Results for "AAJ Staff"
The Jazz Side of Dan Ingram

If you grew up in New York in the 1960s, you often found yourself glued to the radio after school. Hoping for your favorite songs, you bounced back and forth between the city's two big Top-40 stations—WABC at 77 on the dial and WMCA, at 520, home of the Good Guys." On WABC, Dan Ingram was ...
Videos: Barbara Dennerlein in the 1980s

Barbara Dennerlein is an exceptional jazz organist. Few in the U.S. are familiar with her, largely because Dennerlein has rarely toured here. Born in Munich in 1964, Dennerlein began playing the organ at age 11 in a household where her parents loved jazz. She quickly became a master of the bass foot pedals and was soon ...
Take Five with Tobin Mueller

by AAJ Staff
Meet Tobin Mueller Connecticut-based composer, arranger, playwright and pianist Tobin Mueller has just released his 35th album: Prestidigitation, drawing on a long career of innovation and artistry. Mueller's compositions range from Jazz Fusion to Progressive Rock, Broadway musicals to Old-School Funk, Classical ballet to video games. His jazz ensemble recordings have featured legendary bassist Ron Carter, ...
Backgrounder: Brother Jack's 'Heatin' System"

Between 1968 and 1974, organist Brother Jack McDuff recorded seven albums for Chicago's Cadet label. One of the most interesting of the bunch was The Heatin' System. What made the 1972 double album special was its hip Chicago soul-jazz flavor and the band behind him: Bobby Alston (tp), Don Myrick and David Young (ts,fl), Brother Jack ...
Backgrounder: Burrell With Brother Jack

Guitarist Kenny Burrell recorded four albums with organist Brother Jack McDuff in late 1962 and '63. The one I'm sharing with you today is Crash!, the last of the bunch that was recorded by Burrell for Prestige in February 1963. It featured Burrell with Harold Vick (ts), Brother Jack McDuff (org), Joe Dukes (d) and Ray ...
Documentary: The Beach Boys

For those growing up in the U.S. in the early 1960s, no other group better expressed the essence of summer than the Beach Boys. Their music and the smell of Coppertone suntan lotion still takes me back. Surf rock pre-dated the group, having been launched in 1960 by the Ventures' Walk—Don't Run. A surge of surf bands ...
Backgrounder: Charles Earland

Maybe you're cooking today for the holiday weekend. Or perhaps you're driving a long distance to attend a family gathering or visit the house of a friend. Or you may just be going for a long bike ride or working over the long weekend. How does three hours of uninterrupted Charles Earland sound to you? I ...
Take Five with Anita Donndorff

by AAJ Staff
Meet Anita Donndorff Anita Donndorff is a 26 year-old Argentinean singer. She began her musical journey in 2017, and has become one of the most influential singers in the jazz scene in Buenos Aires. She has performed at some of the most important music venues in Argentina, such as Teatro San Martin, Virasoro Bar, Bebop Club, ...
Rhoda Scott: Live in Hungary

Rhoda Scott is a marvelous organist still on the scene today. When I interviewed her in 2011 (go here), she talked about starting out tickling the keys" of an organ at home and in church, and fell in love with the instrument. In 1972, she was on tour in Europe and performed in Budapest, Hungary, when ...
Backgrounder: 'Ella Swings Lightly'

One of my favorite Ella Fitzgerald albums is Ella Swings Lightly. Recorded for Verve in November 1958, the album was arranged by Marty Paich and features his Dek-tette backing Ella on a bright batch of songs outside the realm of her tiresome American songbook fare. The all-star Hollywood 10 included Don Fagerquist and Al Porcino (tp), ...