Results for "James P. Johnson"

James P. Johnson

Back during the heyday of ragtime piano (pre-1920), James P. had become a part of the famed "Harlem music scene," and was contributing to the distinctive Harlem piano style that differed melodically and harmonically from classic ragtime. Conventional ragtime had syncopation but lacked polyrhythm. James P. developed a strong and solid walking bass with his left hand and a rhythmic exciting treble with his right. His music flowed at an even tempo with considerable syncopation between the two hands. He superimposed conflicting rhythms in solos of symmetrical beauty. James Price Johnson was born in New Brunswick, N.J., in 1894

Fiftieth Anniversary Blue Notes for September

By MARC COHN

Blue Note fiftieth anniversaries, as usual, on this first show of the month: Reuben Wilson (A Groovy Situation), McCoy Tyner (Asante) and Jimmy McGriff (Something to Listen to). And there's another James P. Johnson Blue Note single (BN-26) that includes “Caprice Rag" (piano players, pay attention). We've also got 21st century music from the U.K.'s Sarah ...

50th Anniversary Blue Notes – August edition

By MARC COHN

During last month's Blue Note anniversary show we ran out of time. So this week we catch up with a Hank Mobley session for Blue Note from July 31, 1970 (well, that date was 'almost-August' anyway), after opening the show with mostly twenty-first century music. Then, it's on to Grant Green, live in Newark and Wayne ...

50th Anniversary Blue Notes For July

By MARC COHN

First show of the month, you know that means: Blue Note 50th anniversaries! This month, Bobby Hutcherson and Harold Land (San Francisco), Lee Morgan (celebrating his July birthday at the Lighthouse), McCoy Tyner (Cosmos via Asante), and Elvin Jones (Coalition). We've also got the 78s of BN-24 from James P. Johnson, as well as Clifford Brown ...

Catching up with Herbie Hancock

By MIKE BRANNON

From the 1995-2003 archive: This article first appeared at All About Jazz in September 1998. Seldom has a musician been so closely associated with two separate musical genres as has pianist and composer Herbie Hancock. Originally introduced to the world as part of Miles Davis' mid-60's group, which also included Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams ...

The Hall Overton Centennial & More

By MARC COHN

February birthdays on Gift & Messages with the Hall Overton centennial. We feature his arrangement of “Little Rootie Tootie" for the Thelonious Monk Orchestra, where Hall takes the piano solo from the Monk's first trio recording and orchestrates it for the entire big band! You'll hear both back-to-back. Stunning, for the arrangement and the playing, is ...

Lee Morgan: The Sidewinder

By GREG SIMMONS

Legend tells us that 1964's The Sidewinder was the album, and indeed the song, which saved Blue Note Records at a time when the label was struggling financially. Dashed off to fill some tape, at the end of the recording session, it peaked at number 25 on the Billboard charts—almost unheard of for a hard-bop record—stabilizing ...

John Law: The Re-Creations Trilogy

By JAKOB BAEKGAARD

John Law is one of the most prominent pianists on the British jazz scene and he is also a distinctive composer. So far, he has focused primarily on building a substantial compositional body of work, culminating in his ambitious Art of Sound tetralogy (33 Jazz, 2007-2009), followed by strong records like Three Leaps of the Gazelle ...

Carolina Shout and Whisper

By JAKOB BAEKGAARD

Edward Fox was introduced as the pianist in saxophonist Cory Dextrose's quartet in the short story Last Song for Valentine. This is his own story. The thudding sound on the floor was followed by a piercing voice Edward Fox knew all too well. “Stop that damn noise, will you!" Old Mr. Grayson had ...