Home » Search Center » Results: Dan McClenaghan
Results for "Dan McClenaghan"
Frank Sinatra: The Capitol Records Albums, 1954 to 1959
by Dan McClenaghan
After stints in the Harry James and Tommy Dorsey bands, Frank Sinatra began his solo recording career in 1947 with Columbia Records. This association lasted until 1950. He switched labels in 1954, moving on to Capitol Records. Songs For Swingin' Lovers (Capitol, 1954) was his first release for the label. It was the beginning of an ...
The Harry Bartlett Trio: Wildwood
by Dan McClenaghan
The Harry Bartlett Trio's Wildwood twangs like something coming out of West Texas. The instrumentation is guitar, bass and drums, pure and simple. The opener, “Burgess Falls," might suggest a wide open desert landscape in the U.S.A.'s southwest, but the real Burgess Falls is located in Tennessee, where good country music can be found. As suggested ...
Satoko Fujii: Hyaku: One Hundred Dreams
by Dan McClenaghan
Country music artist Merle Haggard (1937 -2016) released 66 studio albums in his day, along with five instrumental recordings and several live and compilation discs. When asked in a late-career interview if his upcoming album was a good one, he answered (paraphrasing). “I don't know. I've made so many I don't know if the next one's ...
Jeong Lim Yang: Zodiac Suite: Reassured
by Dan McClenaghan
This is bold music. It bursts with freewheeling, chip-on-the-shoulder modernism. It is Korean-born bassist Jeong Lim Yang's take on pianist-composer Mary Lou Williams' Zodiac Suite (Asch Records, 1945). Yang tags her revisitation of the classic piece Zodiac Suite: Reassured. But a revisitation of Williams' original trio rendition—to prime the ears for the experience of hearing this ...
Arild Andersen Quartet: Affirmation
by Dan McClenaghan
Arild Andersen began his association with ECM Records in 1975, with the release of his album Clouds In My Head. He has released over 20 more recordings in a leadership role for the label, and has participated in even more albums--for ECM and other labels--in a sideman role, joining artists as diverse as pianists Bobo Stenson, ...
What A Little Moonlight Can Do
by Dan McClenaghan
The birthday bash for my granddaughter Marisol went down at my son's house, on the other side of town. And since her other abuelo was on the patio cooking chicken taquitos in a makeshift deep fryer, I'd offered to buy the pizzas. I phoned in the order: five pepperonis, extra cheese all around. They wouldn't take ...
Marc Copland Quartet: Someday
by Dan McClenaghan
Marc Copland is a former saxophonist who found his instrument artistically confining for the purposes of expressing his vision. So he called on his childhood piano training (synaptic memories intact) to make the switch to the keyboard. The results have been magic. His artistry with the 88s is second only to the late Bill Evans, and ...
Dan McClenaghan's Top Jazz Recordings of 2022
by Dan McClenaghan
The top jazz recordings of 2022, in no particular order. Justin MorellExit Music For Intelligent Life On Earth Sonic Frenzy Records A provocative and beautiful guitar and drums album. Guitarist Justin Morell has teamed with drummer Mark Ferber (see postscript concerning Ferber at the end of this article) to construct ...
Bye Bye Blackbird
by Dan McClenaghan
Carter Johnson quad-caned his way out to his patio with a glass of whiskey and water in his hand, ice cubes tinkling like piano notes as he did his damnedest not to spill a drop. The cane steadied his unsteady gait. The whiskey had been measured out parsimoniously by Carter's wife, Olivia. In her mind, a ...
Oddgeir Berg Trio: While We Wait For A Brand New Day
by Dan McClenaghan
Writing about Norway's Oddgier Berg trio and discussing the group's terrific debut album Before Dawn (Ozella Music, 2018), one reviewer said that Berg and his mates were “A group to keep an eye and both ears on." That writer was spot on. The trio followed up that auspicious first effort with In the End ...
