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Article: Multiple Reviews

Carla Bley & Jack DeJohnette: ECM Trios

by Mark Sullivan
May 2, 2016

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 ...

Article: Film Review

Miles Ahead: A Powerhouse Film, But is it the Truth?

by Victor L. Schermer
April 25, 2016

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: ...

Article: Interview

Kind of Purple: Jazz Musicians On Prince

by Kurt Gottschalk
April 21, 2016

"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 ...

Article: Album Review

Christopher Zuar Orchestra: Musings

by Jack Bowers
April 11, 2016

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 ...

Article: Album Review

Christopher Zuar Orchestra: Musings

by Dan Bilawsky
April 2, 2016

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 ...

Article: Book Excerpts

The Royal Roost: Birthplace of Bop

by Richard Carlin
March 30, 2016

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 ...

Article: Album Review

Shunzo Ohno: ReNew

by James Nadal
March 27, 2016

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 ...

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Article: Profile

Roberto Bonati: Macbeth and the Whale

by Duncan Heining
March 16, 2016

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 ...

Article: Album Review

John Clark: The Odd Couple Quintet +1

Read "The Odd Couple Quintet +1" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
February 26, 2016

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 ...

Article: Profile

Barry Guy: A Prophet is Not without Honour (Part 2)

by Duncan Heining
February 21, 2016

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 Barry Guy has been the artistic director and main composer of the London Jazz Composers' Orchestra throughout its now forty-five year history. Recordings and performances since Ode in 1972 have been sporadic but those forty-five years have resulted in eleven albums (including one with Anthony Braxton) ...