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Ramiro Flores: Saxman in Motion
by Eric Benson
“Playing standards, to me, seems a little empty. I have a lot of fun playing them, but it seems to me a little infertile. I think there are a lot of other things to do that are much more interesting," said Ramiro Flores, the 30-year-old saxophonist who has quickly become one of the most lauded players ...
Ahmad Jamal: It's Magic
by Andrew Velez
When asked what he's thinking about when he's at the piano, NEA Jazz Master and Kennedy Center Jazz Legend Ahmad Jamal replies, “Those songs that come up on my recordings or my concerts, sometimes I pull some things that are very distant and written years before I was here, things written by Mozart. That's the wonderful ...
Pipi Piazzolla: Argentina's Rhythm Shark
by Eric Benson
Ask the Argentine drummer Daniel 'Pipi' Piazzolla about the role of claves in his music and you shouldn't expect an answer so much as an exuberant lesson. Piazzolla, the leader of the celebrated Buenos Aires-based sextet Escalandrum, loves claves--the way they “naturalize" complex time signatures; the infinite rhythmic possibilities they present; the mathematical derring-do of fitting ...
Voo Doo Scat: Reminiscing
by Robert J. Lewis
It takes no small courage to record a CD of standards, all of which have been recorded hundreds of times by the very best the genre has to offer, including Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Dinah Washington. So if the entry level criterion is you better have something to say and say ...
Cuong Vu: More Than Just Notes
by Sean Patrick Fitzell
Truculent blasts of white noise kissed with delay. Ghostly whispers evolving to plaintive cries. Soaring melodies comprised of bold, rounded notes. Trumpeter Cuong Vu's vast sonic palette was formed with intense dedication and by choosing nonconformist paths.After moving to New York in 1994, his sound quickly found a home with veterans like drummer Gerry ...
Peter Asplund: In a Swedish Way
by Chris Mosey
Peter Asplund, one of Sweden's most talented jazz trumpeters, gets his inspiration from giants like Louis Armstrong, Clifford Brown and Miles Davis but funnels it through his own, very Nordic filter. “I don't pretend to sound like an American trumpeter," he says. “I'm Swedish and that has to come across. As I see it, you have ...
Jack Sheldon: Still Going Strong
by Larry Taylor
For Jack Sheldon, a beacon for some sixty years on the West Coast jazz scene, 2008 is turning out to be a very good year. At 76, the celebrated trumpet player, vocalist, bandleader and TV personality, is the subject of a new documentary film, while his jazz career continues to accelerate.He was there when ...
Bishop Norman Williams: Swinging from Kansas City to San Francisco
by Steven Mayers
Meeting saxophonist extraordinaire “Bishop" Norman Williams in the early '90's, and sitting in on guitar at his jam session with local legend B.J. Papa on piano at North Beach's Gathering Café which closed in the late '90's, I was first taken by his extraordinarily swinging melodies--here's a seasoned Kansas City be-bop player with a boundless ability ...
Sonny Rollins: Touring, Life Today and the Future
by Larry Taylor
Jazz great Sonny Rollins is gearing up for an ambitious 2008 touring season, which will take him from the West Coast (April 3 at UC Berkeley's Zellerbach Hall and April 5 at Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts in Southern California), then east for appearances at Washington, D.C.'s Kennedy Center, April 18, and Morristown, N.J., April ...
Francois Rabbath
by Andrey Henkin
Anyone in whose music collection resides a solo bass record owes a debt of gratitude to Francois Rabbath. For without his pioneering work as a recording artist, conceptualist and teacher, the bass would be far less often found as a compelling lead instrument. Rabbath, a resident of France since the '60s, has a story ...
