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.
Jack McDuff: Moon Rappin'
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
As years go, 1969 was a doozy. The country had just come off of two horrible assassinations in 1968 along with news of the Mai Lai Massacre. The following year began with President Nixon's inauguration in January. Any hope that Teddy Kennedy would replace his slain brother in Shakespearean fashion was dashed with the Chappaquiddick incident in July. The Manson “Family" slaughtered seven people in August in L.A. Woodstock was held later that month in New York, followed by Altamont ...
Continue Reading
Don Ellis: Shock Treatment
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
One of the most fascinating and overlooked jazz orchestral leaders, arrangers and composers of the 1960s and '70s was Don Ellis. His scores were so ferociously busy and avant-garde, it's amazing he could find anyone who could play them. But he did, and those who signed on with him became ardent devotees. Nearly all of Ellis's leadership albums are worthy of a listen, and there were many of them—more than 20 in just over two decades. Ellis was often ahead ...
Continue Reading
The Kids Dig Barry Galbraith
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Barry Galbraith was a superb and tasteful jazz guitarist who played on dozens of albums behind big bands and combos. While he regretfully recorded just one album as a leader (Gone With the Wind, Decca, 1958), he wrote many jazz guitar books on comping, soloing, fingering, daily exercises and more. They are considered a must for jazz guitar studies and to grasp the jazz feel. As soon as my writing workload slows down, I'm going to spring for a guitar ...
Continue Reading
Ana Mazzotti: Sao Paulo Sound
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Brazil in the 1974 was a country of joy and pain. The military had taken control in a coup 10 years earlier and would rule with harsh anti-communist rule until 1985. Strangely, the dictatorship reached the height of its popularity in the 1970s with sizable economic growth known as the “Brazilian Miracle." But prosperity came with a price. The regime limited freedom of speech, curbed the media and exiled or tortured dissidents. During these years of social constraints and torment, ...
Continue Reading
Bill De Arango on EmArcy
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Speed set Bill De Arango apart. When he arrived in New York from Cleveland in 1944, he fit in almost immediately on 52nd Street. In 1945, when World War II ended and bebop began nudging swing aside, De Arango was perfectly positioned. A terrifyingly fast player, he was among the few guitarists at the time who could keep up with horn players and pianists playing the new music. Influenced by the staccato attack of trumpeter Roy Eldridge and guitarists Django ...
Continue Reading
Six New YouTube Videos
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
The other day I was combing YouTube in search of a couple of videos when I came across these delightful new jazz clips uploaded in recent weeks and months: Here's Sarah Vaughan singing East of the Sun in 1981, with Andy Simpkins on bass... Here's Stan Getz playing Soul Eyes... Here's pianist McCoy Tyner with Freddie Hubbard and Joe Henderson playing Just Feeling... Here's Sonny Rollins playing Don't Stop the Carnival in Copenhagen in 1985... Here's a lovely guitarist playing ...
Continue Reading
Video: Bill Evans in Paris, 1972
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
In the winter of 1972, pianist Bill Evans was on tour in Europe. During a publicity stop at a Paris TV studio prior to his concert at the Maison de la Radio on February 6, Evans, bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Marty Morell performed Cole Porter's I Love You. Interestingly, Evans's discography shows he hadn't recorded the standard since a Village Vanguard gig in 1966 with Gomez and drummer Arnie Wise. The program was a weekly sports show on French ...
Continue Reading
StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Introducing Mwenso and the Shakes
Source:
St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
This week, StLJN's video spotlight shines on Mwenso and The Shakes, who will be performing next Saturday, November 9 at The Sheldon. They'll be presenting “Harlem 100," described as a “modern variety show" that “captures the sights and sounds of Harlem when legendary artists such as Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, Langston Hughes and Billie Holiday made Harlem the cultural center of the country." Vocalist and frontman Michael Mwenso was born in Sierra Leone and grew up in London, where he ...
Continue Reading
