Articles

Joe La Barbera: Experiencing Bill Evans

By Victor L. Schermer

In his own unassuming way, Bill Evans changed the face of jazz piano trio forever. He made the piano a lyrical, expressive voice for the most subtle and deep emotions, and he transformed the rhythm section from a time-beating, swing-maintaining outfit into an intimate, conversational musical unit. He loved tradition. It was just his grasp of the music and the special way that he composed, arranged, and played that influenced his contemporaries and the generations that came after him. He ...

A Fireside Chat with Joe La Barbera

By AAJ Staff

Familiarity breeds a docile apathy. And certainly the temperamental constitution of Tinseltown commits to one constant - inconsistency. But not among those in the arena. Bona fide heroes of the Los Angeles standard like Joe La Barbera (unedited and in his own words), who elevate the routine to an art. Perhaps spectators ought to be beholden to that kind of loyalty and celebrate our local stock as much as the visiting nationally lauded.

All About Jazz: Let's start from the ...

The Joe LaBarbera Quintet: Live!

By Jack Bowers

Stung too often by inscrutable contracts and creative bookkeeping, a growing number of jazz musicians are taking matters into their own hands, producing and distributing albums on their own independent labels as an alternative to the bondage in which they’ve long been held by corporate overseers. Four of these artists -- trumpeter Clay Jenkins, guitarist Larry Koonse, bassist Tom Warrington and drummer Joe LaBarbera -- have come together to form Jazz Compass Records, an online label whose mandate is to ...