Results for "Alphonso Johnson"

Alphonso Johnson

Jon Armstrong Sextet: Reabsorb

By MARK CORROTO

Saxophonist Jon Armstrong reminds us that life and death are two sides of the same coin. Although seemingly disparate, like two sides of an LP, they cannot be separated. His sextet recording Reabsorb models this contrasting device by presenting two contrasting compositions, one on each side of an LP (also available as a CD and download). ...

Jimmy Haslip: Amperes Beyond the BASSics, Part 2

By JIM WORSLEY

In case you missed it, Part One of my conversation with Jimmy Haslip covered a lot of ground and had a few good laughs along the way. Although we talked about the Yellowjackets, we delved more deeply into why and how he parted ways with the band some eight years ago. Haslip has been producing records ...

Michael Ragonese: Day to Day

By PAUL NASER

If you haven't heard Michael Ragonese's name before, you're sure to hear it a lot more. The award winning pianist is a constant fixture in Los Angeles; if he's not a sideman at one club, he's leading a band at another. Among the many luminaries he has performed or recorded with are: Bennie Maupin, David Binney, ...

Peter Erskine: Up Front, In Time, and On Call, Part 1

By JIM WORSLEY

Part 1 | Part 2Peter Erskine is affable, engaging, and humorous. He, of course, is also one of the finest drummers of his generation. He has left his mark on the jazz and fusion world for nearly fifty years now. An icon, whose name is mentioned with the greats of all time, Erskine continues ...

The Complete Jan Akkerman: Focusing on a Life's Work

By JOHN KELMAN

He may be largely regarded as the most influential guitarist to emerge from the Netherlands, a country that, bordering on the North Sea, is roughly one-quarter the physical size of England and, with a current number of about seventeen million, has just one-third the population of the UK's largest country. Still, despite garnering major in-country recognition, ...

Basic Beauty: Arthur Blythe on Columbia

By JAKOB BAEKGAARD

Back in 2016, BGO Records started reissuing the complete works of alto saxophonist Arthur Blythe (1940-2017) on Columbia. The first volume containing Lenox Avenue Breakdown (1979), In the Tradition (1980), Illusions and Blythe Spirit (1981) has already been reviewed on AAJ. The following two volumes complete the project of putting an important body of work from ...

Jazz Is Phsh: He Never Spoke A Word

By DOUG COLLETTE

Phish prefer not to be compared to the Grateful Dead in any respect, which is understandable up to a point, yet it's fair to say each band's respective legacy has its own momentum including twists and turns of evolution that inevitably result in parallels and intersections illuminating the process(es). So it is that Jazz ...

Miroslav Vitous: Music of Weather Report

By CLAUDIO BONOMI

Potremmo subito dire che questo album è un acquisto obbligato per tutti coloro che hanno amato, e continuano ad amare, i Weather Report e, soprattutto, la loro libertà musicale e il loro spirito avventuroso. Miroslav Vitous, contrabbassista di origine ceca, fu uno dei co-fondatori della band insieme a Joe Zawinul e a Wayne Shorter ...