Home » Search Center » Results: Billy Strayhorn
Results for "Billy Strayhorn"
TD Toronto Jazz Festival, Days 1-3: June 23-25, 2011

by Alain Londes
TD Toronto Jazz Festival 2011Toronto, CanadaJune 24-July 3, 2011 2011 marked the 25th anniversary for a festival that is a key stopping point for artists coming to Canada. Organizers always have to strike the right balance when booking top names and other talented international artists. A key change from previous ...
Take a Look: Aretha Franklin Complete on Columbia

by C. Michael Bailey
Aretha FranklinTake a Look: Aretha Franklin Complete on ColumbiaColumbia2011 Were we to limit our musical intelligence gathering to banal classic rock" radio, we would believe that singer Aretha Franklin's career began in 1967, that she only recorded one song, Otis Redding's Respect," and recorded for a single ...
Laszlo Gardony: Signature Time

by Raul d'Gama Rose
As composer, Laszlo Gardony posits--without much opposition--that the inspiration of all modern music owes a debt to the birthplace of culture and sound: Africa. As a composer and pianist he develops his hypothesis with Signature Time, an album of considerable and somewhat dark beauty. Driven by the percussive nature of African music--in almost continuous binary rhythms--Gardony's ...
Laszlo Gardony: Signature Time

by Bruce Lindsay
According to his liner notes, pianist Laszlo Gardony's Signature Time is a tribute to all African-inspired sound." It's a tribute that recognizes the centrality of African music in so many contemporary genres, showing this recognition in the creation of some fine original music and the reworking of some classic songs. Gardony was born ...
Vinnie Cutro Trio: Montclair, NJ, April 3, 2011

by David A. Orthmann
Vinnie Cutro TrioTrumpets Jazz ClubMontclair, NJApril 3, 2011 Vinnie Cutro's opening set at Trumpets Jazz Club wasn't weighed down or overshadowed by history. The gig closely followed the release of the trumpeter's The Music of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, this year on Royal Music Ensembles Records. A couple of ...
Gold Medalists Abound at Big Band Olympics
by Jack Bowers
As this is being written, Betty and I are just back from a ten-day visit to California, the first six days of which would be of absolutely no interest to readers of this column. The last four, however, were spent at the Los Angeles Airport Marriott Hotel attending the L.A. Jazz Institute's Big Band Olympics," which ...
Anthony Branker: Jazz Dialogics

by Victor L. Schermer
Anthony Branker is a musician for all seasons. He began his career as a trumpeter, including a stint with the Spirit of Life Ensemble, which honored its African-American and Afro-Caribbean roots during a multi-year tenure as the Monday night band at the legendary Sweet Basil club in New York City. Over time, Branker developed an increasing ...
Phil Woods and Bill Mays: Woods & Mays

by Dan Bilawsky
Putting two musicians of this caliber in a room and recording the results is a surefire recipe for success. Pianist Bill Mays and saxophone icon Phil Woods have little to prove at this point in their respective careers and their music isn't about defying expectations. Both men, on the contrary, carry the reputations that they do ...
Art Hirahara: Noble Path

by Dan Bilawsky
Art Hirahara has gained the most notice for his work on saxophonist Fred Ho's adventurous outings, but the pianist's own music, while occasionally outward bound, often has a more immediately accessible sound to it. Featuring eight pieces from Hirahara's pen and four newly arranged classics, Noble Path is a piano trio record that's both commonplace and ...
Charlie Hunter: Burlington, Vermont, April 24, 2011

by Doug Collette
Charlie Hunter with Erik KalbClub MetronomeBurlington, VTApril 24, 2011 The last time guitarist nonpareil Charlie Hunter came to the greater Burlington area, drummer Erik Kalb also accompanied him--so this recent show was one of the few instances of the idiosyncratic guitarist repeating himself in his last ten years of appearances ...