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Results for "Billy Strayhorn"
James Morrison / Tall & Small / Millennium Jazz Orchestra
by Jack Bowers
James MorrisonSnappy TooMorrison Records2012 The first question that arises about Snappy Too, the latest mind-blowing enterprise by Aussie James Morrison, is how is it to be filed: under “big band" or “duo"? The fact is, the album is both, as the personnel consists of Jeff Hamilton on ...
West Coast Release Party For "The Last Balladeer: The Johnny Hartman Story"
Author Gregg Akkerman will be launching the release of his new book, The Last Balladeer: The Johnny Hartman Story (Scarecrow Press, 2012), on the West Coast at a reading event in San Diego, California. The release marks the long-overdue biography of a vocalist best known for his eponymously titled album with the intrepid saxophonist John Coltrane ...
Goodbye Phoebe and Hello Timme
by Dan Morgenstern
Phoebe Jacobs, who left us on April 9, 2012 just a couple of months shy of 94, was a most remarkable lady who did so much for the music and its makers, as so well-documented in last month's Big Band in the Sky.I first encountered Phoebe when she was handling press and taking care ...
Artistry Jazz Group and Friends: Tribute!
by Chris Mosey
An absolute gem, featuring some of the best players in Scandinavia in an extremely well thought-out program of music, paying tribute to “musicians and artists who shaped new sounds and ideas." It's the brainchild of independent record producer Torgil Rosenberg and pianist Jan Lundgren. Three top Swedish musicians, Peter Asplund on trumpet, Klas ...
The Harris Group: Choices
by Edward Blanco
Issues of health are a fact we will all deal with at some point in life, though the nature of a particular affliction may, for some, affect their lives, derail dreams and change their journey. For Chicago-based guitarist Ric Harris, a battle with a seizure disorder that began in his youth led to brain surgery thirty ...
35th Paradise Valley Jazz Party
by Patricia Myers
35th Paradise Valley Jazz PartyMusical Instrument MuseumPhoenix, AZApril 21-22, 2012A kaleidoscopic history of jazz was delivered during three sessions of the 35th annual Paradise Valley Jazz Party, from post-bop, ballads and blues to a swinging recreation of the Quintet of the Hot Club of France.Peak moments that elicited the ...
Darmstadter Big Band / Alon Yavnai–NDR Big Band / Red Bank Jazz Orchestra
by Jack Bowers
Dartstadter Big BandKentomaniaSelf Published2010 Of all the recorded tributes to the legendary Stan Kenton released during the centennial of his birth (2011), the Darmstadter Big Band's Kentomania (it's spelled that way on the jacket cover and disc) is unequaled for one reason alone: it has former Kenton ...
The Susan Krebs Band: Everything Must Change
by Jack Bowers
Appraising a jazz singer, male or female, is never easy; there are so many variables to consider. First, of course, is the voice, which must be lucid and pleasing to the ears. Respect for a lyric is important, as is articulation, which is bound closely to emotion; too little can be seen as tedious, too much ...
Dagda Quartet: Dagda
by Bruce Lindsay
How to get a debut album noticed? It's not easy--big marketing campaigns, celebrity endorsement or major national television exposure are hard to achieve if, like most contemporary artists, the budget is somewhere between limited and non-existent. There's one key attribute that helps enormously though: great music. Welcome to an album full of great music: Dagda, the ...
Marching to a Jazz Tempo
by Jack Bowers
March came in like a lion in Albuquerque with no less than four blue-chip jazz concerts in the first five days, three of which I attended, passing on the first (the Charlie Christian Project featuring guitarist Michael Anthony and trumpeter Bobby Shew at The Outpost Performance Space) because Betty and I had seen basically the same ...
