Results for "JazzWax by Marc Myers"

BBC Documentary: Charlie Parker

February 23, 2018

Jemal Ramirez: African Skies

February 21, 2018

One of the hottest Latin-jazz and salsa markets in the country is San Francisco. This may come as a surprise but it isn't. The city's Latin Quarter (now North Beach) has been a music center since the 1930s. The district's Latino history dates back to the 1910s, when, according to The Heart of the Mission: Latino ...

Barbara Moore: Swinging Pop

February 20, 2018

The British rock invasion of the mid-1960s had a profound effect on American music and the culture at large. For the first time in history, adolescents held sway over the record industry. By decade's end, the generation's influence extended to virtually all corners of the marketplace, and everything became more youthful. Kids no longer wanted to ...

Four Videos: Happy Prez Day

February 19, 2018

Today is President's Day in the U.S. On this day at JazzWax, we celebrate Lester Young. Billie Holiday called him the President, which was shortened to Pres or Prez. She meant president of the tenor saxophone. If you know nothing about Young but would love to know why he's such a big deal, here it is ...

Videos: Bossa Nova Legends

February 16, 2018

Well, it's Friday once again. So let's tilt our seats back, put up our feet and jet down to Rio. Here are four fab videos of bossa nova founders that I found surfing around on YouTube yesterday: Here's Luiz Bonfa playing his Batucada, Tenderly, Manhã de Carnaval and Menina Flor... Here's João Gilberto playing his Desafinado... ...

Eddie Bert: Kaleidoscope

February 14, 2018

In the early 1950s, with the 10-inch LP format on the rise, New York had a crew of jazz musicians who were superb studio swingers. They were dependable, driven and could really get feet tapping. Their watering hole was Charlie's Tavern on the west side of Seventh Avenue between 51st and 52nd St., in the Roseland ...

Harold Mabern: Pisces Calling

February 13, 2018

Pianist Harold Mabern has been known for his sideman work. In the 1960s and '70s, he was on Hank Mobley's Dippin', Lee Morgan's The Gigolo, Jackie McLean's Consequence, Blue Mitchell's Bring It Home to Me, Gene Ammons's The Black Cat and Stanley Turrentine's Don't Mess With Mr. T to name a few. Starting in 1968, Mabern ...

Gene Ammons: Brother Jug!

February 12, 2018

The jazz-rock fusion movement of the late 1960s and '70s elevated electronic instruments, particularly the guitar and keyboards. But while the rock guitar, Fender Rhodes electric piano and synthesizers were front and center in many fusion bands, the saxophone experienced a rebirth in the parallel soul-jazz movement. Sidelined as a solo rock instrument since the rise ...

Bill Evans: Very Early '70s

February 9, 2018

Bill Evans changed in early 1972. The pianist who had looked like a gaunt accountant in the 1960s sported a mustache by 1971. A year later, his hair was college-campus long. He also sounded different. Instead of playing with poetic patience and lots of space, Evans sounded more agitated in his keyboard attack. This visual and ...

Chico O'Farrill: Latin Modernist

February 8, 2018

Looking back, 1951 and '52 were groundbreaking years for jazz. Bebop was still lingering, cool jazz had already begun in '49, the R&B-influenced hard bop was just emerging and so was the relaxed sound of West Coast jazz. But these years also were important for Latin jazz and the dominant role played by Chico O'Farrill in ...