Jazz Articles

Bobby Hutcherson: Somewhere In The Night

by Dan Bilawsky
October 26, 2012

The elder statesman of the vibraphone and the fastest gun in organ town don't seem like ideal partners on paper, but on record they gel quite well. Blue Note vibraphone icon Bobby Hutcherson and the fleet-fingered Joey DeFrancesco initially teamed up for the organist's Organic Vibes (Concord, 2006), and their chemistry was so strong that they couldn't just let that be a one-off pairing. Somewhere In The Night finds them sharing stage space while entertaining adoring fans at ...

Mark Soskin: Nino Rota

by Dan McClenaghan
April 28, 2012

Mark Soskin is probably best known for his work with saxophone legend Sonny Rollins. As Rollins' pianist from 1978 to 1991, he contributed to a string of several marvelous CD releases on the Milestone label. These included Dancing in the Dark (1987), which opened with a masterfully straightforward cover of the pop song, “Just Once," that featured Soskin's sparkling electric keyboards.Soskin's work with Rollins was mostly in the realm of jazz standards, Great American Songbook tunes, and the ...

Samuel Blaser: Consort in Motion

by Dan McClenaghan
August 21, 2011

There is something positively celestial about Consort in Motion. It's like listening to a soundtrack of the workings of a Jovian planetary system: a substantial mass in the middle (Samuel Blaser's trombone), orbiting moons and scatterings of interplanetary debris (bass and drums); and flashes and sparkles twinkling off of space dust (piano), with things making sense in the milieu of a sonic version of planetary physics.Swiss trombonist Samuel Blaser leads Consort in Motion, but there is an egalitarian ...

Samuel Blaser: Consort in Motion

by Troy Collins
July 13, 2011

Initially defined by composer Gunther Schuller in the late 1950s as a synthesis of jazz improvisation and classical composition, the Third Stream movement has since drifted into relative obscurity. However, in the ensuing decades the milieu has provided fertile ground for a number of visionary artists to make bold statements. The increasingly commonplace role of conservatory educations for enterprising jazz musicians has also brought newfound potential to this aesthetic; the number of young artists versed in classical composition and jazz ...

Bobby Hutcherson: Wise One

by Ken Dryden
January 18, 2010

Recently named NEA Jazz Master, Bobby Hutcherson has an extensive discography, though opportunities to record as a leader have slowed a good bit since the dawn of the 21st century. Hutcherson is still very much an important vibraphonist, as this excellent tribute to John Coltrane reveals. All nine songs were either written or recorded by Coltrane, though Hutcherson's choice of instrumentation deliberately moves away from the jazz master's typical groups. Guitarist Anthony Wilson takes the place of a second reed ...

(Another) Nuttree Quartet (Abercrombie / Anderson / Liebman / Nussbaum): Something Sentimental

by John Kelman
December 21, 2009

It's always a pleasure to hear a group of musicians who, over the years, have developed not just a strong musical bond, but a personal one as well. If it's a truth that most musicians' style is a direct extension of their personality--of who they are--then it's equally logical to extrapolate that the musical interaction between them somehow mirrors the way their friendships have evolved.

First coming together for a party to honor the recently departed ...

The Nuttree Quartet (John Abercrombie / Jerry Bergonzi / Adam Nussbaum / Gary Versace): Standards

by John Kelman
August 26, 2008

With the plethora of discs released every year that over-mine the standards repertoire, it's easy to forget that there was a time when an album called Standards would not be considered almost a dirty word. Saxophonist David Liebman's recently unearthed Pendulum Live at the Village Vanguard (Mosaic, 2008) is one such example. Drummer Adam Nussbaum, figurative leader of The Nuttree Quartet and occasional Liebman collaborator, may not demonstrate quite the same visceral energy on Standards, but there's still plenty of ...

George Cables: You Don't Know Me

by Terrell Kent Holmes
August 12, 2008

When George Cables sat at a bright red Steinway at the Society for Ethical Culture during the 2008 JVC Jazz Festival this past June and played his first notes of the evening, it was immediately clear that his recent illnesses, surgeries and convalescence had not blunted his enviable skills. He played an excellent set that night, selecting most of the tunes from his solo double-CD You Don't Know Me, an ambitious and impressive mix of spirituals, originals and standards.

Los Angeles Jazz Ensemble: Expectation

by Chris May
August 7, 2007

The young Swiss label Kind Of Blue, after a patchy start which included some pretty cheesy projects, is beginning to hit a more formidable stride. Two 2007 releases, pianist Mark Soskin's One Hopeful Day, a fine band album made luminous by saxophonist Chris Potter, and vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson's For Sentimental Reasons, all silk sheets and flickering candles, are likely to crop up in the best-of lists at the end of the year.

So, too, should the Los Angeles ...

Mark Soskin: One Hopeful Day

by Jerry D'Souza
July 17, 2007

Pianist Mark Soskin has had a long and colorful career. Over the expanse of thirty-plus years he has been in varied settings. He was in the Latin music band Azteca before he went on to a fourteen-year association with Sonny Rollins. He has lived in New York City since 1981, where he continued to mark his presence with Sheila Jordan, Joe LaBarbera and Ravi Coltrane among others. He is at the helm here and with Chris Potter (saxophone), Bill Stewart ...