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Results for "Richard J Salvucci"
Phineas Newborn, Jr.: A World of Piano!
by Richard J Salvucci
Did a critic ever accuse classical concert pianist Martha Argerich of displaying too much technique while playing Ravel? It is hardly an idle question as Argerich, one of the most gifted pianists in history, plays Ravel beautifully precisely because she has the technique to do so. She could not play “Sonatine" or “Gaspard de la Nuit"--fearsomely ...
Larry McKenna: World On A String
by Richard J Salvucci
Larry McKenna is not really a celebrity. He probably never will be. He plays tenor sax in and around Philadelphia. He apparently does not say a lot--although he clearly has a puckish sense of humor. It comes out in his playing. It is possible to drive by his suburban home, vaguely aware that a saxophonist, a ...
Curtis Counce: You Get More Bounce With Curtis Counce!
by Richard J Salvucci
When bassist Curtis Counce died of a heart attack at the age of 37 in 1963, the jazz world was deprived of a major talent. Not that one would have known much, for his death, while noted, was not extensively covered. Counce, a Midwesterner, had come to California and to Los Angeles to learn his craft, ...
Lonnie Liston Smith: Jazz Is Dead 17
by Richard J Salvucci
If someone has not released a recording in twenty five years, it must be a special occasion. Lonnie Liston Smith went out west, met a Fender Rhodes piano and, voila, conjured up the '70s again. So, technology and memory presumably explain the appearance of this recording, part of the ironically named Jazz is Dead label's series, ...
Art Farmer: Portrait of Art Farmer
by Richard J Salvucci
When a recording that is over six decades old sets a listener to thinking many different things, it is clearly something special. Art Farmer was something special. With a bump or two along the way, virtually everyone--except perhaps Art--knew it too. He and his twin brother, bassist Addison Farmer, began their careers in Los Angeles in ...
Ron Carter: An Evening With Ron Carter, Richard Galliano (Live At The Theaterstübchen, Kassel)
by Richard J Salvucci
The odds are that most readers are not intimately familiar with jazz accordion. Undoubtedly, that is because there are not very many of them; someone might list Art Van Damme, Tommy Gumina, Angelo di Pippo, and Mat Mathews, none of them a household name. The Franco-Italian Richard Galliano should probably hold contemporary pride of place among ...
Paul Kuhn: The LA Session
by Richard J Salvucci
Paul Kuhn (1928-2013) was a German jazz pianist who was well known in his own country, but much less so in the United States. All things considered, given that he spent the formative year of his adolescence in Nazi Germany, he was probably lucky to have survived at all. The Nazis, like most authoritarians, frowned on ...
Elijah Shiffer: Star Jelly
by Richard J Salvucci
Sometimes very talented people write difficult music. The music is difficult because its intent is not immediately clear. Or it does not follow canonical criteria, at least as currently understood. Music history presents us with many examples: Charles Ives, Igor Stravinsky, Dmitri Shostakovich--these are only very famous “classical" composers whose work passed from controversial to acceptable ...
From Badass Sparrows to Playhouse 90 and Naked City
by Richard J Salvucci
These are not recordings for the faint of heart. They require a willing suspension of disbelief, many years of watching noir television, and, probably, access to a keyboard. For the adventuresome, think of them as recordings that repay effort and imagination. If not, go back to “April in Paris" or “Shiny Stockings." Your family and neighbors ...
Kirk Lightsey: Live At Smalls Jazz Club
by Richard J Salvucci
The genesis of this brief (in terms of tracks; the Spotify version differs slightly) but satisfying recording merits some comment. During the salad days of the pandemic, Smalls Jazz Club in New York (and many other venues) were shuttered. Many artists were forced to improvise (in more ways than one) both to find a place to ...
