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News: Recording

Art Pepper: More West Coast

July 3, 2017

In February, I posted about two superb Art Pepper albums that have were remastered on the Omnivore label. The recordings were originally made for the Japanese Atlas label, with Pepper's featured guest as the leader so he could get around his contracts with Fantasy. One was with Pete Jolly and the other was with Sonny Stitt. ...

Article: Bailey's Bundles

Art Pepper: Presents “West Coast Sessions” Volumes 3 & 4

by C. Michael Bailey
June 22, 2017

Today is the day that I finally come clean about Art Pepper and me. In 1984, I was taking a year off between having finished Pharmacy School and beginning a graduate program in Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Design. During this time, I had my yearly eye appointment with my ophthalmologist, one Dr. A. Henry Thomas, with ...

Article: Big Band Report

A Big Band Spectacular? You Bet Your Brass!

by Jack Bowers
June 5, 2017

On May 23, Betty and I flew to Los Angeles to attend the L.A. Jazz Institute's semi-annual ode to swinging, this one labeled Big Band Spectacular and slated for Thursday through Sunday, May 25-28. We rearranged our schedule to arrive a day early, even before Wednesday's “bonus" event, to attend the funeral of a longtime friend ...

Article: Bailey's Bundles

Art Pepper: Presents “West Coast Sessions” Volumes 1 & 2

by C. Michael Bailey
January 17, 2017

Alto saxophonist Art Pepper's comeback began the release of Living Legend (Contemporary, 1975). His previous 20 years had been fully devoted to heroin and prison, and their inevitable aftermath. Following the release of Living Legend, Pepper toured Japan in April 1977 and March 1978. Pepper found his most dedicated and enthusiastic crowd in Japan, recording a ...

News: Recording

Bill Watrous: In Love Again

February 10, 2016

After spending the early 1960s as a top New York studio trombonist, Bill Watrous caught a break in 1967 and recorded his first leadership album—In Love Again, for MTA Records. Given Watrous's beautiful tone, which was akin to Urbie Green's, I'm not quite sure why he couldn't land a much larger label like Verve, Roulette or ...

Article: Film Review

Rick Stepton: Off-The-Cuff Trombone

by Nicholas F. Mondello
January 19, 2016

There's a fascinating--almost stunning--moment mid-way through Off-the-Cuff Trombone wherein the late Buddy Rich is accompanying and intently observing trombonist Rick Stepton as Stepton solos with great intensity and zeal. Perceptive eyes can see that Rich, the toughest of tough customers, is visibly and physically moved at what he's heard. It's a not-so-subtle acknowledgement of the utmost ...

Article: Album Review

Gabriel Alegría Afro-Peruvian Sextet: 10

by Chris M. Slawecki
November 18, 2015

10 celebrates the ten-year anniversary of the Afro-Peruvian Sextet founded and simultaneously led by horn player Gabriel Alegría from New York City (where Alegría serves as Professor of Jazz Studies at New York University) and Lima, Peru. “It's a concept album," Alegría shares. “For our tenth anniversary, we wanted to give special care to American and ...

Article: From the Inside Out

From Sea to Shining Sea: Music Central to South and Latin America

by Chris M. Slawecki
November 13, 2015

Aguankó Invisible Aguankó Music 2015 In 2012, conguero and composer Alberto Nacif, a Mexican native transplanted in Michigan, brought together some of the area's most skilled Afro-Cuban and Latin musicians to form Aguankó. Their small ensemble with a large Latin jazz sound herewith follows up their self-produced 2013 debut Elemental ...

News: Education

Music Education Monday: A master class with trombonist Bill Watrous

September 15, 2015

This week for Music Education Monday, it's a master class from trombonist Bill Watrous. Beginning his career in the early 1960s, Watrous has played and recorded with musicians such as Maynard Ferguson, Woody Herman, Kai Winding, and Quincy Jones, as well as leading his own big band, originally known as the Manhattan Wildlife Refuge, and later ...

News: Recording

Gabriel Alegria Afro-Peruvian Sextet Celebrates 10th Anniversary With "10," Due From ZOHO Music on August 7

July 23, 2015

A decade of musical innovation by Gabriel Alegría's Afro-Peruvian Sextet is something to celebrate, and the ensemble marks this anniversary in glorious style with the release of 10, due for release August 7 by ZOHO Music. The program on the band’s 5th CD is richly infused with Alegría’s trademark synthesis of folkloric Afro-Peruvian rhythms, jazz, and ...