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Results for "Billy Strayhorn"
Roy Hargrove: Emergence
by Robert J. Robbins
As a trumpeter, composer, and an arranger, Roy Hargrove has been a mainstay of the contemporary music scene in a variety of formats for nearly two decades. Nevertheless, his big band experience has been limited mostly to his appearances with the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band, with which he has most ably proved himself an heir ...
Gary Smulyan: Low Man Aims High
by Edward Bride
A baritone saxophonist who plays like Bird? And harvests more than a half-dozen Grammy awards in the process? That seeming contradiction characterizes the great successes of Gary Smulyan, one of today's most in-demand jazz performers, educators, and recording artists. To be fair, Smulyan has his own voice, but he cites Charlie Parker ...
John Surman: From Boy Choirs to Big Horns
by John Kelman
It's increasingly risky to be a musician on the road. When British saxophonist John Surman was traveling from his home in Oslo, Norway, to New York City in September, 2007 for a recording session, he almost lost his baritone saxophone to the airlines. “It is a nightmare traveling now," says Surman, “and hardly a tour goes ...
Jacksonville: Big City, Big Band, Big Plans
by Jack Bowers
Almost everyone who's even mildly interested knows that the big band scene in the US isn't what it used to be. On the other hand, the big bands aren't yet dead, as some alarmists have claimed, or even on life support. Thanks in part to college and armed services programs, there are perhaps as many or ...
Bob Florence Limited Edition / Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band / Dana Legg Stage Band / John Burnett Swing Orchestra
by Jack Bowers
Bob Florence Limited Edition Legendary MAMA 2009 “Legendary" is a word that is often misused and shamelessly over-used, and in this case entirely appropriate. Even though composer / arranger / pianist Bob Florence is no longer with us, and wasn't in the studio when his Limited Edition recorded ...
John Surman: Brewster's Rooster
by John Kelman
After a string of more jazz-centric ECM releases--1992's relatively free Adventure Playground, the large ensemble of 1993's The Brass Project, and the only document of his ongoing quartet with pianist John Taylor, bassist Chris Laurence and drummer John Marshall, 1994's Stranger Than Fiction--saxophonist John Surman's subsequent output for the label has consisted of unorthodox but no ...
Frank Wess Nonet: Once Is Not Enough
by Edward Blanco
Known affectionately as “Magic" to his professional colleagues, saxophonist/flautist Frank Wess is a living legend in the jazz world. His résumé includes stints with Billy Eckstine, the Clark Terry Big Band and a decade performing with the Count Basie Orchestra, and he is recognized as one of the first major flautists to have an impact on ...
Roy Nathanson: Subway Moon
by Mark F. Turner
If the expression “renaissance musician" existed in the dictionary, it would probably show a picture of saxophonist Roy Nathanson. The leader of the Jazz Passengers has undergone numerous artistic rebirths throughout his career as a member of The Lounge Lizards, performing with Debbie Harry, Elvis Costello, and Marc Ribot, composing for film and theater, acting, teaching, ...
Ottawa Jazz Festival 2009: Days 1-3, June 25-27, 2009
by John Kelman
Days 1-3 | Days 4-6 John Stetch TV Trio / Dave Douglas Brass Ecstasy / Roberta Gambarini Toshiko Akiyoshi Trio / Jimmy Cobb's So What Band; S.M.V. The Botos Brother / Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue / Al GreenTD Canada Trust Ottawa International Jazz Festival Ottawa, Ontario, Canada ...
Melody Gardot: My One And Only Thrill
by Ian Patterson
The old saying 'stick to what you know' has paid handsome dividends for Melody Gardot, for in writing her own songs she is able to express her considerable talent to the full. With the exception of one non-original, (a Brazilian tinged “Somewhere Over the Rainbow") these self penned songs show that Gardot is a poet bursting ...
