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Jimmy Lyons: Jimmy Lyons Box Set
by Rex Butters
Add Jimmy Lyons' name to the list of under-appreciated jazz musicians. Despite several solo albums and side projects, his destiny irrevocably links him to Cecil Taylor. No other musician has a longer association with the revolutionary pianist, and no other musician seemed so intent on keeping Taylor honest jazzwise. While as fearless and inventive as anyone ...
Malachi Thompson & Africa Brass: Blue Jazz
by Rex Butters
Malachi Thompson’s eleventh recording as leader shamelessly dwells in the blues, drinking deeply from that source of inspiration. Blue Jazz keeps the free-bop band alive within the larger Africa Brass. The four trumpet/four trombone combination gives the blue swing the jukebox appeal of early ‘60s Blue Note records. Thompson’s eloquent lead on trumpet brings out the ...
Bobby Bradford and Vinny Golia at Line Space Line
by Rex Butters
Line Space Line played host to an Improviser’s Summit, presenting reed king Vinny Golia and the masterful Bobby Bradford to a room crowded up against the black walls of the Salvation Theater. Billed as an evening of duets and solos, the longtime LA mainstays mostly played together and used written arrangements as their launching pads. Golia, ...
Sam Rivers Celebrates His 80th at the Jazz Bakery
by Rex Butters
Sam Rivers brought his boundless goodwill and energy to the Jazz Bakery for a week to celebrate his 80th birthday with adoring fans. The amazing Rivers played two sets a night, and jammed and recorded with local musicians after hours. The ebullient octogenarian performed with his longtime trio featuring Doug Matthews and Anthony Cole. Like Rivers, ...
Jimmy Giuffre: Cry Freedom
by Rex Butters
It’s Jimmy Giuffre’s birthday. An unseasonable snow covers the ground around the converted old New England stone polishing mill that he and his wife Juanita have called home for 26 years. The 82 year old multi reed player and iconoclast listens to piano works by Villa Lobos and Ravel, birthday presents from friends. A restless explorer ...
Space is the Place: The Mutha Ship Connection
by Rex Butters
In 1974 the original Brother From Another Planet, Sun Ra, participated in a legendary low budget indie sci-fi film based on the Ra myth. Shot in 16mm around Oakland’s Merritt College and San Jose’s Rosicrucian Museum, Space Is The Place stars Ra as a crazy wisdom-cracking alien come to transport black folks to an Edenic planet ...
Something's Happening Here: LA's New Music Scene
by Rex Butters
“I’m currently in Belgium completing a tour of Europe. I’ve met with several writers and many jazz fans in Germany, France, Switzerland, and Belgium who know the jazz scene in LA better than many writers and jazz fans in Los Angeles do. People over here are very aware of musicians in LA, especially people like Vinny ...
Jason Moran: The Bandwagon
by Rex Butters
For his fifth Blue Note album, Jason Moran continues to build creative momentum. Once again, Moran stands as a conduit for a wide range of musical sources, from blues to classical to hip-hop to the Great American Songbook, often within the same song. His seemingly limitless vocabulary finds sympathetic support from two longtime collaborators, bassist Tarus ...
Jeff Kaiser Ockodektet: 13 Themes for a Triskaidekaphobic
by Rex Butters
Thematically, the new CD by trumpeter/composer Jeff Kaiser would send Howlin' Wolf running for a rabbit’s foot. 13 Themes for a Triskaidekaphobic features a large band comprised of some of LA’s most creative improvisers including Lynn Johnston, Mike Vlatkovich, Vinny Golia, Jason Mears, Richie West, Dan Clucas, and Kris Tiner. The hyper literate Kaiser named his ...
David S. Ware String Ensemble: Threads
by Rex Butters
After successfully reinterpreting an untouchable Sonny Rollins classic and blasting into the electronic stratosphere with Corridors and Parallels, tenor sax titan David S. Ware debuts on Thirsty Ear with a string ensemble. His famous quartet returns with William Parker and Guillermo E. Brown as rhythm runners and Matthew Shipp as a sort of one-man ...
