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James Clay: Texas Tenor, Second Generation
by David Perrine
The term “Texas tenor" was originally coined to describe the sound and style of such swing era players as Herschel Evans, Illinois Jacquet, Buddy Tate, Budd Johnson, Arnett Cobb and others, and has subsequently been applied to second generation players from Texas that included James Clay, David “Fathead" Newman and Marchel Ivery. What these players had ...
The Timeless All Stars: Time for The Timeless All Stars
by Jakob Baekgaard
A common strategy of promotion in jazz is to highlight the famous musicians that any given musician has played with. It seems that being a name is a sign of quality in itself and, naturally, it follows that many stars make a great record. However, there is also an old saying that “too many cooks spoil ...
The Rempis Percussion Quartet: Cash And Carry
by John Sharpe
Ornette Coleman was one of the first to use two drummers in a smaller ensemble for his seminal double quartet Free Jazz (Atlantic, 1961). In doing so they established the template for dual interaction, as Ed Blackwell majored on drum patterns while Billy Higgins emphasized the cymbals. While the format has become much more widespread as ...
Francois Carrier/Michel Lambert: iO
by Mark Corroto
Listening to the nine improvised duets on saxophonist François Carrier and Michel Lambert's latest release iO, one gets the sense the creative process comes not from friction, but from friendship. The music isn't forged from a skirmish, like, say a Peter Brotzmann/Han Bennink record might be. It has more in common with Charles Lloyd's duo with ...
Ornette Coleman, 1930-2015
Ornette Coleman, whose forthrightness and conviction helped change the course of jazz, died today in New York. He was 85. To many, the alto saxophonist, composer and bandleader seemed to have come from nowhere, or outer space, when his first albums appeared in the late 1950s. In fact, his style—inevitably called ”iconoclastic” by his early critics, ...
Donald Vega "With Respect To Monty" out July 10 on Resonance Records
A tribute to the great living master, jazz pianist Monty Alexander In celebration of the Jamaican jazz icon, Monty Alexander, pianist Donald Vega puts together a hard-swinging compilation of Monty's great, early compositions. With Respect To Monty features an all-star lineup of Anthony Wilson (guitar), Hassan Shakur (bass) and Lewis Nash (drums). Since his debut on ...
That Old East Coast-West Coast Thing
Following yesterday’s Rifftides post announcing the Jazz Journalists Association poll winners, vibraphonist Charlie Shoemake commented: Randy Weston has had a long and distinguished career as have many of the other deserving award winners. Just curious, though, if any jazz artists from the west coast have ever been or ever will be recognized. It always seems in ...
Burt Eckoff: A Pianist's Close Encounters With the Greats of Jazz
by Idelle Nissila-Stone
Active in the New York City jazz scene since the 1960s, pianist Burt Eckoff played with many jazz greats, among them Howard McGhee, Maynard Ferguson, Art Blakey, Sonny Stitt and Archie Shepp. He is known for exceptional artistry in his work with vocalists Dionne Warwick, The Drifters, Eddie Jefferson, and most importantly Dakota Staton, with whom ...
Andy Sheppard: Tales From the Bristol Underground Jazz Revolution
by Ian Patterson
"Jazz has always been an underground thing. It doesn't have the power and might of opera, but it should," says Andy Sheppard, shortly after the UK premier of Surrounded by Sea (ECM, 2015) at the Bristol Jazz & Blues Festival. “Everyone in the music industry has a respect for jazz music, and they should, I think, ...
John Engels: Looking Back, Moving Forward
by Joan Gannij
Drummer John Engels has the energy of two forty-year olds, which is pretty impressive, since he will soon be turning 80. He will celebrate this auspicious occasion with the Vogel Vrij (Free as a Bird) tour, a series of concerts at diverse venues throughout the Netherlands (with saxophonists Benny Golson and Benjamin Herman) which began in ...
