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Backgrounder: Bill Watrous - In Love Again, 1967
There are trombone albums—and then there are trombone albums. This is the latter, a positively beautiful recording by Bill Watrous, who had a beautiful ballad tone, rivaled only by Urbie Green and a few others. Recorded in New York in 1968 and backed by the Richard Behrke Strings, Bill Watrous's In Love Again: William Russell Watrous ...
Take Five with Guitarist Jacob Johnson
by AAJ Staff
Meet Jacob Johnson Since dropping out of college in 2007, Jacob Johnson has journeyed across the country in six minivans (so far), captivating audiences with his highly caffeinated brand of acoustic guitar playing. Known for his energetic performances, Jacob has had the privilege of sharing the stage with Grammy winners like Tommy Emmanuel, and Victor Wooten, ...
My Conversation with Steve Coleman
by AAJ Staff
This article first appeared at All About Jazz in July 1999. The pressure to succeed in music is so heavy, the monkey on artists' backs must feel like King Kong. With so many fearing the guillotine of inconsequentiality, it is no wonder artists feel the inherent need to dress in see-through chain mail to ...
Perfection: Horace Parlan - Up & Down
In June 1961, pianist Harlan Parlan recorded the album Up & Down for Blue Note. On the session were Parlan (p), Booker Ervin (ts), Grant Green (g), George Tucker (b) and Al Harewood (d). The title track was composed by Parlan, who on this LP plays superbly. As Leonard Feather wrote in his liner note... “Up ...
10 Tracks by Pianist Ross Tompkins
Yesterday I posted on Solo, a 1963 album by trombonist Kai Winding for Verve. Accompanying Winding on the three days of recording was pianist Ross Tompkins. Who was he? Tompkins was probably best known as the pianist on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson from 1971 to 1992, when the show folded. Born in Detroit in ...
Kai Winding: Solo, 1963
Trombonist Kai Winding is probably best known to jazz fans for his numerous 1950s albums with trombonist J.J. Johnson. In many regards, Johnson was the memorable player on those LPs with a more singular and inventive style. But Winding also had a spectacular tone and an attack that was crisp, persistent and swinging. His piercing blare ...
Adderley's 'Presenting Cannonball,' 1955
In the mid-1950s, drummer Kenny Clarke was the house drummer for Savoy Records. Aware that Clarke was plugged in to networks of musicians, Ozzie Cadena, the label's A&R chief, paid him extra to assemble interesting combinations of talent for recording sessions. As a reader pointed out a few days ago, the Kenny Burrell and Pepper Adams ...
Take Five With Guitarist / Composer Avinoam Ettun
by AAJ Staff
Meet Avinoam EttunAvinoam Ettun is a contemporary guitarist/composer/improviser based in New York City. With a focus on creating compositions for large ensembles and his own string quartet, Avinoam combines the sounds of electric guitar and chamber music. Ettun actively collaborates with animators, painters, filmmakers, and dancers and explores the intersections of different art forms.
Backgrounder: Kenny Burrell - Jazzmen Detroit
Jazz guitarist Kenny Burrell turned 93 on July 31 and is a national treasure. Kenny always plays with an elegant soul and a understated and lovely swing style. Best of all, he combines firm thumb picking with hushed, lush chords to fill space. One of his lesser-known albums is Kenny Burrell: Jazzmen—-Detroit. Recorded over two sessions ...
Backgrounder: Miles Davis - Miles Ahead, 1957
Miles Davis's Miles Ahead: Miles +19 for Columbia is one of jazz's most exquisite orchestral albums. The LP was arranged by Gil Evans, who, with Davis, selected nine jazz songs plus an Evans-Davis original and dressed them up in a modernist, Thornhillian style. The result is spectacular. Davis on flugelhorn is gentle and at times even ...
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