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Backgrounder: Ernest Ranglin's Wranglin'
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Ernest Ranglin is one of Jamaica's finest jazz, ska, mento and rock-steady guitarists. Best of all, he has always mixed them up while playing—a technique that is astonishing and has always left me speechless. In 1962, when the James Bond film Dr. No was being shot in Jamaica, Ranglin was hired to compose music for some of the Jamaican scenes. The following year Ranglin played guitar on and arranged My Boy Lollipop, sung by Millie Small. The song reached No. ...
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For Your Grammy Consideration: Players by Eugenie Jones (Best Jazz Vocal Album Category)
Source:
Bright Ideas
The four-years, four-cities, 32-musician-project, Players, by singer/songwriter Eugenie Jones is now available for your Grammy consideration. Listeners are invited to review this ten-original, five-jazz classic, two-disc project during round-one consideration. The Players NEW YORK: James Weidman, Julian Priester, Marquis Hill, Reggie Workman, Bernard Purdie, Bobby Sanabria, Asaf Even Zur, Stanley Banks, Jovan Johnson. SEATTLE: Bill Anschell, Julian Priester, Alex Dugdale, Jay Thomas, Clipper Anderson, Mark Ivester, D’Vonne Lewis, Jeff Busch, Velocity, Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio. DALLAS: Shaun Martin, Lynn Seaton, ...
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Bass Meets Tuba - Tubaist Ralph Hepola Records With Legendary Bassist Bob Bowman
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Ralph Hepola
The tuba is one of the most powerful and prominent instruments in the symphony orchestra. Tubaist Ralph Hepola has played on outstanding classical recordings (see selected discography below), but this summer he’s recording with world-class jazz musicians including a giant among bass players: legendary bassist Bob Bowman has toured and recorded with Freddie Hubbard, Carmen McRae, Bud Shank, Karrin Allyson, Bobby Watson, Steve Houghton, John Stowell, Bob Sheppard, Steve Allee, the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra and the Toshiko Akiyoshi-Lew Tabackin ...
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Who Was Joe Kennedy Jr.?
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Yesterday I posted on a new box set from Fresh Sound featuring the complete recordings of Ahmad Jamal's Three Strings between 1951 and 1955. In the post, I wrote that in the late 1940s Ahmad played in a Pittsburgh group called the Four Strings that never recorded. The Four Strings folded after Joe Kennedy Jr., the quartet's violinist, left and Ahmad moved to Chicago. So who was Joe Kennedy Jr.? Bill Kirchner wrote me early this morning. Marc, Joe Kennedy ...
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Ahmad Jamal: Complete Okeh, Parrot & Epic
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
There's always plenty of talk about musicians who had an enormous impact on jazz's direction. From Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young to Charlie Parker, Kenny Clarke, Miles Davis, Horace Silver, Lennie Tristano, Shorty Rogers, Sonny Rollins, Clifford Brown, Bill Evans, John Coltrane and beyond. Always skipped over, for some reason, is Ahmad Jamal. Now Fresh Sound has released an extraordinary two-CD box that is sure to get you to reconsider: Ahmad Jamal's Three Strings: The Complete Okeh, Parrot & Epic ...
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'Boom Bu-Cha' Launches The Groovalottos Into The World Of Afrobeats
Source:
Mwalim DaPhunkee Professor
The GroovaLottos boldly thump into the global, Afrobeats arena with their new single, “Boom Bu-Cha” and forthcoming album (Polyphonic Studios Records). True to Groovalotto form, “Boom Bu-Cha” is a fun and funky adventure in romance, delving beyond the physical into the dreams, plans and goals of a potential lover. Known primarily as a retro soul-funk band, Afrobeats has been a part of The GroovaLottos live set since the beginning, with the influences of Fela Kuti and Hugh Masakala sneaking through. ...
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Deep Dive: Somewhere in the Night
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
The theme song most people know best for Naked City, a popular TV police-drama series that aired from 1958 to 1963, was called Somewhere in the Night. But it was referred to most often as the Naked City Theme, largely because there already was an older and completely different pop song called Somewhere in the Night that Frank Sinatra and others had recorded. That wasn't the only bit of confusion. The original song for the series from 1958-'59 was This ...
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Early Salsa: The Story of Ghetto Records
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
If you plan on discussing the origins of salsa, you'd better make a large pot of Café Rico coffee. You're going to be arguing late into the night. There are multiple definitions of the music as well as a raging debate over its roots, starting point and how it evolved. To me, as a former resident of Washington Heights, the definition is rather simple: salsa began at the dawn of the 1970s and followed the boogaloo as a popular style ...
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