Results for "AAJ Staff"

Documentary: Oscar Peterson

June 8, 2021

Documentary: Art Tatum

June 7, 2021

Art Tatum changed pop and rock 'n' roll. As Les Paul tells it, he was originally a pianist with a trio and determined to be exceptional. Until his friend played him a record by Art Tatum. Paul says he stopped playing piano and switched to guitar. Had Paul not heard Tatum and had he gone on ...

Interview: Judy Wexler

June 4, 2021

It's tricky business jazzing up the music of 1960s singer-songwriters. Most efforts either wind up a pale reproduction or they try too hard to swing the originals. Every so often, however, an album comes along that hits the tone just right. Vocalist Judy Wexler's new Back to the Garden (Jewel City) is one of these just-right ...

Dior and the Birth of the Cool

June 3, 2021

In 1945, at the end of World War II, the center of Western art, music and architecture shifted to New York. With Europe and Asia in shambles, new schools of creative thought took hold in America that emphasized individualism, minimalism and color. By the late 1940s, this could be seen and heard in Manhattan in the ...

Marty Napoleon Centennial

June 2, 2021

You'd think that a guy who played piano as impressively as the late Marty Napoleon would be an aloof character. After all, Marty was the guy who replaced Earl “Fatha" Hines in Louis Armstrong's All Stars in 1952. That alone would have earned him the right to be a cool, reserved cat. But that wasn't Marty. ...

Doug Raney: Meeting the Tenors

June 1, 2021

In April 1983, guitarist Doug Raney, son of guitar great Jimmy Raney and a stunning player in his own right, assembled quite a sextet at the studios of Criss Cross Records in the Netherlands. Joining Raney were two tiger tenor saxophonists—Dutch player Ferdinand Povel and Swedish hornman Bernt Rosengren, who doubled on flute. In the rhythm ...

Miles Davis in Milan in Color, 1964

May 31, 2021

This clip will likely be familiar to you, but chances are you saw it in black and white. A couple of weeks ago, the footage was uploaded colorized. The concert featured the Miles Davis Quintet at the Teatro dell'Arte in Milan, Italy, on October 11th, 1964. When I saw it, thanks to Gilles D'Elia in Paris, ...

Ruud Jacobs Superjam, 2004

May 28, 2021

Ruud Jacobs was a Dutch bassist who recorded prolifically in Europe in the 1950s and beyond. His brother, Pim Jacobs, was equally busy. In April 2004, Ruud Jacobs brought together some of Holland's finest jazz musicians for a Superjam performance at The Otter Restaurant in Loosdrecht, the Netherlands. The artists were Ferdinand Povel (ts), Sjoerd Dijkhuizen ...

Thelonious Monk Quartet: Jazz 625

May 27, 2021

My favorite Thelonious Monk quartet featured Charlie Rouse on tenor saxophone, Monk on piano, Larry Gales on bass and Ben Riley on drums. The group was recorded extensively on tour and in the studio from 1964 to 1968. On March 14,1965, they were at the Marquee Club in London before a live audience for the BBC2's ...

Elis Regina: Little Pepper

May 26, 2021

Elis Regina was one of Brazil's most beloved singers. Born in Porto Alegre, a major port city in the southern part of the country, Regina was a child singing star on local radio. In her teens she moved to Rio de Janeiro to record her first album. When she was 20, she competed in her first ...