Results for "Marcus Miller"

Marcus Miller

Marcus Miller, winner of the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album of 2001, was born in Brooklyn in 1959 and raised in Jamaica, New York. He came from a musical family and was influenced early on by his father, a church organist and choir director, as well as his musical extended family (which included the extraordinary Wynton Kelly, jazz pianist for Miles Davis during the late fifties and early sixties!). He displayed an early affinity for all types of music. By the age of thirteen he was already proficient on the clarinet, piano, and bass guitar and had begun composing music. The bass guitar, however, was his love and by the age of fifteen, he was working regularly in New York City with various bands

Steve Khan: A Rich Discography and A Priceless Left Hand

By JIM WORSLEY

The life and times of guitarist extraordinaire Steve Khan stretch through a high volume of evolving chapters that fuse together like the passages of a finely crafted arrangement. An expansive conversation with Khan touched on a variety of memories. Still, this is perhaps the Reader's Digest version of the seventy-three years old musician and composer's remarkable ...

Baby Steps to Giant Steps

By ALAN BRYSON

It's a good bet that most of us have heard people say they don't like jazz, or even worse, drop the H-bomb, “I hate jazz." If you choose to engage, the key is to tread lightly and tailor an approach that considers the tastes and sensibilities of the other person. The “So You Don't Like Jazz" ...

A Bu: Live At Beijing Poly Theater

By KARL ACKERMANN

Beijing's Poly Theater has held over three-thousand international artistic events since its opening in 1991. The prestigious fifteen-hundred seat cultural hub was the site of a 2018 solo piano concert by Dai Liang (aka, A Bu), possibly the best unknown pianist in music. A prodigy who began playing at four, the pianist was discovered in 2012 ...

Catalina Jazz Club: Landmark Jazz Haven Forges Onward

By JIM WORSLEY

While west-coasters long to go to the Blue Note in jny: New York City, east-coasters have their sights set on the Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood. The family-owned and operated jazz hot spot has seen and heard from all the jazz legends over the past thirty-four years. The supper club has fine dining and even finer ...

John Scofield As A Sideman: The Best Of…

By IAN PATTERSON

John Scofield is a modern-day jazz legend, one of the most instantly recognizable voices on the guitar, and an inspiration to many. In a solo career that began in earnest in 1977, Scofield has carved out his own sound on dozens of albums, including his tribute to Steve Swallow, Swallow Tales (ECM, 2020), a trio album ...

Benjamin Boone: The Poetry of Jazz and the Ghanaian Connection

By DUNCAN HEINING

So, Down Beat picks your record, The Poetry of Jazz, as one of its year-end top three. You put out a second volume, which is similarly well-received. Now here's the conundrum. Do you lock into the niche and follow up with more of the same? Or do you go for broke with that program masterpiece you ...

Alice Soyer: A Tale of Two Wings

By JIM WORSLEY

To think of Alice Soyer is to immediately get in touch with your feelings. Soyer is a most accomplished composer, pianist, and vocalist, who also brilliantly shares her distinct impressions through her drawings and paintings. Born and raised just outside of jny: Paris, Soyer's art, in any form, denotes the cherished moments and adventures of her ...

David Sanborn: Night Music and Beyond with Hal Willner

By LUDOVICO GRANVASSU

Could you imagine tuning in to national network TV today and finding a 60-minute weekly music show focusing on forward-looking musicians driven by a desire to push the envelope rather than to “entertain?" A music show sponsored by a beer company, on top of that? It's hard to believe today. But for two seasons at the ...