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News: Interview

Interview: Gene DiNovi

April 3, 2023

After my post on pianist Gene DiNovi in March, I included my email with hopes that Gene or his family would reach out so I could interview him. Joe Lang put me in touch with his daughter, who put me in touch with his wife and Gene. We had a lovely Zoom conversation. Gene is a ...

News: Video / DVD

Backgrounder: Sensual Sound of Sonny Stitt

March 31, 2023

On March 6 and 7 of 1961, arranger-conductor Ralph Burns assembled a top orchestra in New York, a rhythm section and saxophonist Sonny Stitt for an album that would be called The Sensual Sound of Sonny Stitt. I'm not sure what month in 1961 producer Creed Taylor arrived at Verve to become the label's recording chief, ...

Article: Take Five With...

Take Five with Guitarist Grant Gordy

by AAJ Staff
March 30, 2023

Meet Grant Gordy For many guitarists, landing a gig with bluegrass mandolinist David Grisman's groundbreaking bluegrass/jazz quintet would be the culmination of a career in music. But for Grant Gordy, it was more of a beginning, an apprenticeship in combining bluegrass and jazz that served as a launchpad for his own music. How far he has ...

News: Video / DVD

Basie All Stars: Live at Fabrik, Vol 1

March 30, 2023

Unwell in 1981 after a European tour the year before, Count Basie decided to sit out a series of booked engagements abroad. Instead, he dispatched nine members of his band to fulfill the obligations. They called themselves the Basie All Stars. Mind you, I'm not a big fan of leaderless pocket bands, which never stack up ...

News: Video / DVD

Lou Mecca: Knockout Guitar

March 29, 2023

In my post yesterday, I told you about Walt Namuth, a superb jazz guitarist from the Baltimore area whose finest playing wasn't recorded commercially. He hated the road. Another spectacular jazz guitarist who detested touring and made only a handful of recordings was Lou Mecca, a towering talent who gave up the guitar for a chiropractic ...

News: Video / DVD

Walt Namuth: Lost Guitarist

March 28, 2023

All of the jazz musicians you know are familiar because they recorded and toured. Underneath these high-profile artists were thousands who never bothered to record because they weren't asked, couldn't cut it or weren't willing to tour to promote LPs. Each city had these undocumented jazz legends who today are known only by name and reputation ...

News: Video / DVD

Celebrating Sarah Vaughan at 99

March 27, 2023

Today is the 99th anniversary of Sarah Vaughan's birth—March 27, 1924. She was the first post war female vocalist shaped by the bebop movement of the mid-1940s, not the swing era of the 1930s and early 1940s. And her stylistic phrasing probably had a greater influence on female vocalists who followed her than any other singer ...

Article: Liner Notes

Michael Dease: The Other Shoe: The Music of Gregg Hill

by AAJ Staff
March 26, 2023

"Think of any big city," Greg Hill says, introducing the narrative armature of his composition, “The Other Shoe," the denouement and title track of this stimulating collaboration with Michael Dease, who arranged each of Hill's 10 compositions contained herein. “It's 2 in the morning, you're still awake, and your neighbor comes in upstairs. You hear the ...

Article: Take Five With...

Take Five with Melvin Johnson

by AAJ Staff
March 24, 2023

Meet Melvin Johnson Houston, TX pianist/composer Melvin Johnson will offer a gift to the world with his debut album, Little Red Wagon (Sincerely Yours Music, 2023), overflowing with musical narratives on family love and the life lessons they provide. Johnson, who once thought of himself as only a live performer, found a unique hunger for recording ...

News: Recording

Backgrounder: Chet Baker - Pretty/Groovy

March 24, 2023

In 1958, Dick Bock of World Pacific Records decided to release a 12-inch compilation combining previously issued material by Chet Baker tracks that hadn't been released before. What they all had in common was beauty and a groove. This little-known album was called Pretty/Groovy. The songs on the album are... Look for the Silver Lining Time ...