Jazz Articles
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Dizzy Gillespie: Night in Tunisia: The Very Best of Dizzy Gillespie
by Francis Lo Kee
It's quite a stretch to call this CD the very best, since all of the music was recorded between 1946 and 1949. Dizzy Gillespie (1917-1993) was one of the leaders of bebop but also forged an important and unshakable relationship between jazz and Afro-Cuban music that lasts to this day. His recording career spans more than five decades. The CD opens with A Night in Tunisia, played with the kind of energy of which only innovators are ...
read moreFats Waller: If You Got To Ask, You Ain't Got It!
by Jim Santella
Fats Waller If You Got To Ask, You Ain't Got It! Bluebird Jazz 2006
His career was short, but he left behind the kind of memories that will never fade. Fats Waller had it all: personality, keyboard talent, musical ear, and an intuitive feel for communicating with an audience. He was funny. He was unique. And yet, he was musically superior.
Waller died of pneumonia in 1943 at the age of 39. ...
read moreFats Waller: If You Got To Ask, You Ain't Got It!
by David Rickert
Fats Waller If You Got To Ask, You Ain't Got It! Bluebird Jazz 2006
The first thing that strikes you about Fats Waller's music is how much fun it is. Today we recognize Waller as one of the first geniuses of jazz, both as a composer and as a musician, but jazz is serious business now and it's hard to imagine a guy like Waller doing his thing today.
This is probably why Waller ...
read moreLarry Carlton: Fire Wire
by John Kelman
If veteran session guitarist Larry Carlton's Sapphire Blue (Bluebird, 2004) was a first shot at the bow of those who'd written him off as too smooth, Fire Wire is a veritable volley. Sapphire Blue found Carlton in a more energetic, blues-based context, but his trademark singing tone still spoke the language of jazz. Leaving all such references behind, Fire Wire is more rock instrumental than jazz fusion--and the rawest album he's made in his forty-year career.
The laid-back minor blues ...
read moreLarry Carlton: Fire Wire
by Sarah Moore
Steely Dan session musician and former Crusaders member Larry Carlton brings another dose of fusion with his latest release, Fire Wire. The followup to his 2004 album Sapphire Blue includes a horn section named after that CD. The disc begins with an upbeat, hard edge that takes you worlds away from the smooth, complacent jazz guitar sound you might have expected from earlier recordings. With a style evoking Stevie Ray Vaughan's blues in Double Cross, Carlton breaks free from the ...
read moreHarvey Mason: With All My Heart
by Javier AQ Ortiz
Harvey Mason's motto on With All My Heart seems to be The one who plays drums in a jazz trio with the most bad-ass pianists and bassists wins. Arguably, that can be also stated of his entire career, as he has played and recorded with a mind-numbing amount of artists through various historical periods and musical styles. The lengthy and illustrious development of the quintessential small jazz group is definitely boosted by this recording.The premise of the production ...
read moreBenny Goodman: Centennial Collection
by AAJ Staff
By Francis Lo Kee
Clarinetist Benny Goodman (1909-86) is considered by jazz historians to be one of the most important musicians in all of jazz, though not all of his important achievements were strictly musical. He is credited with racially integrating his bands at a time when it was not a popular idea, yet he brought jazz a level of audience attention that would earn it the title of pop music today. The DVD presents footage from 1939-66, while the ...
read moreRosemary Clooney: Rosie Solves The Swingin' Riddle
by David Rickert
Rosemary Clooney declared her love affair with Nelson Riddle the best blending of my job and my personal life that I've ever had." While it ended their respective marriages, it also resulted in some excellent music. Riddle will be familiar to most as the guy who orchestrated the great Sinatra records for Capitol; that is, if he's familiar at all. Suffice it to say that he was one of the greatest arrangers of all time, creating backgrounds ...
read moreBing Crosby: Bing With A Beat
by David Rickert
They just don't write songs like I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter" anymore. It's a catchy melody combined with witty lyrics that conveys an innocent longing for love that would be inconceivable as a radio hit today. However, the same goes for just about any other song on Bing With A Beat.
But then they weren't really writing songs like that in 1957, either. That's when this album first appeared, and none of the songs were ...
read moreColeman Hawkins: The Centennial Collection
by Joel Roberts
Though it won't get the attention of the recent Duke Ellington or Louis Armstrong centennials, the 100th anniversary of Coleman Hawkins' birth, coming up on November 21, certainly warrants celebration from jazz fans. Dubbed the father of the tenor saxophone," Hawkins was a vital force on the jazz scene for five decades, moving through the swing era to bebop and beyond. Bluebird's Centennial Collection" begins and ends, appropriately enough, with two renditions of the tune Hawkins is ...
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