Jazz Articles about Kenny Drew

James Brandon Lewis, Kenny Drew, Satoko Fujii, Julian Lage

by David Brown
April 5, 2024

We kick off the show with some works that blur the lines of genre from James Brandon Lewis, Mary Halvorson and the Chicago Underground Duo; move into a set of late '50s recordings by pianist Kenny Drew, and then take off in all directions from there: piano trios from Satoko Fujii, Marc Copland and Matthew Shipp; birthday tributes to Sarah Vaughn (100!), Ben Webster, Pee Wee Russell and Orrin Evans; and wrap up with a set of works featuring guitarist ...

Kenny Drew and His Progressive Piano

by C. Michael Bailey
June 10, 2020

As a commercial release, the 12-inch LP Kenny Drew and His Progressive Piano has a curious history. It was also released under the title The Modernity of Kenny Drew and contained music from two recording sessions, one held in jny: New York City In 1953 and the second in jny: Los Angeles in 1954. Some of the sides released here were originally released as a 10-inch LP entitled The Ideation of Kenny Drew. Got that straight? This was the release ...

New Faces - New Sounds

by C. Michael Bailey
May 12, 2020

In the early 1950s, Blue Note Records introduced new artists in the label's series New Faces -New Sounds. It highlighted such young artists as Horace Silver (1952); Lou Donaldson (1952); Elmo Hope (1953); and Frank Foster (1954). All of these recordings were released as part of Blue Note Record's 5000 Modern Jazz Series, all on 10-inch vinyl 33&1/3 LPs. This electronic space considered earlier Wynton Kelly's debut recording New Faces -New Sounds (1951) and now turns to another pianist with ...

Tina Brooks Quintet: The Complete Recordings

by Chris May
March 9, 2020

Mosaic Records' spring 2020 release The Complete Hank Mobley Blue Note Sessions 1963-70, the second of the label's box sets devoted to the copiously recorded (and rightly so) Hank Mobley, prompts thoughts of another of Blue Note's singular hard-bop tenor saxophone stylists. Unlike Mobley, Tina Brooks was woefully under-recorded, making just four albums under his own name. But like Mobley, Brooks had an instantly recognisable sound, was a spellbinding soloist and was also a gifted composer. In addition to his ...

Dexter Gordon: Tokyo 1975

by Mike Jurkovic
August 6, 2018

Though in many regards a standard, none-too-frenetic quartet setting, Dexter Gordon Quartet Tokyo 1975 is still as grand a starting point for Elemental Music's inaugural launch of previously unreleased jazz performances as can be. Gordon found himself exuberantly liberated from the antiquated (and sadly all too present) prejudices of America during his fourteen-year expatriation to Europe from 1962 to '76. Working and living primarily in Paris and Copenhagen, Gordon gigged and recorded with visiting friends and fellow expats ...

Dexter Gordon Quartet: Tokyo 1975

by C. Michael Bailey
July 11, 2018

Elemental Music is a record label that can be uttered in the same breath with Omnivore Records and Resonance Records. These labels can be credited with significant additions to the universal jazz catalog. Near recent examples of unreleased performances put out by Elemental Music include: Art Pepper Live At Fat Tuesday's (2015) and Red Garland's Swingin' On The Korner: Live At Keystone Korner (2015), as well as Jimmy Giuffre: New York Concerts (2014). Elemental Music has since found ...

Kenny Drew Trio: At The Brewhouse

by Jerry D'Souza
December 4, 2007

Kenny Drew Trio At The Brewhouse Storyville 2007

Kenny Drew had a marvellous sense of harmony, phrasing and timing on the piano. Whether he lingered on a note, or let it pass by in a wisp, the impression was delectable. His touch was magic.

Drew's early influences were Fats Waller, Art Tatum and Teddy Wilson, all of whom he encapsulated in his playing even as he went on to develop a vocabulary ...