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Jimmy Smith: A New Sound, A New Star, Vol. 1 and 2 – Blue Note 1512 and 1514
by Marc Davis
Listening to Jimmy Smith's early recordings is like listening to Chuck Berry play “Johnny B. Goode." Today, every rock guitarist from junior high school on knows the riff and can play it by heart. But Chuck Berry did it first, and arguably best. There were no great rock guitar licks before Chuck Berry. He created the ...
Horace Silver: The Hard Bop Grandpop
by Marc Davis
With musicians, and artists generally, there's a tendency to think the best work is the earliest. It's usually true. Paul McCartney was never better than when he recorded with the Beatles. Chuck Berry's best work was the early hits like “Johnny B. Goode" and “Roll Over Beethoven." Tom Wolfe hasn't written anything as good ...
Frank Wess: Magic 201
by C. Michael Bailey
IPO Records has become the jazz destination for seasoned jazz veterans. Saxophonist James Moody (1925--2010) recorded his last two releases for the label: Moody 4A (2009) and Moody 4B (2010). Hard on Moody's heels is saxophonist Frank Wess (1922- -2013) who followed his Magic 101 (2013) with the predictable titled Magic 201. Pianist Kenny Barron and ...
Sly and the Family Stone: Higher
by Carlo Wolff
Sylvester Stewart is a maddening guy. Both a cock of the walk and abjectly self-destructive, the man better known as Sly Stone, leader of the Family Stone, psychedelicized funk better, or at least more notoriously, than anyone else as the 1960s collapsed into the 1970s. In albums like Dance to the Music (1968), the 1969 breakout ...
Trent Austin: Pulling an Ace from the Musical Deck
by Nicholas F. Mondello
New England-based trumpeter, Trent Austin is indeed a Renaissance Man--multi-genre performer, business owner, trumpet/brass equipment designer, clinician and teacher. He's also one of the most beloved and respected--by the greatest of players and up-and-coming players--in each of those activities. I caught up with Austin as he plans to head out on tour in October with the ...
Billy Vera: Still In The Game
by Scott Mitchell
It might be safe to say that a lot of people may know a little bit about Billy Vera but only a few people know a lot about Billy Vera. Billy is a singer, writer, producer, actor, Grammy winner, and music historian. He has performed with big bands, Billy And The Beaters, solo, and everything in ...
Graham Bond: Wading in Murky Waters
by Duncan Heining
Organist and saxophonist Graham Bond was the most important and influential musical pioneer to emerge from British jazz in the 1960s. High praise indeed, but in his case it is warranted. His legacy might be defined less by the music he recorded and more by the impact he had on subsequent generations of musicians. However, that ...
Grateful Dead: Dick's Picks 24
by Skip Heller
The plethora of available live Grateful Dead material might be a completist's delight, but it can make for a nightmare for the consumer who just wants a few really good discs. This was a truly multifaceted band, with every facet documented to the point of exhaustion (or even tedium, depending who you ask). At their rootsy ...
Reliving Elvis
by Skip Heller
No matter how much is written, or by whom, Elvis Presley remains impossible to explain. The usual “young white rocker who could sing black" is as inaccurate as any standing American mythology. His legacy has been as mangled as his career was, often to the detriment of the work itself. Yes, at the time of his ...
Alvin Lee still on the Road to Freedom
More than four decades have passed since Alvin Lee stood front and center at the famed Woodstock festival with his band Ten Years After and told half million or so fans, “I’m Going Home . . . by helicopter.” Forty-three years later, Alvin Lee hasn’t arrived at his destination yet, as the title of his new ...
