Jazz Articles about Albert Tootie Heath

Albert "Tootie" Heath: Class Personified

by R.J. DeLuke
April 13, 2024

This article was first published on All About Jazz on March 9, 2015. Albert “Tootie" Heath is among the drummers who lived--and thrived--during what many call the golden age of jazz, the '40s, '50, early '60s. He's enjoyed the fruits of a varied and historic career, but never stayed put. Just kept working. He admires the musicians of today and the direction of jazz. The jny: Philadelphia native extols hip-hop for its status in today's music world. On ...

Remembering Albert 'Tootie' heath

by Ian Patterson
April 13, 2024

Clifford Jordan: These Are My Roots: Clifford Jordan Plays Leadbelly

by Chris May
May 6, 2021

These Are My Roots: Clifford Jordan Plays Leadbelly is an oft overlooked item in the canon of tenor saxophonist Clifford Jordan, whose chef d'oeuvre was undoubtedly Glass Bead Games (Strata-East, 1974), one of the most exalted jazz albums of its era. But These Are My Roots, which was originally released on Atlantic in 1965 and has in 2021 been reissued on vinyl by British audiophile label Pure Pleasure, is of more than passing interest. The hard bop ...

Greg Skaff: Polaris

by C. Andrew Hovan
April 16, 2021

The pandemic year of 2020 brought with it very little in terms of artistic endeavors, thanks to lockdowns and stay home orders. Yet even under extreme conditions, guitarist Greg Skaff managed to commit to tape some genuinely sublime music that is sure to be remembered as one of 2021'a most memorable releases. Of course, Skaff has been at the forefront of modern jazz guitar since his first big break in the '80s working with the legendary Stanley Turrentine.

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 ...

Albert "Tootie" Heath, Ethan Iverson, Ben Street: Philadelphia Beat

by Stefano Merighi
August 10, 2015

Ottant'anni di fragranza sono quelli di Albert “Tootie" Heath, a giudicare dalla qualità del gioco imbastito in trio con il piano di Ethan Iverson ed il contrabbasso di Ben Street, un gioco giunto alla sua terza e più riuscita mano, votato alle regole non scritte della scuola jazzistica di Philadelphia. Un magistero, quello di Heath, plasmato sulla leggerezza, sul gusto della sottrazione, affermato in decenni di frequentazioni al vertice della storia del jazz (da Art Farmer a Yusef Lateef, da ...