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Lester Young
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Lester "Prez" Young was one of the giants of the tenor saxophone. He was the greatest improviser between Coleman Hawkins and Louis Armstrong of the 1920s and Charlie Parker in the 1940s. From the beginning, he set out to be different: He had his own lingo; In the Forties, he grew his hair out. The other tenor players held their saxophones upright in front of them, so Young held his out to the side, kind of like a flute (see picture above). Then, there was the way he played: Hawkins played around harmonic runs. He played flurries of notes and had a HUGE tone that the other tenor players of the day emulated. Young used a softer tone that resulted In a soft, light sound (if you didn't know better, you would think the two were playing different instruments). Young used less notes and slurred notes together, creating more melodic solos. He played the ordinary in an extraordinary way, using a lot of subtleties to produce music that Billie Holiday said flips you out of your seat with surprise.
Khondzi: First of Many
by Anastasia Bogomolets
First of Many is a vivid dialogue between two of Georgia's most distinguished contemporary jazz voices: pianist Papuna Sharikadze and saxophonist Khondzi. Renowned for its unique choral polyphony, expressive dance traditions, and rich musical heritage, Georgia (Saqartvelo, the country) provides the cultural background for Sharikadze and Khondzi's music. From the first notes, ...
Ralph "Bigfoot" Hamilton: The Lost Legend Behind Two Guitar Pioneers
by Kyle Simpler
Nowadays, every move we make is recorded in some way, and wherever a person goes, whatever they do or say is often captured. Of course, this has not always been the case, and in fact, many details concerning historical events frequently rely on speculation based on the evidence at hand. This is undoubtedly the ...
Interruptions On A Christmas Eve
by Arthur R George
The small restaurant and occasional music bistro was closed for Christmas Eve. Its owner Ernie DiVitale had darkened the room. There was light enough, from the Christmas tree in the corner and spilling in from a lamp over the prep area in the kitchen, to relax with his wife Veronica at a back table over cappuccini ...
Ramona Horvath: Absinthe
by Artur Moral
How could one not connect with someone who, from her debut album as a leader, Lotus Blossom (Black & Blue, 2017), demonstrated such knowledge and admiration for Billy Strayhorn's timeless compositions? Or who, in the liner notes of her new project, counts among her supporters fellow pianists of the stature of Giovanni Mirabassi, Ignasi Terraza and ...
From The Heart To The Hips To The Head
by Robert J. Lewis
And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music. --Friedrich Nietzsche Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible. --Frank Zappa The six decades spanning 1920 to 1980 describe more than just a chronological segment in the history of music; they ...
A Jazz Reading List
by Karl Ackermann
From 2015 through 2020, a personal research project included my reading dozens of jazz books and related media. They included mainstays such as the massive reference The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (Penguin Books, 2006), Ben Ratliff's excellent interview collection The Jazz Ear: Conversations Over Music (Times Books, 2008), the off-shore perspectives of Circular Breathing: The ...
Ted Brown Quartet: Just You Just Me
by Jack Kenny
Ted Brown's 2013 album, recorded at various locations in New York and New Jersey, is steeped in the traditions of both Lester Young and Lennie Tristano, but what emerges is distinctly his own. Born in 1927, Brown channels the inspirations of these jazz giants, yet asserts his own individuality in every phrase. The ghostly presences of ...
Joni Jazz, Part 2
by Chuck Lenatti
Part 1 | Part 2 As a young woman growing up in Canada, Joni Mitchell was fond of American popular music and bought records whenever she could afford them. She would sometimes swap painting jobs for jazz albums. Among her favorite jazz artists were Duke Ellington and Lambert, Hendricks and Ross. She ...
A Savoy Revival: New OJCs from Hank Mobley & Yusef Lateef
by C. Andrew Hovan
Although the Concord Music Group acquired the legendary Savoy Records archives in 2017, the catalog has seen little reissue activity since. Founded in 1942 by Herman Lubinsky, Savoy earned distinction for documenting rhythm and blues, gospel, and jazz over several decades. The label captured many of bebop's pioneering voices--Charlie Parker, Dexter Gordon, Kenny Clarke, and Dizzy ...
