Results for "Michael Cuscuna"

Michael Cuscuna

Michael Cuscuna (born 20 September 1948, Stamford, Connecticut) is a record producer, discographer and writer. Cuscuna played drums, saxophone and flute during his teenage years, but was hardly professional material. Instead, he turned his attention to radio and recordings. He had a jazz show on WXPN and worked for ESP-Disk in the late 1960s, in addition to writing for Jazz & Pop Magazine, Rolling Stone and Down Beat. After stints at WMMR in Philadelphia and WABC-FM (now WPLJ) in New York as a progressive rock DJ, he took a position as a producer with Atlantic Records in the 1970s, recording Buddy Guy, Dave Brubeck and the Art Ensemble of Chicago

Michael Cuscuna: In The Vault Playing God

By AAJ STAFF

From the 1995-2003 archive: This article first appeared at All About Jazz in December 2000. Michael Cuscuna is one of the most important figures in the jazz reissue field today. He has been responsible for hundreds of releases for many companies, and he was fortunate to meet and befriend Alfred Lion during the final ...

Miles Davis: Miles at the Fillmore - Miles Davis 1970: The Bootleg Series Vol. 3

By JOHN KELMAN

By the time Bitches Brew (Columbia) was released in April, 1970--and despite receiving a 5-star review in Downbeat Magazine--trumpeter Miles Davis was already under fire from mainstream jazz critics as having “sold out," despite the densely constructed, improvisationally unfettered music being as unapproachable to an audience looking for accessible music as anything he'd done with his ...

Franklin Kiermyer: Further

By JOHN KELMAN

The number of jazz musicians whose lives and music have been impacted by John Coltrane is truly legion; few, however, have extrapolated the exploratory space travelled by the late, great saxophonist in his final two years as intensely--and successfully--as Canadian expat, one-time New York resident and now Oslo-dwelling drummer Franklin Kiermyer. While his international profile has, ...

Mosaic Records: Making Jazz History

By BOB KENSELAAR

No one is more astonished by the longevity of Mosaic Records than Michael Cuscuna, the veteran record producer and one-time disc jockey who founded the label together with Charlie Lourie, a former clarinetist who worked in both jazz and classical contexts before becoming an executive at CBS records, Blue Note, and elsewhere. Arguably the premier reissue ...

Billy Vera: Still In The Game

By SCOTT MITCHELL

It might be safe to say that a lot of people may know a little bit about Billy Vera but only a few people know a lot about Billy Vera. Billy is a singer, writer, producer, actor, Grammy winner, and music historian. He has performed with big bands, Billy And The Beaters, solo, and everything in ...

Wes Montgomery: Echoes of Indiana Avenue

By C. MICHAEL BAILEY

In welcome fits of serendipity, the manuscripts of previously unknown European classical compositions are found in attics, old churches or forgotten libraries and brought to light with no little fanfare. In the United States, there is an equivalent situation with hitherto previously unissued jazz recordings being revealed in the most unlikely places. In a recent example, ...

Maxine Gordon: The Legacy of Dexter Gordon

By VICTOR L. SCHERMER

Legendary tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon was a focal point of the bebop and hard bop revolutions. Later in his career, he achieved the status of an American icon with his lead role in Bernard Tavernier's 1986 film, Round Midnight, which garnered him an Academy Award nomination. His “homecoming" in New York City, after living in Europe ...

Wes Montgomery: Echoes of Indiana Avenue

By DAN BILAWSKY

In the mid-twentieth century, Indianapolis was an incubator for jazz talent. Trombonist J.J. Johnson, trumpeter Freddie Hubbard and guitarist Wes Montgomery all began their individual ascents to stardom from the heart of Hoosier country. While the first two artists had long careers, Montgomery wasn't so lucky. This self-taught genius, who burst onto the national scene in ...