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Jaki Byard
Born:
A musician that has spanned the generations of Jazz is Jaki Byard. Jaki Byard was born John Arthur Byard, Jr. on June 15, 1922 in Worcester, Massachusetts. His father was a member of the marching hands at the turn of the 20th century and played the trombone. His mother played the piano for the African Methodist Episcopalian Zion Church (AME). His maternal grandmother played the piano for the silent picture shows (visual movies without sound before "talking movies" were invented). It was on that piano that Jaki began his musical odyssey.
When he was 8 years old, he started taking piano lessons from a piano teacher named Grace Johnson. The swing rhythm of the time and the lure of the big bands inspired Jaki throughout most of his career. At the age of 16, he played his first professional engagement. During WW II, Jaki was drafted into the army, but with luck and circumstance, he was able to join the army along with Earl Bostic, with whom he would later form a musical alliance with.
Vintage Dolphy
by Duncan Heining
Vintage Dolphy appeared originally in 1986/7 on both vinyl and CD. Featuring recordings from three separate live performances from Eric Dolphy, two at Carnegie Hall, both with his own quartet and in two 'third stream' settings devised by Gunther Schuller, the album provided intriguing insights into Dolphy's improvisational skills and approach. Were this not enough, the ...
The Very Singular Mr. Ran Blake
by Duncan Heining
There have been few American composers and musicians, with the ability to encapsulate their country's music in all its racial and ethnic complexity. We might perhaps point to Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, Charles Ives and perhaps, in their own distaff ways, Harry Partch and Steve Reich. In jazz, their number is fewer still--Duke Ellington and George ...
Alan Pasqua: Keys That Unlock Many Doors
by Jim Worsley
Recently, and just a few days before Thanksgiving (2019), I was thankful for the opportunity to have two separate conversations with renown pianist Alan Pasqua. As generous with his time and candid commentary as he is talented as a musician and composer, both conversations crashed the one-hour mark. For you non mathematicians, that is over two ...
June Birthdays Featuring Reginald Workman, NEA Jazz Master
by Marc Cohn
June jazz birthdays! Our featured honoree is bassist Reggie Workman, 82 years young, who got a fine birthday present: a 2020 National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Award. So, we have three tracks from his own recordings, which may surprise you. One features Andrew Hill and Julian Priester. Other birthday honors include Marcus Belgrave (Horace ...
Dave Meder: Passage
by Mike Jurkovic
"Philosophically, what I'm after is the lofty goal of being able to play everything," says 28-year-old pianist David Meder of his ambitions and crowd-sourced debut, Passage. Like he says, that's pretty lofty, if not downright cocky. But what is jazz, let alone any artistic endeavor, if not an equal mix of both, and the chops to ...
Ted Rosenthal: Dear Erich, A Jazz Opera
by Ken Dryden
Ted Rosenthal is one of the most renowned pianists of his generation. He won first prize at the second Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition and has been awarded several NEA grants as a composer. Well known as the pianist in Gerry Mulligan's final quartet, Rosenthal has recorded or performed with many other artists, including Bob ...
Francesco Martinelli: European Jazz - Tales of Etruscan Vases, Arias And Resistance
by Ian Patterson
Few have attempted to tackle the history of European jazz in any meaningful way. That's hardly surprising given the size of the task. How do you address the jazz history of over forty countries in a succinct and logical manner? How do you manage to throw light on all the major personalities at the ...
Hal Willner's Rock 'n' Rota
by Ludovico Granvassu
"The whole is greater than the sum of its parts." Anyone who has ever been at an all-star event--especially if that was a tribute concert--has learned the importance of Aristotle's maxim the hard way. Maybe the occasion was momentous, the cast probably star-studded, the heart certainly in the right place and the expectations high... however, at ...
Michael Leonhart: Surfing on an Orchestral Wave
by Ludovico Granvassu
If one were to find an answer to the age-old “nature or nurture" debate, s/he would have to look no further than The Painted Lady Suite [Sunnyside Records]. Listening to the stunning debut album by the Michael Leonhart Orchestra makes it clear that major achievements are only possible when nature and nurture are well integrated and ...
