Jazz Articles about Virginia Mayhew

Virginia Mayhew: Mary Lou Williams - The Next 100 Years

by AAJ Italy Staff
October 23, 2012

Registrato nel dicembre 2010, a cent'anni dalla nascita di Mary Lou Williams, questo concept album di Virginia Mayhew celebra la grande pianista, compositrice e arrangiatrice, forse la più grande del jazz assieme a Carla Bley, Lil Hardin e pochissime altre. La versatile sassofonista (poco nota in Italia ma attiva professionalmente a New York dalla fine degli anni ottanta) ha arrangiato e interpreta otto composizioni di Mary Lou dopo l'analisi di oltre duecento brani. A questi aggiunge due suoi temi originali, ...

Virginia Mayhew Quartet: Mary Lou Williams: The Next 100 Years

by Edward Blanco
July 17, 2012

Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth date of pianist, composer and arranger Mary Lou Williams, the Virginia Mayhew Quartet pays homage to one of the most unheralded, yet most important jazz figures of all time on Mary Lou Williams--The Next 100 Years. Presenting new arrangements of eight Williams compositions and two original blues charts, Mayhew directs a formidable quartet of veteran players and special guest, trombonist Wycliffe Gordon to make for a powerful quintet sound on several tracks.

Virginia Mayhew Quartet: Mary Lou Williams: The Next 100 Years

by Dan McClenaghan
July 10, 2012

Saxophonist Virginia Mayhew is a rare forward-looking jazz artist who doesn't mind looking back. She leads the Duke Ellington Legacy, responsible for the superb Thank You Uncle Edward (Renma Recordings, 2007) and Single Pedal of a Rose (Renma Recordings, 2012). Now she honors Mary Lou Williams (1910-1983) in this tribute to the groundbreaking pianist/composer/arranger's one hundredth birthday. Williams could be considered underrated, but there are efforts to remedy that: pianist Geri Allen recorded a quartet version of a ...

Virginia Mayhew Septet: A Simple Thank You

by AAJ Italy Staff
November 27, 2008

Un grazie a tutti, è questo il titolo che la sassofonista Virginia Mayhew ha scelto per il nuovo CD, il quinto a suo nome, con la nuova band, un settetto piú un paio di ospiti: la percussionista Mayra Casales e la trombettista Ingrid Jensen. La sezione ritmica con cui lavora di solito è rimasta la stessa, ma a rendere i brani dal sound piú robusto ha scelto di integrarla con una sezione fiati. Il disco si sviluppa in modo festoso, ...

Virginia Mayhew: A Simple Thank You

by Ken Dryden
September 11, 2008

Virginia Mayhew has been a part of the New York City jazz scene since 1987 when the San Francisco native enrolled in the New School's Jazz Performance program and was awarded its Zoot Sims Memorial Scholarship. The tenor saxophonist played with a variety of bandleaders including Earl “Fatha" Hines, Al Grey, Junior Mance, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Joe Williams, Clark Terry, Terry Gibbs, Kenny Barron and Claudio Roditi, as well as being a key soloist in the all-female big band Diva.

Virginia Mayhew Septet: A Simple Thank You

by Michael P. Gladstone
May 29, 2008

It has always been a pleasure to see saxophonist Virginia Mayhew in performance and enjoy her original compositions, which present solid material which she plays with warmth, grace and the best that mainstream jazz can offer on both tenor and soprano sax.

Mayhew had to face a definite speed bump in her musical career when breast cancer developed and this project was put on hold. Thankfully, all is well now and she has a finely-tuned album to show ...

Virginia Mayhew: A Simple Thank You

by Jerry D'Souza
April 25, 2008

The soul of an artist reverberates through the music. Virginia Mayhew (tenor and soprano saxophones) fills her playing with warmth, tenderness and an unmitigated passion. Her recordings have marked these traits, making them a veritable joy. She continues the trend here, with an expanded line-up that gives the music a greater dimension. It's the first septet she has worked with, and the whole band plays with and off each other, demonstrating remarkable empathy.

The music comprises new tunes as well ...