Results for "Herbie Nichols"

Herbie Nichols

Herbie Nichols is a perennially neglected jazz pianist and composer. He recorded less than half of his 170 compositions on three classic trio albums for Blue Note and one for Bethlehem before dying of leukemia at the age of 43 in 1963. He is often compared to Thelonious Monk, and his piano playing and compositions certainly do have some of the harmonic angularity people associate with Monk. But he had a very distinctive sound of his own, more melancholy and, for lack of a better word, poetic than Monk in many ways. In fact, Nichols was something of a poet, as the titles to his tunes suggest

Jazz Composers Collective: The Herbie Nichols Project

By AAJ STAFF

From the 1995-2003 archive: This article first appeared at All About Jazz in November 1999. The Herbie Nichols Project is a working, researching, and performing entity--co-led by pianist Frank Kimbrough and bassist Ben Allison. Operating within that fertile creative aggregate known as the Jazz Composers Collective (of which Mr. Kimbrough and Mr. Allison are ...

Frank Kimbrough: From Now to Forever - A Remembrance

By LUDOVICO GRANVASSU

On December 30, 2020, pianist Frank Kimbrough passed away at the age of 64. True to form, 2020 wreaked havoc until the end. The cause of death was not Covid-19, but the shock at the untimely loss of a revered artist was not any less powerful. Frank Kimbrough had the rare gift of touching ...

Ran Blake: Gray Moon, When Soft Rains Fall and Northern Noir

By JOHN EPHLAND

I'm a sucker for musical duets. Duets that make me feel like I'm in the same room with the two of them. Here we have three recent releases with the iconoclastic, legendary Ran Blake, now 83, in what is his most typical setting. Yes, to hear Blake paired up like this is to hear ...

Misha Mengelberg: Rituals Of Transition

By MARK CORROTO

It takes a master to speak like a child. Pianist Misha Mengelberg (1935-2017) was such a giant at the keyboard that he could shed all pretension and improvise with a simple innocence. Call it Zen enlightenment or just a blunt brilliance. His music is often absurd and paradoxical, like an inside joke, except he graciously lets ...

Michael Cuscuna: In The Vault Playing God

By AAJ STAFF

From the 1995-2003 archive: This article first appeared at All About Jazz in December 2000. Michael Cuscuna is one of the most important figures in the jazz reissue field today. He has been responsible for hundreds of releases for many companies, and he was fortunate to meet and befriend Alfred Lion during the final ...

Ran Blake / Christine Correa: When Soft Rains Fall

By JEROME WILSON

Pianist Ran Blake and vocalist Christine Correa have recorded several duo albums together including two on the music of Abbey Lincoln. Here they turn to another iconic singer, Billie Holiday, concentrating on the contents of her final album, Lady In Satin (Columbia, 1958). Lady In Satin is known for its lush orchestral and choral ...

Your Brain on Frets and More

By MARC COHN

Lots of guitar this week: John Scofield with Bill Frisell, Jim Hall, Pat Martino, Tiny Grimes, Kevin Eubanks with Dave Holland, Bill Jennings (an influence on B.B. King), and Paul Bollenback with Jim Snidero. We also have a couple of tracks from the currently unavailable Fred Hersch—Esperanza Spalding duo set live at the Village Vanguard (a ...

Lucas Gillan's Many Blessings: Chit-Chatting with Herbie

By ANGELO LEONARDI

Questo nuovo omaggio a Herbie Nichols è stato pubblicato nel 2019, nel centenario della nascita del grande pianista. Protagonista è il batterista di Chicago Lucas Gillan, al suo secondo album col gruppo Many Blessings. Originario dell'Arizona, Gillan opera da alcuni anni nella Windy City e il suo pianoless quartet coniuga un'ampia serie di ...