Recording News

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Recording

'Bollyhood Bass' by David Starfire

Source: Michael Ricci
December 21, 2009

David Starfire's Bollyhood Bass is set to release January 12, 2010. In 2007, as part of the Six Degrees “Emerging Artist" Series, David Starfire released the five-track Bombay Beatz (a Six Degrees digital-only EP), a brilliant excursion in pan-ethnic electronica and something of a manifesto for his particular musical vision. Now, in the wake of collaborations and remixes for such artists as Freq Nasty, N.A.S.A., Mochipet & Sub Swara, his first full-length, Bollyhood Bass refines and develops that vision further. ...

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Recording

Cyrus Chestnut: A Beautiful 'Spirit'

Source: Michael Ricci
December 20, 2009

Cyrus Chestnut doesn't blow his own horn much. Besides, it's not his instrument. He has always come across as a shy and modest guy who does most of his talking with a keyboard. And that could explain, at least in part, why he's still not exactly an international celebrity. He's played all over, and with some of the biggest names in music. At 46, he has more than a dozen recordings on major labels, including a deeply soulful new one ...

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Recording

Cratedigger: Blood, Sweat and Tears, "Child is Father to the Man"

Source: Pop Dose
December 20, 2009

There had never been anything quite like them. They werent the cute mop-tops or acid-fueled freaks that had risen to fame in recent years. The members of Blood, Sweat & Tears were seasoned music professionals. The horn section (did I mention there was a horn section?!) was led by alto player Fred Lipsius, featured a young trumpeter named Randy Brecker, and came from a jazz place. Keyboard player Al Kooper and guitarist Steve Katz were late of a great New ...

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Recording

Gifts for the Jazz Fan: Improvise on This List for a Cool Yule

Source: Michael Ricci
December 19, 2009

Massive Miles Davis group tops jazz fan's craving for these books and CDs Jazz fans are such a discriminating batch that the prospect of buying them Christmas gifts must give non-jazz fans the blues. This year, however, has seen the release of plenty of books and discs that guarantee a swinging holiday. Here's an overview of some can't-fail gifts: The Complete Miles Davis Columbia Album Collection: In the unlikely event your jazz-loving recipient has no recordings of Miles Davis -- ...

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Recording

Stations of the Crossover

Source: Michael Ricci
December 19, 2009

Jazz keeps looking for back channels to the mainstream. In June, the National Endowment for the Arts announced the results of a survey that showed the median age of the jazz audience has, since 1982, increased from 29 to 46 while diminishing in size by nearly a third. “It's no longer possible for head-in-the-sand types to pretend that the great American art form is economically healthy or that its future looks anything other than bleak," said arts critic Terry Teachout ...

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Recording

Notable Dispatches from the Edge of Jazz and Beyond

Source: Michael Ricci
December 19, 2009

1. VIJAY IYER TRIO Historicity (ACT) Those who admire a lot of jazz want historical synthesis like a child of divorced parents wants a family reunion. Why cant there be a new jazz trio that does it all one thats flexible, intuitive and strategic, not lugubrious, arid or jammy-boring, and a repository of postwar piano-trio lessons, from Ahmad Jamal to free jazz and beyond? And why cant it go hard into repertory, covering M.I.A., Leonard Bernstein, Julius Hemphill, Stevie Wonder ...

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Recording

Free Jazz, Futurism, Funk and Ferocity

Source: Michael Ricci
December 19, 2009

1. STEVE LEHMAN OCTET Travail, Transformation and Flow (Pi) The years head-spinning jazz release came from the alto saxophonist Steve Lehman, who employed spectrum analysis as a compositional tool. That might have been a liability if the album werent such a breathtaking accomplishment, a blast of urban futurism at once hypnotic, kinetic and kaleidoscopic. And funky. 2. DIRTY PROJECTORS Bitte Orca (Domino) Dave Longstreth, the gangly mastermind behind this indefatigable Brooklyn indie-rock band, yelps about remaking the horizon on this ...

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Recording

Nat Adderley: Big Sax Section

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
December 19, 2009

Two days ago I touched on Coleman Hawkins Meets the Big Sax Section from 1958, on which the tenor saxophonist was teamed with Count Basie's reeds and Billy VerPlanck's charts. In 1960, Nat Adderley [pictured] had a similar encounter, but with a different set of sax giants. On That's Right! Nat Adderley and the Big Sax Section (Riverside), the trumpeter was backed by five dynamic players--Cannonball Adderley (alto sax), Yusef Lateef (tenor sax, flute and oboe), Jimmy Heath and Charlie ...

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