Back in the early '80s, when I was a beer-swilling, poverty-stricken, disco-hating, post-college naif, my favorite kind of music was jazz-fusion. My early-80s self was particularly smitten by Tom Coster's first two solo records. I regretted having to sell those albums to a graduate student prior to one of my many cross-town moves. When I learned ...

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Article: Album Review

Straight Up: Jimmy McGriff

by Ed Kopp
December 1, 1998

Jimmy McGriff considers himself a blues organist, not a jazzbo. Regardless of the label, McGriff is one of the most soulful B3 organ players alive, a verity he proves yet again on this fine release. Straight Up features two of my favorite tenor saxmen, the great David “Fathead" Newman and the elegant Frank Wess. ...

317

Article: Album Review

Ornette Coleman: Something Else!!!! - The Music Of Ornette Coleman

Read "Something Else!!!! - The Music Of Ornette Coleman" reviewed by AAJ Staff

by AAJ Staff
December 1, 1998

Here it is: Ornette's first recording, containing his most conventional compositions, one ("The Blessing") written in 1951. Even so, it came only after a long period of struggle ("...most musicians didn't take to me; they said I didn't know the changes and was out of tune.") He was an elevator operator in an L.A. department store; ...

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Article: Album Review

Joe Locke: Slander (And Other Love Songs)

Read "Slander (And Other Love Songs)" reviewed by Douglas Payne

by Douglas Payne
November 1, 1998

This superb quintet session is the third, and undoubtedly best Milestone disc 39-year-old vibraphonist Joe Locke has released to date. Locke, a veteran of the Mingus Big Band and former Pepper Adams, Eddie Henderson, Dianne Reeve and Hiram Bullock sideman, has made his strongest personal statement with Slander (And Other Love Songs).The ...

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Article: Album Review

Vince Guaraldi Trio: Charlie Brown's Holiday Hits

Read "Charlie Brown's Holiday Hits" reviewed by Douglas Payne

by Douglas Payne
October 1, 1998

This nice little holiday gift is easily confused with the popular soundtrack to the 1964 TV special,A Charlie Brown Christmas. But don't be fooled. Nine of the 14 tracks included here are culled from the 15 Peanuts holiday specials Vince Guaraldi scored before his untimely death at age 47 in 1976--and have never been released on ...

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Article: Album Review

Alexander/Hicks/Mraz/Muhammad: Solid!

by Douglas Payne
October 1, 1998

Solid! is an aptly-titled tribute to Prestige Records, one year shy of its 50th anniversary. The music focuses squarely on the loose, swinging bebop the label made famous in the mid to late 1950s, when big names like Sonny Rollins, Jackie McLean, Miles Davis, Thelonius Monk and John Coltrane “headlined" sessions.Most ...

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Article: Album Review

Barney Kessel: Exploring The Scene and Workin' Out

by Larry Koenigsberg
September 1, 1998

Back in the 1950's, before jazz was “America's classical music," when it was still a contender among the various genres in American popular music, Barney Kessel was the perennial winner of the guitarist's spot in the jazz polls which various magazines conducted. Readers of Downbeat, Playboy and the long-gone Metronome liked the clear electric timbre, swift ...