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Jazz: The Sacred and the Profane
by Victor L. Schermer
“As above, so below" --Hermes Trismegistus A warning: this article is worth reading only if you believe, as I do, that jazz is not just a form of entertainment, but an art form that has deep significance for our lives and contributes to our search for meaning. I fully appreciate the value of “digging ...
Carla Bley & Jack DeJohnette: ECM Trios
by Mark Sullivan
Two different approaches to the trio, led by veteran ECM bandleaders. Big band composer/pianist Carla Bley continues her recent run of chamber ensemble recordings, reconvening her trio with saxophonist Andy Sheppard and bassist Steve Swallow, most recently heard on Trios (ECM, 2013). The grouping gives much more focus on her piano playing than her large group ...
Miles Ahead: A Powerhouse Film, But is it the Truth?
by Victor L. Schermer
Don Cheadle Miles Ahead Sony Pictures Classics 2015 Miles Davis happens to have been actor Don Cheadle's long-time hero, and he mulled over the idea of a film about him for several years. In contemplating his directorial and screenwriting debut based on Davis' life, Cheadle could have chosen among several formats: ...
Kind of Purple: Jazz Musicians On Prince
by Kurt Gottschalk
"Do you know who Prince kinda reminds me of, particularly as a pianist? Duke! Yeah, he's the Duke Ellington of the eighties to my way of thinking."--Miles Davis The tops of the pop charts isn't where we often expect to find genius. Brilliant performers sometimes, expert attention grabbers maybe more often, but it's not ...
Christopher Zuar Orchestra: Musings
by Jack Bowers
When a composer / arranger who hasn't yet turned thirty can enlist the caliber of musicians who are present and accounted for on Musings, the inescapable assumption is that something special is afoot. Upon listening, that appraisal proves to be quite accurate, as young Christopher Zuar (twenty-seven when this debut album was recorded) presents seven of ...
Christopher Zuar Orchestra: Musings
by Dan Bilawsky
If you open the packaging for this album, you'll encounter a picture of Christopher Zuar that initially seems to touch on a theme of isolation. Shadows and light play against the wall behind him, but it's Zuar himself, sitting and staring into the distance over his piano, that really draws the eyes in. After looking at ...
The Royal Roost: Birthplace of Bop
by Richard Carlin
The story of the development of jazz in New York is tied to the story of a few seminal clubs and promoters who helped nurture the music. Just as new musical styles were developing during World War II that would lead to the birth of bebop, so was the jazz scene changing. The clubs that thrived ...
Shunzo Ohno: ReNew
by James Nadal
Though the samurai warriors of Japan have passed on to legend and folklore, their Bushido Code of Conduct continues to have an impact of Japanese society. It emphasizes eight virtues, utmost which are honor, discipline and morality. As a son of Japan, trumpeter Shunzo Ohno, has personally adhered to these guiding principles, and ReNew reveals a ...
Roberto Bonati: Macbeth and the Whale
by Duncan Heining
Italian bassist-composer Robert Bonati is one of the most ambitious and literate composers in contemporary jazz. Between 2000-2006, he released four ground-breaking extended works with the ParmaFrontiere Orchestra. While they attracted notice in Italy, they seemed to pass by the wider jazz audience in Europe, North America and the Far East. If at one level, the ...
John Clark: The Odd Couple Quintet +1
by Angelo Leonardi
John Clark ha acquisito notorietà negli anni settanta, quando fu tra i principali strumentisti dell'orchestra di Gil Evans. Si sa che l'arrangiatore canadese aveva un debole per il corno francese e non se ne privò al varo della big-band “elettrica." Con John Clark lo strumento è uscito dal ruolo di strumento occasionale che aveva avuto ...
