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823

Article: Reassessing

Eric Dolphy: Out to Lunch

by Trevor MacLaren
May 25, 2004

Eric Dolphy Out to Lunch Blue Note 1964 Being a Charles Mingus fanatic, I often ask the question, “Are you into Eric Dolphy?" To my appalled surprise, more often than not I get the response “Who?" That, my dear fellow jazzites, is totally unacceptable! For those of the ...

772

Article: Reassessing

Herbie Hancock: Future Shock

by Trevor MacLaren
April 9, 2004

Herbie Hancock Future Shock Columbia 1983 As with Ornette Coleman's The Shape of Jazz to Come , the title Future Shock says it all. With this record Herbie Hancock busted open jazz in a way that no one could have expected. It may have taken ten or twenty years for ...

464

Article: Reassessing

Small Change

by Trevor MacLaren
March 2, 2004

Tom Waits is unlike any singer/songwriter before or since he burst on the scene with Closing Time in 1973. His music has always been original and eclectic, guiding his audience along an evolution from drunken skid row crooner to his present role as western music's deconstruction magician. Throughout a catalogue that spans thirty plus years of ...

532

Article: Reassessing

The Sting: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

by Trevor MacLaren
December 3, 2003

The Sting: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Marvin Hamlisch A&M 1973 Who doesn't know “The Entertainer"? If you don't, then you haven't been doing your musical homework. The theme of the great twenties crime caper The Sting is one of the best-known songs in the amazing repertoire of pre-jazz composer ...

1,150

Article: Reassessing

Louis Armstrong: Louis 'Country and Western' Armstrong

by Trevor MacLaren
November 6, 2003

Louis Armstrong Louis “Country & Western" Armstrong Avco Embassy 1970 Many jazzites make the mistake of dismissing country and Americana as simpleton music made by and for simpletons. Fortunately there have been musicians in both jazz and country who have embraced each other's genres to create some beautiful ...

446

Article: Reassessing

Sting: Bring on the Night

by Trevor MacLaren
October 8, 2003

Sting Bring on the Night A&M 1986 With pop/rock group The Police, Sting (aka Gordon Sumner) created some of the greatest pop songs ever. These songs were a mix of pop, rock and ska meshed with articulate lyrics that would render the band's catalogue legendary. But as the band had ...

930

Article: Reassessing

Sun Ra: Atlantis

by Trevor MacLaren
October 5, 2003

Sun Ra and the Astro Infinity Arkestra AtlantisSaturn 1967 With Mars now in sight with the naked eye, no time is better than the present to turn to the planets. During his tenure on Earth, Saturnian Sun Ra created some trailblazing sounds that helped to change not only the sound ...

491

Article: Reassessing

Chet Baker: My Funny Valentine

by Trevor MacLaren
May 8, 2003

Chet BakerMy Funny ValentineBlue Note1953 Soft, delicate and serene, Chet Baker's voice is one of jazz's overlooked talents. Every serious jazz fan is well aware of his trumpet playing, both solo and with Gerry Mulligan's Quartet. His legendary style on the instrument helped establish his standing as one ...

433

Article: Reassessing

Frank Zappa: Hot Rats

by Trevor MacLaren
March 31, 2003

Frank ZappaHot RatsReprise1969The name Frank Zappa tends to bring to mind abstract symphonic pieces or rock music filled with comical and obscene lyrics. Those more familiar with Zappa's work know he was also one of finest guitar players ever, a musical visionary who created one ...

490

Article: Reassessing

The Shuffle Demons: Streetniks

by Trevor MacLaren
February 27, 2003

The Shuffle Demons Streetniks Independent 1986 In the mid to late eighties popular jazz was traveling through some pretty murky waters. In the eyes of many young people, jazz had taken on the stodgy air that afflicts Baroque, Classical and Romantic era music. Many no longer saw jazz ...