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Horace Parlan
by AAJ Staff
Submitted on behalf of Riel Lazarus Much of pianist Horace Parlan's distinguished jazz life has been marked by an intriguing series of ebbs and flows. At times his artistry has received the attention and praise it deserves, while at others it has been curiously overlooked and neglected. All the more interesting is that ...
Patty Waters
by Kurt Gottschalk
To contemporary ears, ESP is a legendary label marking some of the lesser known free jazz experiments of the ‘60s, with a catalogue including titles by Frank Lowe, Sunny Murray, Ornette Coleman, Paul Bley, Milford Graves and Sun Ra. But during its course, from 1964 to 1975 (with many of the titles reissued by a variety ...
Robin Kenyatta
by AAJ Staff
When alto saxophonist Robin Kenyatta's name appeared in the concert listings here in New York back in mid-late May, an AAJ trip was made to trumpeter Ahmed Abdullah's jazz club, Sista's Place, in the heart of Brooklyn. Kenyatta has lived in Switzerland for 20 years (where he ran a music school and taught), as well as ...
Eddie Gale
by AAJ Staff
Eddie Gale's recent mid-April Brooklyn Jazz Festival appearance at Sista's Place was a grand welcome back event which the trumpeter fondly recalls as being a big reunion of friends and folks he hadn't seen since he was a teenager. People showed up who hadn't known what happened to Gale, himself born and raised in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn ...
Abbey Lincoln: Through the Years
by AAJ Staff
Submitted on behalf of Russ Musto Abbey Lincoln is jazz' golden lady, the music's marvelous magical matriarch whose impressive 50 year career has taken her from smooth supper club singer and movie star to distinctive jazz vocalist, fiery social activist, and highly regarded lyricist and composer. Her unique and inspiring body of work ...
John Zorn: Not All About Jazz
by Elliott Simon
Over a 30-year period, John Zorn has produced a compendium of original work that while daunting in scope and complexity is equally enticing for its musical and cultural sensibility. As a musician, composer and producer, he has expanded the way we think about art, cultural identity and the artificial boundaries that exist among musical genres. John ...
Celia Cruz Is
by Javier AQ Ortiz
Celia Cruz died on July 16, 2003. It has been reported that she did not recover after a recent brain tumor surgery and finally passed away from cerebral cancer in the company of her husband Pedro Knight. Her website crashed just about three hours after the news of her demise, which isn’t surprising given Cruz’s worldwide ...
Matthew Zachary: The Underlying Theme
by Gregory J. Robb
”What can give you closure when there is no answer?” The music of Matthew Zachary chronicles the emotions and experiences of facing death, conquering it and looking forward to life. Cancer changed Matt and he now uses his restored musical abilities to change others. The story began as it does for millions of ...
Al Plank, 1932-2003
by Forrest Dylan Bryant
Al Plank, a fixture on the San Francisco jazz scene for more than forty years, passed away on April 8 at the age of 70, following a battle with lung cancer. Best known in recent years as one of the regular musicians at Pearl's in North Beach, Plank was a highly versatile, swinging pianist and a ...
Alas, Poor Ghost: Echoes of Johnny Hartman
by Alexander M. Stern
At the time of his death in 1983, Johnny Hartman was already a ghost. A supreme interpreter of ballads with a lush, velvety baritone, Hartman combated indifference for nearly forty years, his one moment in the sun a 1963 collaboration with saxophonist John Coltrane's classic quartet. That album, the superb John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman, is ...
