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Musician

George Russell

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George Russell is a hugely influential, innovative figure in the evolution of modern jazz, the music's only major theorist, one of its most profound composers, and a trail blazer whose ideas have transformed and inspired some of the greatest musicians of our time.

Russell was born in Cincinnati in 1923, the adopted son of a registered nurse and a chef on the B&O Railroad. He began playing drums with the Boy Scout Drum and Bugle Corps and eventually received a scholarship to Wilberforce University where he joined the Collegians, whose list of alumni include Coleman Hawkins, Benny Carter, Fletcher Henderson, Ben Webster, Cootie Williams, Ernie Wilkins and Frank Foster. But his most valuable musical education came in 1941, when, in attempting to enlist in the Marines, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis, spending 6 months in the hospital where he was taught the fundamentals of harmony from a fellow patient. From the hospital he sold his first work, "New World," to Benny Carter. He joined Benny Carter's Band, but was replaced by Max Roach; after Russell heard Roach, he decided to give up drumming. He moved to New York where he was part of a group of musicians who gathered in the basement apartment of Gil Evans. The circle included Miles Davis, Gerry Mulligan, Max Roach, Johnny Carisi and on occasion, Charlie Parker. He was commissioned to write a piece for Dizzy Gillespie's orchestra; the result was the seminal "Cubano Be/Cubano Bop" the first fusion of Afro-Cuban rhythms with jazz, premiered at Carnegie Hall in 1947 and featuring Chano Pozo. Two years later his "Bird in Igor's Yard" was recorded by Buddy DeFranco, a piece notable for its fusion of elements from Charlie Parker and Stravinsky.

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Article: Multiple Reviews

Rich Halley, Ethan Philion and Other Releases

Read "Rich Halley, Ethan Philion and Other Releases" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


Here are a few more albums from 2023 that deserve some belated recognition. Rich Halley Fire Within Pine Eagle Records 2023 This is tenor saxophonist Rich Halley's third recording with a quartet that also features Matthew Shipp on piano, Michael Bisio on bass, and Newman Taylor Baker on ...

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Article: Play This!

George Russell: Concerto For Billy The Kid

Read "George Russell: Concerto For Billy The Kid" reviewed by Chris May


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Article: Album Review

Ingi Bjarni Skúlason: Farfuglar

Read "Farfuglar" reviewed by Chris May


Appropriately enough for an album on NXN, a subsidiary of classical label Naxos, which only relatively recently diversified into jazz, the Icelandic pianist Ingi Bjarni Skúlason's Farfuglar spans both traditions. Is it classical? Is it jazz? Both? Neither? Check the YouTube below and decide for yourself. Whatever it may be, Skúlason's music is ...

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Article: Radio & Podcasts

Electric Jazz with Joe Zawinul, Courtney Pine and Others

Read "Electric Jazz with Joe Zawinul, Courtney Pine and Others" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


This is a special vintage show from December 2021 on the role of electricity in jazz, and the resulting fusions with other genres like ambient music, jazz-rock, and trip-hop. Musicians heard on the show include Joe Zawinul, Sun Ra, Courtney Pine, John Zorn, Massive Attack, and Terje Rypdal. Playlist Henry Threadgill Sextett “I Can't ...

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Article: Radio & Podcasts

Carla Bley: A View from her Hill, Part 2

Read "Carla Bley: A View from her Hill, Part 2" reviewed by Ludovico Granvassu


Artistically ambitious, a rare woman in a male dominated scene, taking the road less travelled, or even the road never travelled, and with her feet well on the ground business-wise to ensure her artistic independence, Carla Bley played a key role in shaping today's music scene. This week we concentrate on some of her signature compositions, ...

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Article: Album Review

Art Farmer: Portrait of Art Farmer

Read "Portrait of Art Farmer" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci


When a recording that is over six decades old sets a listener to thinking many different things, it is clearly something special. Art Farmer was something special. With a bump or two along the way, virtually everyone--except perhaps Art--knew it too. He and his twin brother, bassist Addison Farmer, began their careers in jny:Los Angeles in ...

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Article: Liner Notes

Bill Evans: Duos With Jim Hall & Trios '64 & '65 Revisited

Read "Bill Evans: Duos With Jim Hall & Trios '64 & '65 Revisited" reviewed by Chris May


Although the evidence is circumstantial, it is more than possible that Bill Evans' collaborations with Jim Hall came about through proximity to George Russell. Even Alan Douglas, the producer of the duo's first album, did not claim credit for the liaison; and Douglas, who the same year brought together Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus and Max Roach, ...

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Article: Profile

Remembering Carla Bley: Jazz Innovator Extraordinaire

Read "Remembering Carla Bley: Jazz Innovator Extraordinaire" reviewed by Ian Patterson


Carla Bley, composer, arranger, free-jazz pioneer, band leader, pianist and independent, whose compositions became jazz standards, has died at the age of 87. She had been diagnosed with brain cancer in 2018. Bley's most famous recording was her sprawling, genre-elusive triple album Escalator Over the Hill (JCOA Records, 1971). On the back of this ...

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Article: Radio & Podcasts

Carla Bley Tribute, Bartók Jazz, Hot Sax LPs

Read "Carla Bley Tribute, Bartók Jazz, Hot Sax LPs" reviewed by David Brown


This week includes jazz takes on Bela Bartók, a Set of Hot Sax and a look at Philly arranger Lee Lovett. The second half of the show will be dedicated to the compositions of Carla Bley who passed this week. Welcome friends and neighbors to The Jazz Continuum. Old, new, in, out... wherever the music takes ...


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