Results for "AAJ Staff"

Jazz Concert on Henri Matisse at Boston's Cathedral Church of St. Paul on Thursday, May 26

May 26, 2011

The Chris Bakriges Trio is giving a recital entitled Reflections on Henri Matisse's Jazz at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in downtown Boston on Thursday, May 26, 2011 at noon. The recital is a musical reflection on French painter Henri Matisse's important art book, Jazz, published in 1947 and part of his innovative “painting with ...

Something Else! Interview: Jazz Pianist Michael Wolff

May 26, 2011

Jazz pianist Michael Wolff—an endlessly engaging player whom the New York Times has praised for “near impeccable good taste, technical facility and lyrical inventiveness" —joins us for an SER Sitdown to discuss the lasting importance of his old boss Julian “Cannonball" Adderley, Nancy Wilson's way with a song, the world's weird attaction of Elvis Presley—oh, and ...

Edith Wilson - He May Be Your Man ... but He Comes to See Me Sometimes (1973)

May 26, 2011

A pioneer as just the third African American woman to make a phonograph recording back in the 1920s, Edith Wilson later fell on hard times—and was reduced to appearing through the mid-'60s (and quite anonymously) in the first Aunt Jemima TV commercials. By the early 1970s, few remembered Wilson, an early star of black theater who ...

Capsule Reviews: Billy Hart, Albert Ayler, JD Allen

May 26, 2011

Billy Hart—Sixty Eight (Steeplechase, 2011) Drummer Billy Hart leads a fine group consisting of Jason Palmer on trumpet, Logan Richardson on alto saxophone, Michael Pinto on vibraphone, Dan Tepfer on piano and Chris Tordini on bass. They play fine mix of adventurous mid-60's centered hard bop and thoughtful ballads. The focus on ensemble play, with fine ...

The Most Important Cities in the Music Industry Today...

May 26, 2011

Where does the music industry live today, anyway? The simple response is 'everywhere,' because creation, innovation, and promotion can happen anywhere, anytime. But ultimately that answer is too simple, too digitally utopian. After all, great music demands great marketing, and careers require access to media outlets, contacts, communities, tours, and connections to scenes. Turns out that ...

The Jonathan Parker Group Holds Forth from Shanghai

May 26, 2011

Where I stand with hard bop is where I stand with a number of styles. It has to have that “some- thing" or there's no use even trying. Hard bop done right is not a music that some old lady would say of, “Oh my, that's nice!" At least not the old ladies that were old ...

Q&A: Cuong Vu

May 26, 2011

Cuong Vu has been one of the most creative musicians in jazz since the late 1990's. I remember first hearing his album Bound in 2000 and being blown away by the sheer scale of the music featured on that recording. His later album called Come Play With Me was even better. In 2003, I remember seeing ...

The Jazz Session #271: Cecil McBee

May 24, 2011

Buddy Defranco + Tommy Gumina

May 24, 2011

Among the least known but most fascinating jazz recordings of the early 1960s are five albums recorded by a quartet co-led by clarinetist Buddy DeFranco and accordionist Tommy Gumina. The first album was recorded for Decca in 1960 while the balance were done for Mercury through 1964. For some odd reason, none of the albums have ...

Album Review: Pinnacle by Freddie Hubbard

May 24, 2011

The end of 2008 was a tough time for me as it related to jazz, primarily because the jazz world lost Freddie Hubbard due to complications from a heart attack right before 2009. As a trumpet player myself, Hubbard was my biggest influence, but he also struck me as a “survivor." Both Clifford Brown and Lee ...