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Herbie Hancock: An Essential Top Ten Albums
by Chris May
The title of Herbie Hancock's 1973 hit single “Chameleon," pulled from his jazz-funk monster Head Hunters (Columbia), was an apt one. Hancock had already undergone several transformations: from the blues-and-gospel-infused vibe of his Blue Note debut, Takin' Off (1962), to more experimentally inclined Blue Note albums in the mid-to-late 1960s, and on to his early 1970s ...
A Different Drummer, Pt. 8: Ustad Zakir Hussain Talks Tabla
by Karl Ackermann
Origins of the Tabla The twin hand drum was developed in its current form about 300 years ago on the Indian subcontinent but the roots of the tabla may date to pre-Muslim, Arabia. The name comes from “tabl," the Arabic word for drum, and temple carvings of tabla-like double-hand drums date to 500 BCE. Tabla is ...
Take Five with Clemens Grassmann
by AAJ Staff
Meet Clemens Grassmann Berlin-born, Brooklyn-based drummer, percussionist, composer and educator Clemens Grassmann has collaborated across the U.S. and internationally, releasing multiple recordings as a leader, including Grass Machine (self released, 2022). Recipient of the 2015 Armand Zildjian Percussion Award, Grassmann's genre-defiant aesthetic stretches across generations and unites listeners of every sonic prerogative. Grassmann's compositions ...
From George Coleman to Meeco: Ten Overlooked Classics
by Chris May
The only thread running through this installment of Building A Jazz Library is that of unsung quality. No particular artist is spotlighted, nor any particular genre. There are simply ten, randomly selected albums, recorded in the US and Europe between 1953 and 2021, which show jazz off at its finest, but which, for one reason or ...
Ornette Coleman: Genesis of Genius: The Contemporary Albums
by Jeff Kaliss
For many an Ornette Coleman devotee, devotion was pledged with the singular saxophonist's The Shape of Jazz to Come (Atlantic). It was recorded in May and released in November of 1959, and it's a matter of when in our life we caught up with it. For some of us, that's when we first felt liberated by ...
March 2022
by Pat Youngspiel
Jun MiyakeWhispered Garden Enja Records / Yellowbird Records 2022 Leaving the hazy Lost Memory Theatre (Enja, 2013, 2015, 2018) behind and moving on to the equally shrouded Whispered Garden, Paris-based trumpeter, composer and sound-architect Jun Miyake introduces us to a musical magnum-creation, his newest, that seems to encompass everything from ...
Bill Stewart: Ain't No Funk In Iowa
by Mike Brannon
This article was first published at All About Jazz in May 2002. Upon joining The John Scofield group in the mid '80s it seemed like drummer Bill Stewart just appeared out of nowhere. Of course, Scofield and Stewart did a number of tours and studio dates together while word got around about Stewart's unique ...
Ornette Coleman: New York Is Now & Love Call Revisited
by Mark Corroto
These sessions, the last two Ornette Coleman would record for Blue Note Records, in April and May of 1968, are generally remembered for the rhythm section. Was it Coleman or producer Francis Wolff that invited John Coltrane's former sidemen, bassist Jimmy Garrison and drummer Elvin Jones to record? Was this a scheme to draw the Coltrane ...
Joe Henderson, Bill Evans, Jim Hall: Buried Treasure from Germany's MPS Label
by Chris May
Between its founding in 1968 and sale in 1983, the original incarnation of the recently revived German label MPS—the initials stand for Musik Produktion Schwarzwald (Music Production Black Forest)—notched up around five hundred releases. Some were recorded in the US by American musicians, many more were recorded in Europe and featured bands made up of European ...
Bill Goodwin: Not Less Than Everything
by Victor L. Schermer
Bill Goodwin is like a breath of fresh air blowing through jazz. From the time around 1954 when he was in Los Angeles and just learning the drums, and inspired by Shelly Manne, to today, around his 80th birthday, he has loved jazz and the musicians unconditionally. He has befriended and worked with so many of ...
