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Cecil Taylor: Fragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts
by Joshua Weiner
"On one level you can look at him as one of the grandfathers of the free jazz tradition," says pianist Matthew Shipp of Cecil Taylor in the generous booklet included with Fragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts, a three-LP set released by Elemental Music for Record Store Day 2026 (CD and digital releases will also ...
DAMANA: Rhizome
by Troy Dostert
Enterprising drummer Dag Magnus Narvesen has been a leading figure in the Norwegian improvised music scene since the 2010s. He has specialized in free encounters, such as those with pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach, heard most recently to fine effect on Kairos (Fundacja Sluchaj, 2024). But Narvesen also has a developing voice as a composer, and on ...
The Legacy of Billy Strayhorn, part III: Such Sweet Thunder and The Far East Suite
by Larry Slater
Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington recorded a number of musical suites in the 50s and 60s. The Shakespearean Suite “Such Suite Thunder" ranks up there with the greatest Ellington recordings. “The Far East Suite" was another important collaboration and highpoint in the Ellington discography. The band's famous reinterpretation of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker, was all Strayhorn. Ellington's last ...
The Top 25 Songs Featuring Clarinet
by Dean Nardi
As Ian Dury might have sung had he played the clarinet, “Hit me with your licorice stick." (That is “rhythm stick" for those not fluent in punk rock.) From the intricacies of classical music to the smooth swing of jazz to Klezmer--the folk music of the Eastern European Jewish population--the instrument resonates throughout a good portion ...
Eddie Allen's PUSH: Rhythm People
by Jack Bowers
Brooklyn-based trumpeter Eddie Allen and his well-groomed sextet, PUSH, truly are Rhythm People, as they prove time and again on Allen's ninth recording as leader of his own group. Whatever the tone or tempo, PUSH swings its merry way through a dozen bright and upbeat tunes, most written and all arranged by Allen, wherein strong and ...
Listen to Prestige Now, Think Later
by Patrick Burnette
Listening to Prestige: Chronicling its Classic Jazz Records, 1949-1972 Tad Richards 250 Pages ISBN: 979-8-8558-0495-9 State University of New York Press 2025 Most jazz histories end up focusing on individual musicians, understandably enough. Talk about movements in jazz all you want: dixieland, swing, be-bop, hard-bop. You will end up talking ...
Cecil Taylor Unit: Fragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts
by Dan McClenaghan
Cecil Taylor, a pioneer of free jazz, pared down his Cecil Taylor Unit ensemble for a trip through Europe to partake in a 15-date tour in late 1969, in support of the Duke Ellington Orchestra and the Miles Davis Quintet. This foray was billed as the Newport Jazz Festival In Europe. Taylor's Unit of the day--Taylor ...
Fred Hersch: The Touch of Genius
by Ken Dryden
The sound of Fred Hersch at the piano is so distinctive, a couple of bars is usually enough to identify him. The mainly self-taught Cincinnati native excelled early, playing jazz in his home town before leaving to study with pianist Jaki Byard at the New England Conservatory of Music. From there, Fred moved to New York ...
The Legacy of Billy Strayhorn, part II: Lotus Blossom, Raincheck and some less well known tunes from the Strayhorn songbook.
by Larry Slater
Billy Strayhorn spent his career as Duke Ellington's “composing and arranging partner" but it wasn't until relatively recently that his remarkable contribution to jazz was fully appreciated. When Strayhorn's tunes began making their appearance in the early '40s, other musicians took notice. Gerry Mulligan said, “I was part of a small community of very young musicians ...
Clovis Nicolas: Blues in Blueprint: 12 Variations on the Blues
by Kyle Simpler
The blues has long functioned as something equivalent to comfort food in jazz, a familiar form that musicians return to again and again. On Blues in Blueprint: 12 Variations on the Blues, bassist Clovis Nicolas embraces that tradition while subtly reframing it. Rather than treating the blues as a fixed structure, Nicolas approaches it as a living ...
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