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Jean Vanasse: Vibraphonist Unsurpassed
by Robert J. Lewis
For most people it is impossible to be equally disposed toward all musical instruments and their generic sound; some immediately resonate, others never, even over an entire lifetime. A musician who manages to win over those previously indifferent or worse--through the power of sound, invention or understanding of the possibilities of the instrument--is to be ranked ...
Herb Robertson: Abandon in the Moment
by Sean Patrick Fitzell
Amid a whorl of scraped cello, tenor sax squawks, and bass clarinet blats, trumpeter Herb Robertson paused, his eyes closed in concentration. With NSA-like hearing ability, he pierced the action with a bracing note that crystallized the unfurling improvisation. The intent listening and bold responses displayed during saxophonist Lotte Anker's January show at The Stone typify ...
Denny Zeitlin
by Ken Dryden
For over four decades, Denny Zeitlin has juggled practicing psychiatry, teaching in a medical school, playing jazz piano, composing, arranging, touring and pursuing a number of hobbies. Zeitlin was already playing professionally in high school, graduated Phi Beta Kappa at the University of Illinois, then entered Johns Hopkins Medical School. Zeitlin spent his evenings studying, though ...
Chico Hamilton: Joyous Shout
by Donald Elfman
When Chico Hamilton was a boy growing up in Los Angeles, the film studios used to send trucks out to pick up the little African-American children to play natives in their Tarzan movies. “It was work, after all, and we got paid for it," says the drummer, now 87 years of age. “And what you learned ...
Larry Ochs
by Marc Medwin
“It started out as a social thing," says saxophonist and composer Larry Ochs of what would eventually determine the course of his life. “I played trumpet as a kid in New York, but it wasn't really because I enjoyed it. I played music because friends of mine were doing it; then it was supposed to be ...
Arthur Doyle
by John Sharpe
Better known by repute than in person saxophonist Arthur Doyle is nonetheless a free jazz legend. Though active since the '60s he has garnered barely a footnote in the written accounts of the music's history, not helped by a diminutive discography on obscure independent labels in limited pressings. But he has persevered and his rediscovery by ...
Victor Feldman - Part 5: The Final Years, 1978-87
by Steven Cerra
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5Looking back to 1978, it's hard to believe that in less than 10 years, Victor would no longer be with us.Woody Herman was never out of Victor's musical life. His career in the States had begun when he joined ...
Victor Feldman - Part 4: The Artful Dodger, 1967-1977
by Steven Cerra
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 During the decade in question, due to the responsibilities of establishing myself in a career outside of music and because of the obligations of a growing family, I did not see Victor as often. Fortunately for me, he ...
Victor Feldman - Part 3: Miles & Beyond
by Steven Cerra
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 “His keyboard technique is above reproach and is matched by his brilliance on vibes and drums; his knowledge of rhythms and meters, and the possibilities inherent in combining melodic lines with percussion expressions, greatly expounds the sounds of any ...
Victor Feldman - Part 2: From Cannonball to Russia
by Steven Cerra
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5As to the title of this piece, I thought about calling it “Part 2: The Cannonball Years," but since Victor was with Cannonball for only less than a full year, I thought that might be overstating things a bit. I lived ...
