Results for "Play This!"

Glenn Zaleski: Summer Song

by Geno Thackara
June 5, 2023

Glenn Zaleski's playing style is a little swing, a little more contemplation, and a lot of New York City class. Those key elements are all there in this tricky-flowing turn on a Dave Brubeck classic--not really the tune for a sunny-day barbecue, as one might almost guess from the title, but rather one for winding down ...

Tina Turner, Herbie Hancock: Edith and the Kingpin

by Ludovico Granvassu
May 31, 2023

There are many ways to remember the one and only Tina Turner. For jazz fans, her collaboration with Herbie Hancock might well be the place to start. “Edith and the Kingpin" is a song that Joni Mitchell recorded for her 1975 album The Hissing of Summer Lawns and that Herbie Hancock revisited for his Grammy-winning 2007 ...

John Coltrane: After the Rain

by Geno Thackara
May 15, 2023

Famously, John Coltrane's liner notes for his definitive work A Love Supreme (Impulse!, 1964) were full of praise for the benevolence that's always there “through the storm and after the rain." The (probable) source of that phrase from the previous year is decidedly less famous, but then, it's the kind of calm moment you have to ...

Pat Metheny Group: The Roots of Coincidence

by Ken Laster
May 11, 2023

This performance rocks out! What is unique about this video is seeing Lyle Mays stepping out from behind his keyboards to playing guitar alongside Pat Metheny. Who knew? Antonio Sanchez is a beast on the drums as well. Perhaps this clip is one to play for your “jazz-skeptic" friends who claim jazz is too smooth or ...

Jon Stickley Trio: Point to Point

by Geno Thackara
May 4, 2023

Cross Nickel Creek with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones and you'll start getting close to Jon Stickley's neighborhood--but there's still a lot more in there to discover once you make your way around town. The JS3 starts with folk/bluegrass instrumentation (acoustic guitar/violin/drums) and adds dashes of anything from math-prog to Latin or Celtic, while the dazzling ...

Medeski Martin & Wood: Smoke

by Michael Ricci
April 29, 2023

Ever get stuck at a red light with some youngster blaring infernal racket from his car in the other lane? You can't wait for the light to turn green... but it gives you an idea... and you're thinking... which song can I crank up that turns heads in, say, the Costco parking lot? Here's one. With ...

Ahmad Jamal: Baia

by Ian Patterson
April 19, 2023

What was it about pianist Ahmad Jamal's playing that so fascinated Miles Davis and Keith Jarrett? There is no better place to find the answer than in this electrifying live performance from 1980. Bassist Sabu Adeyola and drummer Payton Crossley ply an irresistible groove, but it is Jamal's unmatched touch, sense of swing and his wicked ...

Haeun Joo: We Will Find

by Geno Thackara
April 15, 2023

You can read a lot into the simple phrase “We Will Find," and befitting such a title--especially for a debut--Haeun Joo sounds equal parts exploratory and hopeful. The jazzy grooving and trading of solos is familiar as can be, while her wordless crooning adds a more exotic allure at the same time. Strange and charming.

Lost Tribe: Vevasis

by Mike Jacobs
April 9, 2023

Shane Theriot: Dublin

by Mike Jacobs
April 8, 2023

Native-born Louisianan Shane Theriot (pronounced “teh-ree-oh") did some serious jazz study before being hired by the likes of The Neville Brothers and Hall and Oates. As “Dublin" shows, it's Theriot's subtle jazz infusions that add a wonderful complexity to his funky, NOLA-spiced solo outings, but it's an equally delicious feat how the guitarist unfailingly proves that ...