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Diane Monroe: Bridging Diverse Musical Worlds
by Victor L. Schermer
Listening to Diane Monroe play jazz violin--whether solo, duo, or in a group--what's immediately evident is how great an improviser she is, fitting seamlessly with the music and the group, breathing and moving with the music. Only then does it become clear that she possesses the precision, complexity, and technique of a classical concert violinist. Indeed, ...
Charlie Christian's Riffs This Week on Riverwalk Jazz
This week Riverwalk Jazz salutes Benny Goodman's pioneering Sextet featuring the early electric guitarist Charlie Christian. Our guests are both life-long devotees of the Benny Goodman Sextet. Clarinetist Allan Vaché and tenor saxophonist Harry Allen join Cullum band reedman Ron Hockett on “Swinging on a Riff: The Legacy of the Benny Goodman Sextet." The program is ...
Stanley Jordan: Friends
by David Rickert
Stanley Jordan's breakthrough recording, Magic Touch (Blue Note, 1985), was aptly named; the guitarist's two-handed tapping technique seemed to be achieved through sorcery rather than practice. People had used tapping before, but never to the level that Jordan did--comping and soloing at the same time, and giving the illusions of two guitarists playing at once. Those ...
Stanley Jordan: Friends
by Larry Taylor
In a successful career of over 25 years, guitarist Stanley Jordan has always displayed his versatility--equally adept at blues, straight-ahead jazz and ever inventive with classical masterpieces. His virtuosity and improvisational prowess are a given, and on Friends, he also shows his skill on piano on two numbers. Primarily, he brings in old pals from various ...
Jazz Musician of the Day: Charlie Christian
All About Jazz is celebrating Charlie Christian's birthday today! As the man who popularized the guitar in a jazz setting, his legacy lives on. Charlie Christian was born on July 29, 1916 in Bonham, Texas but was raised in Oklahoma City from the time he was two years old. Charlie\'s immediate family were all musically talented ...
Wolfgang Muthspiel: Drumfree
by Raul d'Gama Rose
Drumfree contains some of the most stimulating three-way counterpoint written and played in a long time. All of the compositional credit goes to Wolfgang Muthspiel, the composer; but making it all come alive is Muthspiel, the guitarist, and his chosen partners for this date: saxophonist Andy Scherrer and bassist Larry Grenadier. Muthspiel leads from the front ...
Gary Giddins on Ignored Black Jazz Writers
by Greg Thomas
In the first essay for the Race and Jazz column, I gave a first-person account of how my love and appreciation of certain “white" saxophonists served to safeguard me from the temptation of racism back in college during the early-to-mid-'80s. My second essay privileged culture over race, and told the story of how attorney and constitutional ...
James Polk: Recipes from the Doctor
by Josep Pedro
Pianist Dr. James Polk's musical knowledge and worldwide experience spans over more than 50 years. His style, deeply-rooted in the blues, is an example of richness and experience. Polk came up along with a group of incredible Texan musicians; jazz and blues artists like David “Fathead" Newman, Russell Jacquet, Arnett Cobb, Don Wilkerson, and Ornette Coleman, ...
Lions in Winter
by Greg Simmons
Recently passed jazz greats, saxophonist James Moody and pianist Hank Jones, were both fortunate enough to be making solid, vital recordings right up to the ends of their lives. Moody's 4A (IPO, 2009) and 4B (IPO, 2010) were as well-played as any he ever recorded, and Jones, who was still active in his last year at ...
Wadada Leo Smith: The Teacher
by Franz A. Matzner
Wadada Leo Smith's career as a creative musician spans more than forty years. The trumpeter/composer's myriad accomplishments have been well-documented, particularly recently, as his recoding and performance career have undergone a marked renaissance, the success of which has shown a spotlight not only on his recent undertakings, but also inspired a reexamination of his past works. ...
