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Results for "John Chacona"
Glenn Zaleski: Opus de Funk
by John Chacona
We don't hear enough about Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silver these days. With a centennial arriving in 2028, now's the time--anytime is the time--to dig the very hip tunes composed by this godfather of hard bop. And that's just what pianist Glenn Zaleski does on Star Dreams (Sunnyside, 2024). “Opus de Funk" is one of Horace ...
Bill Charlap Trio: The Man I Love
by John Chacona
Fellow geezers might remember how, in an item describing the atmosphere at New York City's fabled Rainbow Room, The New Yorker's Goings On About Town section sniffed “where a club soda costs about ten dollars," or words to that effect. The Rockefeller Center boîte is no longer open to the public and the Goings On section ...
Ken Peplowski: All the Things You Are
by John Chacona
Even if you are new to jazz, you have likely heard “All the Things You Are" dozens of times, maybe hundreds. But you have never heard it like this. Jerome Kern's tour through the circle of fifths, catnip for improvisers, is usually played as a mid-tempo stroll or faster, but it was written as a ballad ...
Brian Landrus: AGRA
by John Chacona
The palette of Duke Ellington, jazz's first notable colorist--and arguably its greatest--drew on a range of instrumental hues that might still be unmatched in jazz history. Picking one as the essential pigment in the Orchestra's sound is a fool's errand. But here goes: it was Harry Carney's baritone saxophone, without which the Ellington sonic signature is ...
Farahser: Flatland
by John Chacona
As Farahser, Torontonians John Kameel Farah, a classically trained pianist, and drummer/producer Nick Fraser roam the frontier where improvised and notated music meet. It is well traveled territory these days, but on their eponymous release these sonic explorers find a borderland between memory and legend, imagination and investigation. Echoes of the Palestine of Farah's ancestors ripple ...
John Escreet: Departure No. 1
by John Chacona
When you first listen to “Departure No. 1," from John Escreet's The epicenter of your dreams (Blue Room Music, 2024), you might well ask, Who wrote that? At once familiar but tantalizingly hard to pin down, the composition sounds like a Bud Powell tune or maybe an undiscovered Herbie Nichols gem, perhaps in an edition by ...
Nicola Caminiti: Adam Arturo
by John Chacona
Every generation or so, a rhythm section comes along and changes the game. Think of Count Basie's “All-American Rhythm Section" with Freddie Green, Walter Page and Jo Jones, or Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams from Miles Davis' second great quintet. It's up to history to render the verdict about pianist Lex Korten, bassist Ben ...
Roxana Amed: A Prayer
by John Chacona
The U.S. recording career of Argentine-born vocalist Roxana Amed is a study in the frustration that assumptions about genre can create. Both 2021's Ontology and the following year's Unánime, released by Sony Music, were nominated for Latin Grammy Awards. That was well-deserved, yet these were also among the best jazz vocal recordings of those years. Her ...
Lorne Lofsky: Steward of the Canadian Guitar Tradition
by John Chacona
Guitarist Lorne Lofsky rocketed to fame when It Could Happen To You (Pablo Records, 1981), his debut release as a leader, was produced by fellow Canadian Oscar Peterson. Lofsky has since toured and recorded with a wide range of musicians from all around the world, including Peterson, but his hometown of Toronto has been his base ...
Yotam Silberstein: Never Let Me Go
by John Chacona
In his heyday, tenor saxophonist George Coleman bulled through the changes with the single-minded muscularity of heavyweight boxer Joe Frazier bearing down on an opponent. When Big George was on, the changes didn't stand a chance. He's slowed down a bit, but like many distinguished predecessors, what Coleman has lost--or abandoned--at racehorse tempos is more than ...
