Jazz Articles
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The Jazz Detective Strikes Again
by Mark Corroto
Producer Zev Feldman, like Joe DiMaggio, has done it again. In May of 1941, DiMaggio began a major league baseball hitting streak. People followed his exploits game after game and hit after hit. DiMaggio's amazing record of 56 consecutive games still stands to this day. Same can be said of Feldman. His detective work, finding rare archival jazz recordings (mostly concert dates) in dusty archives, continues a streak that includes music from Bill Evans, Wes Montgomery, Albert Ayler, Eric Dolphy, ...
read moreMelissa Aldana: Echoes Of The Inner Prophet
by Mike Jurkovic
Grammy-nominated saxophonist Melissa Aldana was all of maybe 21 going on 22 in 2010 when her Inner Circle Records arrival, Free Fall, caught many a discerning ear with its surprisingly earthy and assured lines and tangents. Her first for Blue Note, 2022's 12 Stars, displayed much the same but with a more resolute, restorative, established tone. As exhibited on such artistic statements as 12 Stars and 2019's Visions (Motema Music), Aldana relishes her sojourns and residencies in the ...
read moreOz Noy: Which Way Is Up?
by Mike Jacobs
This jubilant opener from Oz Noy's album, Fuzzy (Magnatude, 2007) is a great showcase for the guitarist's proprietary blend of influences, wild skill set and knack for surrounding himself with uber-talented co-conspirators. ...
read moreHadley Caliman / Pete Christlieb: Reunion
by Thomas Conrad
At the end of the first decade of the new millennium, one of the most gratifying developments in jazz is the late blossoming of Hadley Caliman. In 2008, at 76, he released Gratitude, his first recording as a leader in 31 years. It was followed in 2010 by Straight Ahead. They created a buzz on the jazz street. It is not just that he has lasted long enough to finally get the attention he deserves. Hadley Caliman is currently playing ...
read moreRachel Z: Sensual
by Mike Jurkovic
Whatever her impetus--be it the loss of her parents or peans to a shared sense of hearth, home and heaven--pianist/composer Rachel Z's thirteenth full length album, Sensual, bares a sincere, hopeful humanity. Buoyed by a sense of survival, Sensual opens as if it were a letter, closing with the Foo Fighters' crotch-kick raise-the-roof-'n-rile-'em-up These Days." Sensual pulls one in fast and fully with the keenly seductive opener, Save My Soul." It dances. It stirs. Z, whose ...
read moreLouis Sclavis, David León, Roby Glod & Joy Guidry
by Maurice Hogue
Reed players have taken over the house this week. The eminent clarinetist Louis Sclavis stars in an excellent quartet using music, text and spoken word to create a moody sonic landscape out of short stories, poems and aphorisms by French and African authors. Other European saxophonists heard are Luxembourg's Roby Glod in a familiar setting with bassist Christian Ramond and drummer Klaus Kugel, and Belgium's Toine Thys leading his band Orlando. From this side of the Atlantic come David León's ...
read moreTony Monaco Trio: Over and Over
by Pierre Giroux
Tony Monaco's latest album Over and Over is a journey into the world of jazz funk propelled by the timeless Hammond B-3 organ. With Monaco at the helm and accompanied by guitarist Zakk Jones and drummer Reggie Jackson, this trio embarks on a program of seven Monaco originals that are both compelling and undeniably funky. Monaco's approach to his compositions can be exemplified by the opening track Da Daddy." This well-formulated and realized chart smokes along ...
read moreNew Music From Willie Morris, Josh D. Reed, Scott Marshall & More
by Bob Osborne
This show features new releases from Willie Morris, Josh D. Reed, Scott Marshall. Carlos Niño Surya Botofasina & Adam Rudolph, Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, Leo Genovese John Lockwood & Nat Mugavero, PSA, Ivo Perelman Mark Helias & Tom Rainey, This Celestial Engine, and, Franco D'Andrea Franco Tonani & Bruno Tommaso.Playlist Show Intro 00:00 Willie Morris Moving Right Along" from Attentive Listening (Posi-tone) 01:04 Josh D. Reed True Love Waits" from No Signs Ahead (Self Released) 08:16 Scott Marshall That's ...
read moreRoberto Magris: Love Is Passing Thru
by Jack Bowers
Love Is Passing Thru, by Italian pianist Roberto Magris and his quartet, was actually recorded almost two decades ago, in January and February 2005, shortly after a concert tour in the Far East, and was to be released on the Black Saint/Soul note label before it was sold and went under. Fast forward to 2024, and Magris, now with Kansas City's JMood label, decided that in light of the passing a year ago of drummer and percussionist Enzo Carpentieri, the ...
read moreStrange Bedfellows: Jazz and Pop and Heinrich Schenker?
by Kurt Ellenberger
I. A Brief Introduction to Schenkerian Analysis Heinrich Schenker (1868-1935) was an Austrian musician, composer, and most notably, music theorist whose ideas about analyzing and explaining music were groundbreaking and successful. Along with other theories, like Allen Forte's Set Theory" and Arnold Schoenberg's Serialism" (two mathematically oriented theories of analysis (Set Theory) and music composition (Serialism), Schenker's theories were very popular in academia. These theories were well-suited for higher education--they are complex, abstract, and have their own terminologies. In Schenker's ...
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