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The Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing Arts Jazz Ensemble 1: In the Pocket
by Jack Bowers
Those who argue that young people are learning jazz “by the numbers” and can’t possibly grasp its subtler nuances should listen to this mind-blowing album by Dallas,Texas' Booker T. Washington HSPVA Jazz Combo 1, showcasing incarnations of the sextet from 2001 and ’02. Granted, this isn’t your average garden-variety Jazz Studies program (simply listing its awards ...
Eugene Maslov: The Fuse Is Lit
by Jack Bowers
This is the third album I’ve reviewed by Russian-born jazz artist Eugene Maslov, and I’ve yet to be disappointed. Maslov, a classically trained pianist who swings, has technique to spare and a talent for split- second decision-making that never lets him down. Whatever the path, he’s always walking in the right direction. And walking is what ...
Bill McBirnie: Nature Boy
by Jack Bowers
Now that the great Moe Koffman is no longer among us, there’s an opening in Canada for an outstanding straight-ahead jazz flutist, and I suspect that, with Nature Boy, Bill McBirnie has submitted his application and staked his claim. In the liner notes McBirnie is modest about his talents, but he needn’t be. He has great ...
Thomas Taylor: Introducing Thomas E. Taylor Jr.
by Jack Bowers
To me, one of the pleasures of reviewing music is the opportunity it presents to become acquainted with unrecognized but talented artists and help them get their message across to others. I met Thomas Taylor in January at the 30th conference of the International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE), and he was kind enough to let ...
Janiece Jaffe: It Takes Two / Heart's Desire
by Jack Bowers
These two CDs by bright-eyed, Indiana-based songstress Janiece Jaffe were hand-delivered to me by the artist herself during a between-sessions break at the 31st conference of the International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE) last January in Toronto. The earlier of the two, It Takes Two, dating from 1996, pairs Jaffe with bassist Tom Hildreth (eight tracks) ...
Naima Shamborguer: A Blossom Sings
by Jack Bowers
It’s hard to decide whether Naima Shamborguer is a bluesy jazz singer or a jazzy blues singer, but it really doesn’t matter. Either way, she’s a very good one, as she proves time and again on A Blossom Sings, which I presume is her debut album, and presume further is on her own label, Shambones. As ...
The John Mahoney Big Band: In from Somewhere
by Jack Bowers
When all is said and done, no big band is better than the music it chooses to play, and that’s an area in which John Mahoney’s ensemble from the cradle of Jazz, New Orleans, has a leg up on many of its contemporaries. Mahoney, coordinator of Jazz Studies at Loyola University, proves on In from Somewhere ...
The Ebony Big Band: The Music of Robert F. Graettinger: Live at the Paradiso
by Jack Bowers
Robert Graettinger, who made his mark as a composer / arranger for Stan Kenton’s “Innovations in Modern Music” Orchestra (1947-51), is remembered today by no more than a small circle of jazz aficionados who heard and appreciated such groundbreaking works as “City of Glass” and “Thermopylae,” among others. Graettinger was only thirty-four when ...
Wynton Marsalis And The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra: Marsalis Plays Bolden: The 'Lost Napkin' Suite
by Jack Bowers
After more than seven years of painstaking research and decryption, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra have recorded and released Wynton's epic six-movement suite based on music written by the legendary New Orleans cornetist Buddy Bolden. Working solely from the tattered remnants of a napkin on which Bolden is said to have scrawled ...
The Tim Davies Big Band: Epic
by Jack Bowers
I must confess to some degree of apprehension when asked to review a “big band with turntables” whose “loops and synths” were “programmed by Ben Davis.” To paraphrase Shakespeare, such an enterprise doth not usually augur well. And indeed, there are moments on drummer Tim Davies’ album, Epic, especially on “Iron Chef Big Band” or “Chocolate ...
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