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Incomparably Quiet: Bill Evans
by Rob Mariani
It was another one of those sticky, half-sunny, end-of-summer New York Sunday afternoons at The Village Vanguard. Down in the tiny, odd-shaped cellar space on lower Seventh Avenue, it wasn't the usual mid-sixties crowd of jazz fans. Most of the people weren't there to hear jazz, they were there to see comedian Lenny Bruce. Bruce was ...
Modern Jazz Quartet: Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise
by Rob Mariani
New York City empties out like a condemned playground on a Sunday afternoon in July. People cooped up in air-dried apartments and offices all week escape in search of sunshine and trees. The good things that still happen in the City on weekends happen mostly inside of little hidden enclaves, isolated places well below street level. ...
Mingus's Fingus
by Rob Mariani
On a chilly November night the fog from the River rolled up Hudson Street rubbing against the big plate glass window of the Half-Note Café on the corner of Spring. Inside, things were warm and busy. Charlie Mingus's sextet was setting up on the bandstand on top of the two-sided bar. People were finding ...
Cooking with Philly Joe
by Rob Mariani
Sitting over by the bar in the cheap seats at Birdland during a Monday night jam session, I watched a group of aspiring young drummers roll their eyes and shake their heads in disbelief. I saw them nudge each other, smile and even laugh out loud. They sat forward with their chins on their hands watching ...
Coda For Elvin
by Rob Mariani
Coda: a musical passage used to conclude a movement. It had been over 40 years since I'd seen Elvin Jones in person. Now here he was at 72-plus years of age, appearing with his Jazz Machine at the Regattabar in Cambridge, Mass., an exquisitely intimate room with a sound just perfect for acoustic jazz. ...
Connie Kay Plays the Drums Impeccably
by Rob Mariani
The impeccable Mr. Connie Kay plays perfectly. If you say that sentence out loud in a chamber where there is just the slightest echo, and emphasize the “p" sounds and the hard “c" sounds just a little, you get a feeling of what this remarkable percussionist's drumming actually sounds like. In all music, I ...
Saturdays With Mort (Fega)
by Rob Mariani
We've embedded John Mariani's dedication to his brother Rob (the author) on his Almost Golden radio show which is embedded in the Soundcloud section below. Coming out of the fifties at 19 years old, I'd had my fill of doo-wop and R&B. One windy Saturday afternoon in April, I heard this music on the ...
Greg Abate: “Be-Bop-Er” Takes His Music To The World
by Rob Mariani
This article was published posthumously and on behalf of All About Jazz's long-time friend and contributor, Rob Mariani. “Bebop is one of the more complicated forms of jazz music," says Greg Abate, one of New England's most well-known alto sax players. He's been keeping this “art form" alive and thriving for years.
Minton's: An iconic Jazz Haven Re-opens in Harlem
by Rob Mariani
An iconic jazz haven is born again. It's a name I don't think I've heard spoken of in many years. And so when I learned that after many years, “Minton's Playhouse" was re-opening at its original address at West 118th Street in Harlem on the ground floor of the old Cecil Hotel, I was ...
Greg Abate: The World Can Sleep Better
by Rob Mariani
Only about 10 minutes late for a lunchtime interview with saxophonist Greg Abate, driving up to the restaurant he's clearly visible, standing by the door looking at his watch and scanning the parking lot with a slightly anxious expression on his face. Unlike some of the other famous and infamous players of bebop and jazz, Abate ...
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