Results for "JazzWax by Marc Myers"

Dance Along With Basie, 1959

April 14, 2021

You won't find one of my favorite Thad Jones albums listed under his name. It's Dance Along With Basie, recorded for Roulette at the tail end of the 1950s. Cut over four sessions during the December holiday season in 1959, the album features mostly mid-tempo, swinging arrangements of standards. They're all strikes and perfect for a ...

New Video: Bill Evans in Belgium

April 13, 2021

In June 1972, Bill Evans and Eddie Gomez were at Club Thalamus in the Schaerbeek section of Brussels, Belgium. On drums, Evans hired Tony Oxley, an English avant-garde player. The gig was taped by Belgian TV. Evans and Gomez's European tour came just weeks after Evans recorded Living Time with George Russell, his last album for ...

Documentary: Ronnie Scott and His Club

April 12, 2021

You may not have played Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club as a musician or had the pleasure of hearing jazz artists perform there. And even if you have, who knows when you'll be back given the pandemic in Europe. For now, here's a solid documentary, Ronnie Scott and His World Famous Jazz Club, written and directed by ...

New Videos: Dave Pell Octet

April 8, 2021

Between 1943 and 1947, tenor saxophonist Dave Pell started out recording with big bands led by Bobby Sherwood, Tony Pastor and Bob Crosby. Then in late '47, he joined the Les Brown Orchestra, where he remained until 1955. In '53, Dave began recording with an octet he formed made up of Brown bandmates. Here's what Dave ...

Reza Khan

Born: February 10, 1965

REZA KHAN

Since his 2009 debut Painted Diaries, Bangladesh-born, New York–based guitarist and composer Reza Khan has written conceptually, enlisting heavy hitters from world music and contemporary jazz to weave lush musical storylines. His new album, Shadow Dancers, incorporates material developed over years and reshaped in a more personal context.

As such, the title track marks his first return to an older piece in over a decade. Like his previous releases, the album is conceived as a unified, theme-driven work rather than a collection of standalone tracks. His catalog includes multiple Billboard-charting releases, with a Top 10 single in “Drop of Faith,” and a steady run of recordings that have developed his collaborative, player-specific approach. The album draws from both new compositions and long-held ideas. “I went back to earlier material, polished it, and gave it a new meaning,” he says.

Sonny Stitt and Oscar Peterson

April 6, 2021

I love Oscar Peterson's playing. I'm just never crazy about his tempos. As the leader on recording sessions with his trio or quartet, Peterson tended to take songs excruciatingly slow or erratically fast. I'm not sure why Verve and Pablo producer Norman Granz never bothered to mention this to him over a dinner or from the ...

Bill Evans in Rochester, N.Y., 1977

April 5, 2021

Over the weekend, pianist Dave Thompson sent along a link to a recently uploaded, hour-long video of the Bill Evans Trio in concert in 1977. While the person who uploaded it thought the performance took place in Boston, it actually was held at the Eastman Theatre in Rochester, N.Y. Based on my additional research, Evans performed ...

Interview: Lucy Yeghiazaryan

April 2, 2021

I discovered Lucy Yeghiazaryan by accident a month or so ago. I was flying through Facebook before turning in for the night and there she was, singing away. I was most struck by her 1950s phrasing. She clearly had done quite a bit of intensive listening. I also was curious about her Armenian past and how ...

Pharoah Sanders: Promises

April 1, 2021

Even when Pharoah Sanders plays up-tempo, he sounds as if he's playing a ballad. That's because the tenor saxophonist, known for his deeply spiritual approach, is always in a meditative state when creating. Sanders began playing jazz in 1961, when he moved to New York from Oakland, Calif. Born Farrell Sanders in Little Rock, Ark., he ...

Dr. Lonnie Smith: Breathe

March 31, 2021

Twelve years ago, Ira Gitler introduced me to Lonnie Smith. We were sitting at New York's Jazz Standard listening to the music during the Jazz Journalists Association awards annual gala. As the three of us sat there, I told Lonnie how much I dug his heavy groove albums from the 1960s and '70s—particularly Think! and Turning ...