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Jerry Vivino, Ken Burns Jazz, Quincy Jones and More
by Joe Dimino
The long-time member of Conan O'Brien's Basic Cable Band Mr. Jerry Vivino kicks off this week's episode with music from his latest album Coast to Coast recorded with his good friend and legendary jazz cat Bucky Pizzarelli. From there, we move into another great album by the Organ Jazz Trio, a Kansas City institution led by ...
Big in Japan: A History of Jazz in the Land of the Rising Sun, Part 1
by Karl Ackermann
Part 1 | Part 2The music market in Japan--second only to the U.S. in terms of revenue--generates more than two-billion dollars in sales annually. Enthusiasts and collectors of jazz recordings had long ago discovered that Japan's robust music scene, and the now virtual accessibility to products have made the country a go-to resource for ...
Los Angeles Jazz Institute Festival - Woodchopper's Ball: Part 1-4
by Simon Pilbrow
Los Angeles Jazz Institute Festival “Woodchoppers' Ball" Four Points by Sheraton at LAX Los Angeles, CA May 23-27, 2018 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 The Los Angeles Jazz Institute (LAJI), under Ken Poston, has continued for some thirty years to ...
Michael Leonhart: Surfing on an Orchestral Wave
by Ludovico Granvassu
If one were to find an answer to the age-old “nature or nurture" debate, s/he would have to look no further than The Painted Lady Suite [Sunnyside Records]. Listening to the stunning debut album by the Michael Leonhart Orchestra makes it clear that major achievements are only possible when nature and nurture are well integrated and ...
Kuumbwa And The Magic of Monday Night
by Arthur R George
Monday nights, otherwise a down time for many music venues, have been magic for the Kuumbwa Jazz Center in Santa Cruz, CA. Kuumbwa's most prominent shows occur, oddly, on off-calendar Monday nights or midweek, featuring headliners before or after their engagements nearby in San Francisco and Oakland and who are touring up or down the West ...
State and Mainstream: The Jazz Ambassadors and the U.S. State Department
by Karl Ackermann
The Cold War that began in 1947 and ran for forty-four years, had jazz music as its primary deterrent to global tensions, and it did more to foster good will between the U.S. and global citizens than any previous program launched by the U.S. Department of State. Jazz music, even in its Golden Age, was seldom ...
Rufus Reid: Terrestrial Dance
by Karl Ackermann
Rufus Reid is one of a handful of true renaissance figures in the arts. The bassist and composer has been an active presence in the jazz world since the 1970s and has recorded more than a dozen albums as a leader and in groups with Dexter Gordon, Andrew Hill, The Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Quartet, ...
C. Michael Bailey’s Best Recordings of 2017
by C. Michael Bailey
This year marks my 20th contributing to AAJ. Twenty years ago, I was 38 years old looking for an outlet for my music writing that had somehow avoided me until I came across an opportunity disguised as a call for articles from one Michael Ricci in Philadelphia. I emailed my review of Art Pepper's San Francisco ...
Jones & Lewis In Concert
It occurred to me around mid-afternoon that it would have been a good idea to use the band’s music as a supplement to the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis-Vanguard Orchestra Monday Recommendation. But, from the treasury of Thad & Mel performances on record and video, what to choose? The staff agreed unanimously; the band’s 1969 performance of Thad’s ...
Culture Clubs: A History of the U.S. Jazz Clubs, Part II: New York
by Karl Ackermann
Jazz didn't abandon Chicago but its further development only began to take on a distinct personality in the 1960s. By the late 1920s, the next phase of the jazz scene had shifted from Chicago to New York though, initially, there was no red carpet rolled out. As jazz bands made their way to New York they ...
