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Dom Minasi: Vampires, Chaos in Time, and Total Control
by Paul Olson
Even in the notoriously difficult jazz music business, Dom Minasi's had a rough time of it. The 63-year-old New-York-born-and-bred guitarist/composer was playing in a jazz trio by the time he was 15 and had an extremely full teaching/gigging schedule up until 1973, he was signed to Blue Note Records. Unfortunately, the George Butler-led 1970s Blue Note ...
Gumbi Ortiz: Stepping Out With Miami
by Woodrow Wilkins
Gumbi Ortiz's passion for jamming helped launch the percussionist's professional career. Blending his Afro-Cuban heritage with various styles of music, he's followed the lead of Carlos Santana in mixing Latin sounds with pop. Although he started playing the sax when he was a child, to honor his sax-playing father, he preferred percussion instruments. After ...
Gene Ess: One Note Says It All
by Paul Olson
Guitarist Gene Ess--born Gene Shimosato--grew up on an American military base in Okinawa, Japan, and the eclectic mix of music he was exposed to there gave him a far-reaching enthusiasm for music. It also, perhaps, pulled him away from the classical piano his mother had encouraged him to pursue. A musical scholarship sent him to the ...
Joel Harrison: If You Have To Ask "Is It Jazz?"... It Is
by Jason Crane
Joel Harrison is a busy guy. From his critically acclaimed Free Country (ACT, 2003)--and its resultant commissions and recordings--to his new album of daring arrangements of the music of George Harrison, Harrison On Harrison (High Note, 2005), the 48-year-old guitarist/composer/arranger is constantly looking for news ways to express himself.Harrison sat down after a recent ...
Benny Lackner: Evolving the Piano Trio Tradition
by Joao Moreira dos Santos
At 29, pianist Benny Lackner has just released Sign of the Times, his second album for the prestigious Nagel Heyer label, touring Europe and paving way for his dream--playing at the Village Vanguard in NYC and the main jazz festivals around the world. I caught up with him at the Hot Club de Portugal, ...
John Stetch: Blending Heritage and the Jazz Tradition
by Ken Kase
Canadian pianist John Stetch has been quietly building a catalog of fine compositions and recordings since his 1992 debut, Rectangle Man (Terra Nova, 1992). He's played in a variety of formats as a sideman and as a leader, he's fronted quartets and trios that have produced new interpretations of music from the standard jazz repertoire as ...
Anouar Brahem: Innovative Weaver of Musical Heritages
by Eyal Hareuveni
Tunisian oud player Anouar Brahem's eighth solo release, Voyage de Sahar (ECM, 2006), is another testimony to the magnificent way that he manages to weave influences and references from the rich and beautiful heritage of Arabic world with elements of Andalusian music and modern jazz, and to the innovative way in which Brahem suggests the oud ...
Dave Douglas Interviewed at AAJ
Trumpeter Dave Douglas has emerged, in the past two decades, as one of the most important musicians of our time. With a voracious musical appetite that runs from his ethnic-informed Charms of the Night Sky quartet to his “have band will travel" Mountain Passages group, he recently released his third disc, Meaning and Mystery, featuring his ...
Dave Douglas: Music, Commerce and Culture Wars
by Paul Olson
Trumpeter/composer Dave Douglas is one of the best-known players and bandleaders in jazz music. With countless performances, groups and recordings to his credit, his success hardly seems surprising, or anything less than hard-earned. One struggles to list his accomplishments. If you randomly name a New-York-based improvisational heavyweight, Douglas has probably played with him. His longstanding role ...
John Ellis Interviewed at AAJ
Woodwind multi-instrumentalist and occasional keyboardist John Ellis has been, until recently, a key component of 8-string guitar wizard Charlie Hunter's various-sized groups since Hunter's final CD for Blue Note, 2001's Songs from the Analog Playground. But he's also emerged as a strong leader in his own right, and a composer worth paying attention to as well. ...
