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Results for "Billy Strayhorn"
Vicki Burns: Lotus Blossom Days
by Jeff Winbush
Whatever else can be said about jazz, there is little disagreement that it is best experienced in a live setting. Listening to Vicki Burns' Lotus Blossom Days is as close to a front-row seat in a New York nightclub as many of us are likely to get in these times of high fuel costs and crowded ...
Naama Gheber: I’m A Fool To Want You
by C. Michael Bailey
Vocalist Naama Gheber is applying a different paradigm to the release of her second recording, the EP If I Knew Then, presently due for release in November 2022. She previously released the single “Old Mother Hubbard" and now follows it with a starkly fashioned “I'm A Fool To Want You." Gheber released her debut recording Dearly ...
June 2022: Constellations
by C. Michael Bailey
ChimyTina Constellations La Reserve 2022 ChimyTina is a collision moniker for the duo of bassist Dan “Chimy" Chmeilinski and vocalist Martina DaSilva. They are part of a daring group of singers/bassists perfecting the most musically intimate of performance formats. With the bass as the “harmony" instrument supporting a vocalist, ...
Richard Nixon & Spiro Agnew: Dick & Spiro Play Duke & Billy
by Ken Dryden
Anyone who has read much history probably knows that President Richard Nixon once serenaded ex-President Harry Truman during a White House visit by playing “Missouri Waltz" on the piano in his honor (he was unaware that Truman hated the song). But history buffs may overlook that Nixon's Vice President, Spiro Agnew also played piano and was ...
Bill Charlap: Intellect And Emotion
by R.J. DeLuke
"I don't ever remember a time when I didn't play the piano," reflects pianist Bill Charlap, who has become one of the giants of his generation on his instrument of choice, as evidenced by the array of other great players with whom he has performed. With his deft and agile approach he can summon a fiery ...
Sean Fyfe Quartet: Late Night
by Jack Bowers
The opening number on pianist Sean Fyfe's latest album, Late Night, is “Happy," which could serve as a subtext for the album as a whole. Even when performing a solo rendition of Billy Strayhorn's mournful “Lush Life," Fyfe somehow manages to sound happy, lending a sunny counterweight to the heart-breaking sense of loss that permeates Strayhorn's ...
Benny Benack III: Presentation matters
by Leo Sidran
Benny Benack III didn't necessarily start out thinking he would be a hipster crooner. He spent his 10,000 hours dealing with the trumpet, and he's still dealing with it. He tells me that he brings it with him everywhere--even on dates. He says, “Freddie Hubbard, Clifford Brown, Roy Hargrove, and Clark Terry were my early idols ...
2021: The Year in Jazz
by Ken Franckling
The jazz world continued grappling and adjusting in year two of the COVID-19 pandemic. International Jazz Day again went virtual for the most part. Singer Tony Bennett put the final stamp on his touring--and likely recording--career after his Alzheimer's disclosure. Trumpeter Irvin Mayfield was headed to federal prison. The National Endowment for the Arts welcomed four ...
Montreal Jazz Trio: Montreal Jazz Trio
by Dan McClenaghan
We had the Modern Jazz Quartet, sometimes tagged MJQ, from 1952 until--after a stop and start or two--the early 90's. They were a class act, playing in formal attire, playing classically-influenced jazz with a dollop (sometimes more than a dollop) of the blues. Restraint and laid back complexity was the name of the game.
Umlaut Big band: Mary's Ideas
by Mark Corroto
In the liner notes of Embraced (Pablo Live, 1978), Mary Lou Williams defends the late music of John Coltrane thus ..."the healing power comes from the deep feeling that is in jazz--the feeling of the Blues which is characteristic of all good jazz no matter what form it takes. Even John Coltrane's music was never without ...
