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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 ...
Thelonious Monk: Brilliant Corners
by Richard J Salvucci
Writing about being “lost for words" is not the ideal way of starting a review, but it may be the plain truth. Perhaps Thelonious Monk is an acquired taste. Perhaps not. Whatever the case, this particular release of Brilliant Corners is just that--brilliant.The whole package is superb and really defines Craft Recordings “Small Batch" ...
Jon De Lucia: And the Stars Were Shining
by Richard J Salvucci
All instruments can be difficult and some even look intimidating. Some are notoriously tough to play in tune. Some emit unpleasant sounds without much prompting, especially squeaks. Welcome to the world of the clarinet. Non-players often wonder how anyone coaxes pretty sounds from the beast. Some wonder how to coax out any sound at all. The ...
Ornette Coleman: An Innovator of the First Order, But Certainly No Messiah
by Richard J Salvucci
At the remove of sixty years, there is a temptation to say, “Ornette Coleman, so what?" His early music does not sound particularly out there. And by contemporary standards, it is not. The initial shock of Ornette Coleman in the mid 1950s wore off decades ago. Some of his compositions have passed into the standard repertoire. ...
