Home » Search Center » Results: Heads Up International
Results for "Heads Up International"
Mike Stern: Who Let the Cats Out?
by Jim Santella
Contemporary jazz gets hot when Mike Stern enters the room. His sessions are filled with adrenaline and made to last. This program of original compositions features an all-star crew of contemporary artists who provide the guitarist with a colorful palette. Excitement flows from every bar--and indeed every measure--of this exciting music. Tumble Home features ...
Yellowjackets: Twenty Five
by Woodrow Wilkins
Longevity in music is something to be celebrated--especially in jazz, where a “hit occurs with the frequency of a winter storm in August. With Twenty Five, the Yellowjackets have reached a milestone attainable only with sustained excellence. Originally named the Robben Ford Group after the band's leader and guitarist, the Yellowjackets began buzzing in 1981 with ...
Bobby Lyle: Hands On
by Woodrow Wilkins
Bobby Lyle has covered a lot of ground in his career. The keyboard/pianist's versatility has surfaced through his efforts as music director for artists like Bette Midler, Al Jarreau and Anita Baker--and jamming, recording or touring with such giants as Jimi Hendrix, Sly and the Family Stone, the Ronnie Laws Band and George Benson. A little ...
Yellowjackets: Twenty Five
by Jeff Winbush
For some veteran bands, a live album can be a way to buy time until the next studio release. For the Yellowjackets, Twenty Five offerns an opportunity to celebrate 25 years of growth, change and development. Following the addition of Bob Mintzer on tenor saxophone in 1990, the band's evolution from smooth jazz to serious contemporary ...
Pieces of a Dream: Pillow Talk
by Woodrow Wilkins
In a way, Pieces of a Dream is the Steely Dan of smooth jazz. For most of its existence, “The Dan was Donald Fagen, Walter Becker and an ever-changing assortment of session musicians. Pieces of a Dream is James K. Lloyd and Curtis Harmon. And like Steely Dan, Pieces of a Dream employs a variable mix ...
Jaco Pastorius Big Band: The Word Is Out
by Woodrow Wilkins
When Word of Mouth Revisited came out in the summer of 2003, I predicted it would hold up as the best new jazz album of the year. I'll make no such claims for The Word Is Out. It's already trailing Spyro Gyra's Wrapped in a Dream, Janis Siegel's A Thousand Beautiful Things and Steve Khan's The ...
Ladysmith Black Mambazo: Long Walk to Freedom
by Woodrow Wilkins
It's fitting that the third track of Ladysmith Black Mambazo's Long Walk to Freedom was co-written by Joseph Shabala, the group's lead singer, founder and musical director, and American pop star Paul Simon. About twenty years ago, Simon introduced this South African group to the pop world on Graceland. With Emmylou Harris providing a Simon-like lead ...
Jaco Pastorius Big Band: The Word is Out
by Jim Santella
With this second album by the Jaco Pastorius Big Band, led by Peter Graves in South Florida, we're reminded of the impact that the virtuosic bassist left behind. Pastorius' big band roots go all the way back to his earliest professional development. Before the bassist got noticed, he had been working near his home ...
Spyro Gyra: Wrapped in a Dream
by Woodrow Wilkins
When people say “one-hit wonder, the last thing that comes to mind is an act that's been around for three decades, recorded some 25 albums (not counting compilations), and has legions of fans worldwide. Yet, that's what Spyro Gyra is--the wonder being that one of contemporary jazz's most popular acts has only one hit song: “Morning ...
Ladysmith Black Mambazo: Long Walk to Freedom
by Jim Santella
The vocal call and response of Ladysmith Black Mambazo traces our world's civilizations from the very beginning. As a form of communication, singing has accompanied the advancement of societies far and wide. Our ancestors undoubtedly found it as pleasurable as we do. With a cappella singing providing a natural delight that cannot be replaced by modern ...
