Results for "Jim Trageser"
Elvin's Waiting

by Michael J. Williams
This article was originally published in Turbula.net in 2004. Behind the Viking Lounge Is there a swimming pool and a garden where they hold summer fish fries Families living in the building know and love each other ...
Charles McPherson: The Art Of Teaching

by Jim Trageser
Charles McPherson will always be known for his alto sax playing. A favorite of Hollywood director Clint Eastwood, McPherson first gained a national reputation playing in Charles Mingus' combo in the late 1950s. By 1964 he was recording as a leader (although he'd continue to perform with Mingus for another half-decade), and later re-created Charlie Parker's ...
Derrick Shezbie: The Ghost of Buddy Bolden

by Jim Trageser
Derrick Shezbie's sophomore release as leader--a mere 26 years after his highly acclaimed debut, Spodie's Back (Warner Bros., 1994)--finds the New Orleans trumpeter in much the same territory as a quarter-century ago: traditional jazz played with an assured combination of virtuosity and energy. But this should be no surprise. He came of age musically ...
Spodie's Back

by Jim Trageser
Still a teenager when signed to Quincy Jones' Warner Bros. subsidiary, Qwest, trumpeter Derrick Shezbie was nonetheless a veteran on this debut as leader--having been playing in the traditionalist Rebirth Brass Band for several years already. Produced by fellow Crescent City native Delfeayo Marsalis, Spodie's Back" is a much more modernistic outing than anything ...
Sparky Parker: In the Dark

by Jim Trageser
Crafting the perfect riff has been the goal of every blues and rock guitarist since Jimi Hendrix first began channeling Albert King. Welding a memorable theme to jaw-dropping technique is the surest way for a budding guitarist to elevate his or her reputation. Houston, Texas' Sparky Parker's debut opens with one of those defining ...
Big Joe & The Dynaflows: Rockhouse Party

by Jim Trageser
Big Joe Maher, a veritable institution in our nation's capitol, has been active in Washington's jazz and blues scene since the 1980s, when he put together his own combo and also began drumming for former Powerhouse guitarist Tom Principato's blues band. But it wasn't until he recorded his own debut, Good Rockin' Daddy," in ...
Bobby Broom: Soul Fingers

by Jim Trageser
A thematic sequel to his 2007 release, Song and Dance, Bobby Broom's Soul Fingers is a deep-pile take on late 1960s--early 1970s pop, with Broom in his best Wes Montgomery vein, giving new soul-jazz life to one-time chart hits. And yet, it's also a break from Song and Dance because Broom has changed his ...
David Virelles: Igbó Alákọrin

by Jim Trageser
Maybe the most unexpected delight of 2018, avant-garde pianist David Virelles has released an utterly dyed-in-the-wool homage to his birthplace of Santiago de Cuba.Completely different from any other recording he's done to this point, this unreconstructed slice of midcentury Cuban music is so completely steeped in tradition, and Virelles' playing is so gorgeously virtuosic, ...
Alligator founder provides blues fans insider look at running of label

by Jim Trageser
Bitten By the Blues: The Alligator Records Story Bruce Iglauer with Patrick A. Roberts 338 Pages ISBN: 9780226129907 University of Chicago Press 2018 Bruce Iglauer's autobiographical history of Alligator Records is, in many ways, a story about technological change as much as it is about music. Yet, ...
Brad Goode: That's Right!

by Jim Trageser
With a fat, rich tone somewhere between French classical trumpeter Maurice André and the flugelhorn of Chuck Mangione, Brad Goode has the ultimate calling card for a jazz player: An immediately recognizable sound. The fact that he's also got an upper register to rival Maynard Ferguson makes Goode one of the most underknown of jazz players. ...