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Swinging the Frets
by Derek Taylor
At the time of his Prestige tenure, Tiny Grimes was already something of a living legend. Largely self-taught, Grimes learned guitar on the job, and not just any jobs, but jam sessions with the likes of Don Byas and Charlie Christian. One of his first extended gigs was as a member of Art Tatum’s trio with ...
Black Man's Cry
by Derek Taylor
Tenor saxophonists have it tough. As practitioners on jazz music’s most associative instrument they have a long and varied lineage to contend with. As such, achieving a voice independent from the pack can be akin to finding a needle in the proverbial haystack. Every year new acolytes are drawn to the horn, further deepening the reservoir ...
Lee Konitz: Live-Lee
by Derek Taylor
Few jazz musicians have made as successful and long-running use of the name-based pun as Lee Konitz. Sharing phonetic semblance to an almost ubiquitously applicable suffix certainly helps. In fact, that other famous Lee (Morgan that is) probably came closest in number with these sort of clever play-on-words compositions. Had the trumpeter been blessed with the ...
Various: Primitive Piano
by Derek Taylor
The title of this disc is something of a misnomer, but one with the best intentions. Recorded in 1957 by pianist Erwin Helfer and jazz historian William Russell, it presents a modest sampling of blues and boogie-woogie practitioners. Listening reveals music that is ‘primitive’ in a manner more akin to John Fahey’s breed of Primitive Guitar. ...
Andrew Lamb Trio: The Pilgrimage
by Derek Taylor
Woe be to those musicians who don’t toe the line and submit to commercial pressures. A professional life of obscurity and hardship awaits thee. Andrew Lamb knows first hand. His debut on Delmark, now nearly a decade old, sank like a critical stone despite its deserved stature as a body of creative music worth hearing. What ...
Skinny Williams & Erwin Helfer: St. James Infirmary
by Derek Taylor
Chicago sometimes gets lost in the shuffle of rhetoric over New Orleans, Kansas City and New York as jazz focal points past and present. That's an egregious error and one that Skinny Williams and Erwin Helfer, two Windy City regulars, aim to redress. Together, they share the tools necessary to right the wrong and put their ...
Various: Jam Session, Volume 6
by Derek Taylor
Volume 6 of Steeplechase's jam session series adopts the more familiar framework of saxophones, brass and rhythm, but still relies on the element of the surprise in its solo statements. With a songbook of only four compositions, the tracks are considerably longer and allow for more loquacity on the part of the players. George Colligan is ...
Various: Jam Session, Volume 5
by Derek Taylor
The Danish Steeplechase imprint has long recognized the fertile dynamics of jam sessions, fronting the resources for many in its roster of players to convene in just such supportive surroundings. Volumes 5 and 6 in the continuing series offer up vernal combinations and surprises while upholding producer Nils Winther’s credo of “positively no rehearsal.” Volume 5 ...
Br: Never Too Late But Always Too Early
by Derek Taylor
Die Like a Dog: a name and invective that acts as a slap in the face to the mores of subtlety and passivity. Peter Brötzmann originally convened the group as a channeling vessel for the spirit of Ayler. Their music: lamenting the legendary saxophonist?s tailspin into spiritual decay and destitution. Their credo: a staunch defiance of ...
Levin / Hill / Allen 5et: Opportunities & Advantages
by Derek Taylor
Here’s a band ripe with triangulating affiliations. Levin jointly fronts a quartet with Hill (two CIMP dates under their belt). Hill served with Allen in the Sun Ra Arkestra and they have likewise done shared space in the Spirit Room on previous CIMP date. Levin and Allen share (along with Hill) the common language of post-Ornette ...
