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Article: SoCal Jazz

Gergo Borlai: Talkin' Drummers and Drumming

by Jim Worsley
March 9, 2021

Most kids have heroes. Whether they be athletes, astronauts, artists, astrophysicists, (and that's just the “A's") or any of the many asundered possibilities. Gergo Borlai needn't go passed the “D's" to find his calling. Drumming came early, incredibly early, and he has never looked back. Determination and commitment can be a powerful force. Before long the ...

Article: Bailey's Bundles

Notable and Nearly Missed 2020

by C. Michael Bailey
January 28, 2021

The strange year that was 2020 yielded, reluctantly, re-issued and previously unissued recordings from across the spectrum of music and ain't it fine to have such to consider. The value of such recordings lay in their function in pointing to the musical future we presently inhabit. They fill in the blank spaces between then and now. ...

Article: Album Review

Flying Horse Big Band: Florida Rays

Read "Florida Rays" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
January 28, 2021

On its seventh recording, Florida Rays, the University of Central Florida's always dependable Flying Horse Big Band abandons its usual modus operandi—straight-from-the-hip contemporary jazz--to survey music associated with R&B legend (and Florida native) Ray Charles. As Charles, an accomplished musician, was best known as a vocalist, one might anticipate (correctly) that a handful of Charles' progeny ...

Article: Album Review

Dan Wilensky: All In All

Read "All In All" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
November 20, 2020

Saxophonist Dan Wilensky--who has played with everyone from Ray Charles to David Bowie to Jack McDuff-- offered up his take on some familiar pop tunes (The Beatles, The Youngbloods), a touch of George Gershwin and some Sammy Cahn on his 2018 offering, Good Music (Polyglot Music). Now it is (mostly) all Wilensky originals, the result of ...

Article: Album Review

Jim Waller Big Band: Bucket List

Read "Bucket List" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
November 5, 2020

One glance at Jim Waller's silver mane is enough to make it clear he is no young lion. In fact, Waller, a veteran composer, arranger and multi-instrumentalist who calls San Antonio, Texas, home, is nearing his eighth decade. Even though Waller's career has been long and successful, there was one item on his Bucket List that ...

Article: Interview

Joe Farnsworth: Friends In High Places

by R.J. DeLuke
October 26, 2020

Joe Farnsworth is one of the top jazz drummers working today, with a resume that includes some of the absolute greats. His muscular swing and precise timekeeping have been attractive to employers like Wynton Marsalis, Diana Krall, McCoy Tyner, George Coleman, Pharoah Sanders, Eric Alexander, Benny Golson and many more. He likes to say ...

Article: Interview

Michael Cuscuna: In The Vault Playing God

by AAJ Staff
October 17, 2020

From the 1995-2003 archive: This article first appeared at All About Jazz in December 2000. Michael Cuscuna is one of the most important figures in the jazz reissue field today. He has been responsible for hundreds of releases for many companies, and he was fortunate to meet and befriend Alfred Lion during the final ...

Article: Profile

20 Seattle Jazz Musicians You Should Know: Rick Mandyck

by Paul Rauch
October 14, 2020

The city of Seattle has a jazz history that dates back to the very beginnings of the form. It was home to the first integrated club scene in America on Jackson St in the 1920's and 1930's. It saw a young Ray Charles arrive as a teenager to escape the nightmare of Jim Crow in the ...

Article: Radio & Podcasts

Big September Birthdays & More

by Marc Cohn
October 9, 2020

We celebrate big September birthdays this week on G&M: Ray Charles, Muhal Richard Abrams and Sonny Rollins @ 90; Gary Bartz, Hamiet Bluiet, Dave Burrell and Roy Ayers @ 80! Of course, we have more: Horace Silver, Wilbur Ware, Elvin Jones, Sam Rivers, Cannonball Adderley and John Coltrane. So many of the greats and near-greats celebrate ...