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Barry Guy: Ode to a Bassist
by Andrey Henkin
In 2007, just in time for bassist Barry Guy's 60th birthday, Intakt Records released Portrait, equal parts compilation, introduction, overview and mere glimpse into the musical world of this instrumentalist, composer and bandleader. There are tracks from several editions of Guy's colossal London Jazz Composers Orchestra (LJCO), pieces done with longstanding collaborators like Evan Parker and ...
Wadada Leo Smith
by Marc Medwin
“Since 2007, I see America changing, becoming not a divided multi-cultural society, but a pluralistic cultural society where everybody has a chance. Creative music announced the change in the '60s, but the music had been democratic since New Orleans, with its collective improvisation., where the collective had value and every individual had equal value. This is ...
The Making of Darcy James Argue's "Infernal Machines"
by Eric Benson
---> “It was like trying to shoot Laurence of Arabia on a Clerks budget," says the 33-year-old composer/conductor Darcy James Argue of his debut album, Infernal Machines (New Amsterdam), which will be released next Tuesday, May 12. Argue didn't have to tread such a quixotic path. Up until five years ago, he was performing as a ...
Cleve Pozar: The Web of Percussion
by Clifford Allen
It has become somewhat commonplace in the past few years for improvising musicians who made names for themselves in the New York underground (and who have since dropped out of the scene) to make something of a comeback. These comebacks are welcome to those of us who didn't get a chance to see their work in ...
In Memoriam Harrison Ridley Jr.
by Gary Hinesley
In 2001 the City of Philadelphia proclaimed February 28 Harrison Ridley Jr. Day, in honor of the great jazz DJ, educator and Philadelphia native, and “urged all citizens to be aware of Mr. Ridley's sincere love, commitment, and dedication to this unique American art form". Ridley hosted “The Historical Approach to the Positive Music" Sunday evenings ...
Toshiko Akiyoshi: Fine Wine
by Ken Dryden
Toshiko Akiyoshi's reputation as a brilliant composer/arranger is widely heralded. She was the first woman to lead a big band for an extended period of time, while she was also the first Japanese jazz artist to achieve international acclaim. A pianist of incredible talent, Akiyoshi's abilities were somewhat hidden within her orchestra, though she made a ...
Phil Woods: Philology
by George Kanzler
When pianist Jim McNeely replaced Hal Galper in the Phil Woods Quintet in 1990 it was the current winner--repeating in 1991--of the Downbeat Readers Poll as top jazz small group. But, as McNeely remembers, his first days with the alto saxophonist's band included a benefit concert for the local volunteer fire department in Delaware Water Gap, ...
China Moses: Bringing Back the Good Times
by Chris Mosey
China Moses is dedicating her singing career to blowing away the notion that women jazz singers in the present age have to be white and wispy and sing songs that are studiously liberated and sexless. She was born in Los Angeles in 1978, daughter of jazz doyenne Dee Dee Bridgewater and her second ...
Mark Turner & Fly
by Matthew Miller
From the first authoritative notes of Sky & Country, the trio Fly's new release on ECM records, saxophonist Mark Turner lays out a conundrum. Over the ambling underpinnings of bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jeff Ballard, the saxophonist conjures a sense of ease while unleashing a stream of ideas that take him from the middle to ...
Reflections on Bud
by Graham Carter
During the past few years I have had the honor to work with many famous jazz musicians, but without a doubt the nicest one of that group was Bud Shank. In thinking about Bud, and his contributions to the jazz world the past 60 years or so, one must rank his demeanor right next to his ...
