Jazz Articles

The Great Jazz Trio: 'S Wonderful

by John Kelman
November 22, 2005

It's hard to believe that when he inaugurated the Great Jazz Trio in the mid-1970s, pianist Hank Jones was approaching sixty. At that point he'd already built a long, prestigious career working with virtually every significant mainstream jazz artist to emerge since the late 1930s. It's even more remarkable that, thirty years later, not only is Jones still going strong--with a recording and touring schedule that would wither those a quarter his age--but he manages to retain a certain identity ...

Don Friedman: My Favorite Things

by Riel Lazarus
October 6, 2004

One of the sweetest sounds in jazz is that of a well groomed piano trio. Many would agree, there's little to contend with an able- bodied threesome, flipping through the pages of this or that tune, together finding its cozy hearth in harmony and rhythm. Veteran pianist Don Friedman has found that center and, alongside bassist George Mraz and drummer Lewis Nash, tendered a second offering from their ensemble, this time entitled My Favorite Things. The trio's first ...

Joe Farnsworth: It's Prime Time

by Terrell Kent Holmes
October 3, 2004

It's Prime Time , by drummer Joe Farnsworth, is an inspired blend of past and present, with a lineup of young lions roaring in the presence of several pantheon-dwelling vets. Their combined talents give this disc, a nod to the hard bop period of the '50s and '60s, a sound that is at once nostalgic and timeless. The opener, “Sweet Poppa," begins with Farnsworth drumming a pedal point intro, followed by tenor man Eric Alexander, who builds a ...

Joe Farnsworth: It's Prime Time

by C. Michael Bailey
October 2, 2004

Veteran drummer Joe Farnsworth figuratively steps from behind his trap kit to lead some of the musicians for whom he has served as rhythm master in the past fifteen years. Farnsworth has attracted much attention from both the old guard and young Turks alike. The former is represented by Harold Mabern, Benny Golson, Curtis Fuller, and Ron Carter; the latter by Eric Alexander, David Hazeltine, and Jim Rotondi. With a group like this, it is a bit hard to know ...

Marlena Shaw: Lookin' for Love

by Dr. Judith Schlesinger
October 2, 2004

In today's garden of vocalists, there are many pretty flowers. Sweet and delicate, they line up in perfumed rows, but many are unlikely to make it past the first frost. Then there's the flowering tree, standing apart, with its roots deeply anchored in the ground--this one endures every weather, delivering the soulful beauty and reassurance of the survivor. That's Marlena Shaw.Shaw sings with the ease of absolute mastery, and each feeling she expresses rings true: she's been there, ...

Lonnie Plaxico: Live at Jazz Standard

by John Kelman
May 9, 2004

The M-BASE Collective, when it first emerged in the ‘80s, championed a style that was about rhythmic unpredictability that was nevertheless mathematical in its precision, and a new way of looking at harmony that differentiated it from the post bop language of the young lions of the time. Bassist Lonnie Plaxico has the advantage of having worked seriously in both camps, and with his latest live release, Live at Jazz Standard he continues to straddle the line, although he clearly ...

The Lonnie Plaxico Group: Live at the Jazz Standard

by C. Michael Bailey
April 24, 2004

Bassist Lonnie Plaxico is perhaps best known for his associations with Greg Osby and M-Base, and for being the long-time bassist for Cassandra Wilson. He was the leader of several recordings made for the now static Muse label in the '80s and '90s. On January 29, 2003, Plaxico was leading an energetically funky sextet at New York City's Jazz Standard. The pieces populating this live disc are closer to Plaxico's Art Blakey experience than to his M-Base involvement. That is ...

The Great Jazz Trio: Autumn Leaves

by C. Michael Bailey
February 23, 2004

In Praise of the Mainstream...

The Great Jazz Trio is comprised of three veterans: Hank Jones (85 years young), Elvin Jones (77), and Richard Davis (74). If these guys are not the elder statesmen of jazz, I will eat my hat. Hank Jones, elder to Thad Jones, who in turn was elder to Elvin Jones, was on hand at the birth of bebop. Elvin’s incendiary playing propelled John Coltrane to spiritual heights the saxophonist would otherwise probably never have ascended. ...

Don Friedman: Waltz for Debby

by Andrey Henkin
December 7, 2003

Somewhere Attila Zoller is smiling, pleased to see to his one-time foil, pianist Don Friedman, playing to a full audience at the Jazz Standard last month in support of his new album Waltz for Debby. Those giddy days of the Zoller-Friedman quartet days are long past, but Don Friedman has lost little of the touch that made him a darling of that vague area between hard bop and avant-garde bubbling in the '60s.Most know Friedman now for his ...

Marlena Shaw: Live in Tokyo

by Dr. Judith Schlesinger
November 13, 2003

The very young 441 Records has a great plan: bringing Sony and JVC Japanese releases to wider audiences... and this one is a corker. But then, so is Marlena Shaw, a fascinating performer who takes absolute (yet warm and friendly) command of every audience lucky enough to see her. This live CD, recorded at the B-flat club in Tokyo in 2002, conveys much of the excitement, but necessarily misses a few crucial aspects: her elementally expressive face and body, her ...