Results for "Booker Little"

Booker Little

Booker Little was a prolific trumpeter and composer by any standard, but considering his tragically brief life, his musical achievements are astonishing. A Memphis native, he trained at the Chicago Conservatory of Music, where he impressed Sonny Rollins. This association led to a number of successful recordings with Max Roach in the late 1950s. Little went on to perform on other classic albums, such as John Coltrane’s Africa/Brass and Eric Dolphy’s At the Five Spot. His trumpet sound was characterized both by undeniable technical facility and a dark tone that reflects the bittersweet nature of his life

Jerry Granelli: Updating Music of Past Heroes

By R.J. DELUKE

"I've earned the privilege of not playing anything I don't want to play," says drummer Jerry Granelli, whose past is replete with the names of many greats in jazz for whom he supplied rhythmic support--sometimes force--over several decades. “That used to be a fear," he adds, “You figured if you turned something down, the ...

Prestige Records: An Alternative Top 20 Albums

By CHRIS MAY

Along with Alfred Lion's Blue Note and Orrin Keepnews' Riverside, Bob Weinstock's Prestige was at the top table of independent New York City-based jazz labels from the early 1950s until the mid 1960s. Like those other two labels, Prestige built up a profuse catalogue packed with enduring treasures. Originally a record retailer, Weinstock ...

Dave Douglas: Dizzy Atmosphere: Dizzy Gillespie At Zero Gravity

By GIUSEPPE SEGALA

Chi si aspetta da questo disco un omaggio fedele all'approccio umoristico e pirotecnico di Dizzy Gillespie, non conosce Dave Douglas. Il trombettista, che ha compiuto lo scorso marzo cinquantasette anni, ha mostrato nelle frequenti dediche ai protagonisti della storia del jazz la propria propensione del tutto personale a tale pratica: lo ha fatto tra l'altro con ...

Silenced in Their Prime - Eric Dolphy & Booker Little (1961 - 1964)

By RUSSELL PERRY

From his first recordings with Chico Hamilton in 1958 until his untimely death from misdiagnosed diabetic shock in 1964, Eric Dolphy was limited to only six years in which to record the music that has defined his extraordinary legacy. Previously, in this series, we have heard from Dolphy's great 1960 recording, Far Cry and his contributions ...

Intervista a Franco Ambrosetti

By ANGELO LEONARDI

Il 2019 è stato un anno significativo per il trombettista svizzero Franco Ambrosetti. In aprile è stato pubblicato il suo libro autobiografico “La scelta di non scegliere" mentre da poche settimane è uscito Long Waves, il suo ventottesimo disco da leader con un cast stellare comprendente John Scofield, Uri Caine, Scott Colley e Jack DeJohnette.

Jazz Singers in the 1950s – Sarah Vaughan, Helen Merrill, Dinah Washington and Abbey Lincoln (1954 - 1962)

By RUSSELL PERRY

Many jazz singers of the 1950s continued the tradition of recording with major instrumentalists who were given the space to improvise, feeding off the collaboration. In 1954, EmArCy records matched three of their singers, representing the wide range of their offerings--Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington and Helen Merrill--with jazz ensembles featuring their rising star, trumpeter Clifford Brown. ...

Charles Lloyd & the Marvels with Lucinda Williams at Zellerbach Hall

By HARRY S. PARISER

Charles Lloyd & the Marvels with Lucinda Williams Zellerbach Hall Berkeley, CA December 6, 2018 It isn't often that a pedal steel guitar is found in a jazz ensemble. And it is even less frequent that a country music singer-songwriter joins one on vocals. But this iconoclastic collaboration had its genesis ...

Eric Reed at Smoke Jazz & Supper Club

By NICK CATALANO

Hard Bop continues to find a home in NY's Smoke Jazz & Supper Club. For decades the room featured One for All -a group whose stalwart players Eric Alexander, Steve Davis, David Hazeltine, John Webber, Jim Rotondi, and Joe Farnsworth had critics comparing them to Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. These players often led smaller groups into ...

Eric Dolphy: Gone In The Air

By MARK WERLIN

Newly-remastered SACD reissues of Eric Dolphy's albums for the Prestige label mark the 90th anniversary of his birth. The recording sessions that Eric Dolphy led in the last four years of his life advanced the evolution of jazz. It was a tragedy that Eric Dolphy gave himself so completely and unselfishly to art ...