Articles

Daily articles carefully curated by the All About Jazz staff. Read our popular and future articles.

ALBUM REVIEW May 1, 2000

Corey Harris, Henry Butler: Vu Du Menz

Critics and musicians routinely refer to veteran New Orleans pianist Henry Butler as “a genius." An eclectic virtuoso who’s studied everything from avant-garde jazz to opera to New Orleans R&B, Butler plays piano like he has four hands instead of two. As talented as Butler is, I’ve preferred his jazz and R&B albums to his blues releases, simply because the latter have been too ornate to suit my crude tastes. Vu-Du Menz is more down-and-dirty than Butler’s past ...

ALBUM REVIEW September 1, 1999

Corey Harris: Greens From The Garden

By Ed Kopp

Now here's something you rarely find in the blues bin: a concept album.New Orleans resident and country bluesman Corey Harris relates music to nourishment on Greens From the Garden, his third and best release. Like sumptuous courses at a great Southern feast, there's a variety of sustaining musical styles on Greens. Harris's tunes are interspersed with spoken snippets that I find annoying, but his music more than compensates. Greens benefits from a live-in-the-studio feel. Stylistically this ...