find more news by searching our website, viewing our news stream, seeing what's trending or reading our blog posts. Subscribe to our news RSS feed and/or embed AAJ news content on your website or blog. Learn about our news service here. Submit news here.
Annie Ross: 12 Solo Tracks
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Annie Ross's recording career needs to be evaluated in two parts—her solo work and her albums with Lambert, Hendricks and Ross. Today, my 12 favorite solo recordings from the 1950s: Here's Annie Ross's first recording, Le Vent Vert, in Paris in 1950. The abstract song by James Moody is wordless... Le Vent Vert Here's Ross in 1952 singing The Way You Look Tonight, backed by Milt Jackson (vib), Blossom Dearie (p), Percy Heath (b) and Kenny Clarke (d)... Here's Ross ...
Continue Reading
Timeless And Influential Sounds Of Bossa Nova And Samba Celebrated With Summer Samba!
Source:
All About Jazz
As temperatures heat up and summer kicks into high gear, UMe and Verve invite you to kick back, relax and enjoy Summer Samba!, an audio and visual feast for the senses celebrating the timeless and influential sounds of samba and bossa nova. The month-long tribute will pair some of the biggest songs in this soothing and sensual canon with vibrant animated visuals for a host of official music videos, unique visualizers and album cover videos that will be collected together ...
Continue Reading
Grover Washington Jr.: 5 Videos
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
On the evening of Friday, December 17, 1999, saxophonist Grover Washington Jr. was on the set of the CBS's Early Show. He played four songs with his band, and the performance was taped for airing the following morning, on the show's Saturday edition. In the green room, Washington collapsed and was rushed to the hospital, where he died of a heart attack at age 56. Washington recorded nearly 30 albums and is widely considered to be the father of smooth ...
Continue Reading
Art Blakey: Just Coolin'
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Listening back to the tape he recorded at Rudy Van Gelder's studio in Hackensack, N.J., on March 8, 1959, Blue Note producer Alfred Lion liked what he heard. Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers were on fire. The music was tight and ferocious, with the horns—trumpeter Lee Morgan and tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley—improvising on point. The rhythm section—pianist Bobby Timmons, bassist Jymie Merritt and Blakey on drums—were stirring the pot behind them. If there was a flaw, it was Mobley ...
Continue Reading
Gerry Muligan: Four Videos
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Yesterday, I had an afternoon visit with Gerry Mulligan. I began listening to his piano-less quartet in 1952, then his tentet in '53 followed by his groups with Bob Brookmeyer starting in 1954. The stuff still enchants with a fresh, clean, swinging sound. Which, of course, led me to YouTube. Here are four Mulligan clips, three of which went up recently: Here's Gerry Mulligan profiled on CBS Sunday Morning by pianist Billy Taylor in 1982... Here's a Mulligan masterclass in ...
Continue Reading
Paul Gonsalves: '54 and '57
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Yesterday, I posted on tenor saxophonist Paul Gonsalves and one of his late-career albums with piano wizard Earl Hines. Today, I want to give you a sense of how spectacular Gonsalves was on recordings in 1954 and '57. On the scale of playing styles, I'd put Gonsalves somewhere between Don Byas and Lucky Thompson, with Byas's puffy smoke-stack sound and Thompson's eely yearning. But to be fair, Gonsalves had his own thing, marinated by his years nestled in Duke Ellington's ...
Continue Reading
Paul Gonsalves Meets Earl Hines
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Tenor saxophonist Paul Gonsalves's centenary was over the weekend, on July 12. A romantic balladeer and gruff hard-charger, Gonsalves spent much of his career in the Duke Ellington Orchestra from 1950 onward. On his small-group leadership and sideman sessions, Gonsalves often was paired with tiger musicians who could rise to the occasion and give as good as they got. Album mates included Clark Terry, Tubby Hayes, Sonny Stitt and Eddie “Lockjaw" Davis. One of the rare non-horn match-ups was Paul ...
Continue Reading
