Jazz Articles
Our daily articles are carefully curated by the All About Jazz staff. You can find more articles by searching our website, see what's trending on our popular articles page or read articles ahead of their published dates on our future articles page. Read our daily album reviews.
Sign in to customize your My Articles page —or— Filter Article Results
John Vanore: Primary Colors
by Jerome Wilson
These recordings come from the mid-80s, a time when mixing jazz and electronics was still a fairly radical idea. They have trumpeter John Vanore marrying his solo lines to electronic embellishments performed by pianist Ron Thomas on a Yamaha DX-7 synthesizer and other keyboards. Nothing here is startling by modern standards, but there are still some interesting sounds and experiments present. The electronic effects mix in lightly on several tracks. “Yesterdays" and “A Time for Love" are basically ...
read moreJohn Vanore: Primary Colors
by Dan McClenaghan
This beautiful duet set recorded by trumpeter John Vanore and pianist Ron Thomas serves as a showcase for auspicious beginnings, for both artists. The music for Primary Colors was recorded in 1984-85. Both of the players evolved into higher profiles, finding their individual places in jazz in the twenty-first century--Vanore with, mostly, his large ensemble writing, influenced by saxophonist/orchestrator Oliver Nelson on albums like Stolen Moments: Celebrating Oliver Nelson (Acoustical Concepts, 2017) and Contagious Words (Acoustical Concepts, 2011). For his ...
read moreJohn Vanore: Stolen Moments
by Jerome Wilson
For the majority of jazz fans, the entire career of Oliver Nelson is summed up in one composition, “Stolen Moments" which makes as much sense as Duke Ellington being known for nothing except “Mood Indigo." Though he died at the very premature age of 43, Nelson built a substantial body of work in the jazz and soundtrack worlds. Trumpeter John Vanore has put together a tribute CD of his own arrangements of Nelson's music that captures the totality of his ...
read moreJohn Vanore: Stolen Moments
by Jack Bowers
Although Oliver Nelson wasn't with us very long--he died in October 1975, age forty-three--the renowned composer / arranger / saxophonist bequeathed an impressive musical legacy and touched many lives along the way. Among his many admirers is trumpeter John Vanore who first met Nelson in 1966 at an Indiana University summer camp, a meeting, Vanore writes, that “changed and shaped my career." To help repay the debt, Vanore has recorded Stolen Moments: Celebrating Oliver Nelson, on which he has redeemed ...
read moreBilly Jones: 3's a Crowd
by Troy Dostert
Duo records involving drummers aren't that common in the world of straight-ahead jazz. While it's never been an infrequent option for avant-gardists (and there are some truly legendary examples, not the least of which are John Coltrane and Rashied Ali's Interstellar Space, Max Roach and Cecil Taylor's Historic Concerts, and Peter Brötzmann and Hamid Drake's Dried Rat Dog), commercial limitations or simply a lack of adventurousness have made this kind of pairing rare outside the realm of musicians most well-known ...
read moreJohn Vanore & Abstract Truth: Contagious Words
by Greg Simmons
John Vanore & Abstract Truth's Contagious Words has the qualities of either a small big-band date or a big small-band date, depending on the perspective. There are twelve musicians listed on every track, and five more who show up for a few tracks each. That certainly has the instrumental mix for a full big band sound, but Vanore, who plays trumpet and composed most of the tracks on the album, uses the full power of the orchestra judiciously.
read more
Giveaway
Days remaining: 5
