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Sam Rivers Centennial + New John Zorn Works
by David Brown
For this week's show, we celebrate the centennial of the birth of composer and multi-instrumentalist Sam Rivers; along the way we'll here a short vocal set and some recent releases from John Zorn. Playlist Thelonious Monk Esistrophy (Theme)" from Live at the It Club--Complete (Columbia) 01:50 Helen Merrill, Clifford Brown Hush Now Don't Explain" from Hellen Merrill (Jazz Images) 02:30 Mal Waldron Hush Now Don't Explain" from Mal 2 (Orignnal Jazz Classics) 05:13 Billie Holiday and Her Orchestra ...
read moreThe Sam Rivers Sessionography: A Work in Progress
by Mike Chamberlain
The Sam Rivers Sessionography: A Work in Progress Rick Lopez 768 Pages ISBN: # 9 780578 948713 The Vortex2022 Twenty-five years in the making, Rick Lopez's 768-page opus The Sam Rivers Sessionography: A Work in Progress is a dizzying, stunning achievement of research and scholarship that stands as a one-of-a-kind standard for a genre that Lopez has practically invented by himself, starting with his previous William Parker sessionography (in print), and his online ...
read moreSam Rivers: Caldera
by John Sharpe
Caldera constitutes an impressive final entry in the Lithuanian NoBusiness imprint's Sam Rivers Archive Project. It showcases the legendary multi-instrumentalist's longstanding trio with bassist Doug Matthews and drummer Anthony Cole, which he established two years after his relocation from New York to Florida in 1991 and which remained active until 2006. During its existence, the outfit made three albums, of which the pick is Firestorm (Rivbea, 1998). The threesome provided arguably one of the most empathetic settings ...
read moreSam Rivers Trio: Caldera
by Mark Corroto
With all proper respect to Sam Rivers' '70s trio with Dave Holland and Barry Altschul, his working band from 1993 to 2006 with bassist Doug Mathews and drummer Anthony Cole is a superior ensemble. NoBusiness Records continues their Sam Rivers Archive Project with their sixth release Caldera. The label has culled music from Rivers' performances from as early as 1971 to this latest live performance, in 2002, captured in New Orleans. In the '60s Rivers found himself smack ...
read moreTony Williams: Life Time & Spring Revisited
by Maurizio Comandini
Tony Williams è uno dei più importanti batteristi della storia. Non solo del jazz, ma della musica in generale. Solitamente questa considerazione, ampiamente condivisa, fa riferimento alla sua lunga esperienza come batterista dei quintetti di Miles Davis della seconda metà degli anni sessanta ed eventualmente al suo ruolo di leader del gruppo Tony Williams Lifetime nato nel 1969 e durato un paio d'anni. Due contesti di assoluta eccellenza che quindi giustificano il giudizio dal quale siamo partiti. Questa ottima ristampa ...
read moreAnthony Williams: Life Time & Spring Revisited
by Chris May
Drummer Tony Williams' first two albums as leader, recorded for Blue Note in 1964 and 1965--Life Time when he was only eighteen years old, Spring when he was nineteen--still sound delightfully fresh all these years after their original release. At the time he made them, Williams was a rising star with Miles Davis' second and third quintets, the first a short-lived unit with saxophonist George Coleman, the second a longer lasting one with Wayne Shorter. One of ...
read moreSam Rivers: Undulation
by John Sharpe
Sam Rivers, who died in 2011, was one of the luminaries of the avant-garde, a Blue Note artist who played not only with Miles Davis and Cecil Taylor, but also Dizzy Gillespie and Billie Holiday. He lead his own groups for much of his life but also found time to run one of New York's premier lofts during the 1970s. In cooperation with his estate, NoBusiness Records has been digging into his archives, unearthing exceptional unissued live recordings of which ...
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