Jazz Articles about Alphonse Mouzon

A Supreme Love

by Duncan Heining
July 10, 2023

Alan Skidmore is one of the finest saxophonists to come out of the United Kingdom, Europe or indeed anywhere. In fact, it was hearing Skidmore's tenor solo on “Have You Heard?" from John Mayall's Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton (Decca, 1966) that encouraged a young Michael Brecker to take up the instrument. Skidmore had also served his apprenticeship with blues singer Alexis Kornerin the sixties and by the end of the decade was equally well-versed in the blues and in the ...

Alphonse Mouzon, Bill Evans (Sax), Alain Caron and Joseph Patrick Moore

by Len Davis
May 7, 2023

The late Alphonse Mouzon opens with an epic piece featuring Freddie Hubbard and Herbie Hancock, Bill Evans with some soulful jazz funk, and bassist's Alain Caron, Joseph Patrick Moore and Tony Grey. Playlist Alphonse Mouzon “By All Means" from By All Means (MPS) 00:00 Bill Evans-Saxophone “Gimme Some" from Soul Insider (ESC) 07:57 Andy Narell “Natty Stick" from Slow Motion (Hip Pocket) 15:52 Alain Caron “Slam The Clown" from Rhythm'n Jazz (Norac) 23:54 Joseph Patrick Moore “Nevada Sun" ...

Larry Coryell: Improvisations: Best of the Vanguard Years

by Josef Woodard
February 6, 2023

There have been many smoother operators in the world of jazz guitar than Larry Coryell, the brainy rough rider who was a natural-born fusioneer, in the best sense. There have been cleaner technicians on the instrument, with a more lucid sense of identity and careers that have followed a logical, rolling landscape. But not many have quite attained Coryell's strange, madly eclectic state of grace: into music he came, he saw and heard things not yet articulated, he conquered on ...

Classic '70s Fusion

by Len Davis
April 23, 2021

This week we visit the '70's for some classic fusion from Alphonse Mouzon, Michal Urbaniak as well as a couple of fairly obscure gems from Europe. Playlist Alphonse Mouzon “Nightmare" from In Search Of A Dream (MPS) 00:00 Michal Urbaniak “Deep Mountain" from Fusion (Columbia) 14:01 Isotope “Deep End" from Deep End (Gull) 22:13 Caldera “Exaltation" from Caldera (Capitol) 30:07 Iceberg “Bali De Les Fulles" from Sentiment (Picap) 37:11 Sphero “Black Hill Samba" from Sphero (Cobra) 49:08 Ken ...

Alphonse Mouzon: In Search Of A Dream

by Chris May
July 2, 2018

2018 is the 50th anniversary of the founding of the distinguished German jazz label MPS. To mark the occasion, the label's catalogue of over 400 albums has been released on download, and a vinyl and CD remastering and reissue programme has begun. Alphonse Mouzon's In Search Of A Dream is among the first of these discs. Originally released in 1978, it was the fourth--and finest--jazz-rock set the drummer recorded for the label. During the 1970s, his ...

Alphonse Mouzon: Virtue

by John Kelman
January 11, 2009

Digging deep into the MPS catalog for its first reissues of 2009, Promising Music revives drummer Alphonse Mouzon's Virtue, an eclectic 1977 fusion date that may have coasted towards nascent smooth jazz territory but highlights the significant difference between what that term meant then and now.

With a chorus singing “Master Funk" over the funky opening track of the same name, and Mouzon's get-down clavinet playing (he adds a wealth of keyboards in addition to those ...

Alphonse Mouzon: From Charleston Heights to Bel Air

by Mikayla Gilbreath
October 1, 2008

A fleeting glance at the cover of Alphonse Mouzon's CD Jazz in Bel-Air (Tenacious, 2008) gives one the impression that Mouzon was born into wealth, “with a silver spoon in his mouth." Listening to Mouzon's compositions and performance on the CD does nothing to dispel that impression. He delivers a live performance so polished and enjoyable that it would seem almost out-of-place in anything less than a top-notch venue. The use of earlier Mouzon compositions on television shows such as ...