Articles

Suddenly It's Spring

By Mark Barnett

Getting Started If you're new to jazz, go to our Getting Into Jazz primer for some hints on how to listen. CD capsule Beautiful yet largely forgotten ballads unearthed and given a stunning jazz make-over by tenor saxophonist Zoot Sims and pianist Jimmy Rowles. Tag this one as buried treasure. Background For more about Sims and Rowles, go to the If I'm Lucky in the “Getting Into Jazz" series.

If I'm Lucky

By Mark Barnett

Getting Started If you're new to jazz, go to our Getting Into Jazz primer for some hints on how to listen. CD Capsule Gorgeous improvisations on some beautiful yet rarely played songs by tenor saxophonist Zoot Sims and pianist Jimmy Rowles. Background Zoot Sims was one of several tenor saxophonists who played in the spare, “cool" style originated by the legendary Lester Young. This meant a smooth, breathy tone without ...

Oscar Peterson: Perfect Peterson: The Best of the Pablo and Telarc Recordings

By Dan McClenaghan

The back cover photo on this two-disc set is a shot of the inimitable Oscar Peterson in a light-toned suit with a wide necktie that sports a swirling, quasi-paisley pattern. The photo's in black and white, but we can guess at a riot of colors; and that phrase could serve as a decription of Peterson's piano style: a light-hearted riot of swinging colors.The two discs span Peterson's career from 1953 until 2000, covering a surprising array of styles ...

Zoot Sims and the Gershwin Brothers

By C. Michael Bailey

Zoot Sims Zoot Sims and the Gershwin Brothers Pablo/OJC 1975

The beauty of jazz is there are always older recordings to be discovered and rediscovered. Zoot Sims and the Gershwin Brothers is one of these recordings. Long hailed as one of Sims's finest recordings, it was not until recently that it crossed my path. Everything in print was accurate. The recording is a blissfully successful bit of musical alchemy.

Recorded ...

Joe Pass: Blues For Fred

By David Rickert

Joe Pass's Virtuoso (Pablo, 1974) was a milestone: not only was it a terrific CD, it was also the first solo jazz guitar record that was worth listening to all the way through. Pass melded the harmonic virtuosity of Art Tatum to a rock 'n' roll sensibility that appealed to fans of Coltrane and Hendrix alike. Of course, it spawned a series of like-minded recordings from the acknowledged guitar genius.

The 1988 recording Blues For Fred is a ...

Joe Pass: Virtuoso in New York

By Derek Taylor

When it comes to bountiful vault holdings, few musicians can compare with the oeuvre established by guitarist Joe Pass. As the Pablo label's plectral staple his tape stacks rival and possibly even surpass those of Norman Granz's other resident factotum, Oscar Peterson. The steady crop of titles (one or two each year) that continue to find their way to circulation on disc gives the illusion that virtually ever note he ever picked in studio or on stage was captured by ...

Milt Jackson: Soul Route

By C. Michael Bailey

Two late great bluesmen.

Soul Route is a funky little confederation that brings together perhaps the two most sensitive blues sensibilities in jazz on a single recording— the late Milt Jackson and the late Gene Harris. Recorded during the former's productive ten-year association with Norman Granz and Pablo Records, Soul Route may be credited with sparking the reemergence of Idaho pianist Harris, who had spent a number of years in retirement following his long and successful leadership of The Three ...