Results for "Russell Malone"

[Long] Live (at) the Jazz Standard! - Companion Mixtape

by Ludovico Granvassu
January 4, 2021

There was so much great music recorded live at the Jazz Standard, that we could not possibly squeeze it all in our weekly radio show, so here's a bonus mixtape with another couple of hours of great memories from the celebrated venue, as part of our commemoration series. [Check out Part 1 and Part 2]

Love Letter

By Jimmy Heath

Label: Verve Music Group
Released: 2020
Track listing: Ballad From Upper Neighbor’s Suite; Left Alone; Inside Your Heart; Fashion Or Passion; Con Alma; Don’t Misunderstand; La Mesha; Don’t Explain.

Trying Times

By Deelee Dube

Label: Concord Music Group
Released: 2020
Track listing: 1. Tryin' Times (05:15) 2. Still Trying (03:50) 3. On A Clear Day (04:14) 4. Ugly Beauty (Still We Dream) (04:16) 5. 500 Miles High (05:37) 6. Thou Swell (03:44) 7. Lazy Afternoon (03:38) 8. Joy (06:14) 9. Unity (06:38) 10. Still We Try (Spoken Word Tone Poem) (04:13)

Jazz Musician of the Day: Russell Malone

November 8, 2020

All About Jazz is celebrating Russell Malone's birthday today! Russell Malone's first guitar was a plastic green toy his mother bought him. Only four years old, Malone strummed the little guitar all day long for days on end trying to emulate the sounds he had heard from guitarists at church in Albany, Georgia. As a child, ...

20 Seattle Jazz Musicians You Should Know: Greta Matassa

by Paul Rauch
July 20, 2020

The city of Seattle has a jazz history that dates back to the very beginnings of the form. It was home to the first integrated club scene in America on Jackson St in the 1920's and 30's. It saw a young Ray Charles arrive as a teenager to escape the nightmare of Jim Crow in the ...

Jimmy Heath: Love Letter

by Thomas Fletcher
July 10, 2020

Often nicknamed “Little Bird," Jimmy Heath began on the alto saxophone acquiring this informal title by dedicating his studies to Charlie Parker and his wee stature. Although not a familiar name to many outside of the devoted jazz community, Heath would go on to pursue a remarkable 76-year career sadly passing away in January, 2020. A ...

Jimmy Heath: Love Letter

by Chris May
July 3, 2020

Love Letter is the final album to be made by saxophonist Jimmy Heath, who passed in January 2020 aged 93. It was completeted just a month earlier. The title is well chosen: the album is a love letter to jazz, a love letter to ballads, and a love letter to Heath's surviving family members, friends and ...

John Pizzarelli Trio at Keystone Korner

by Mark Robbins
April 11, 2020

From 1972 to 1983 NEA Jazz Master's award recipient Todd Barkan operated San Francisco's Keystone Korner as one the preeminent jazz clubs in the country. Performers such as Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis, Art Blakey, Betty Carter, McCoy Tyner and so many more played on the Korner's stage until, due to financial difficulties, Barkan had to close ...

I Sing Just to Know I'm Alive - Happy Birthday to Nina Simone

by Mary Foster Conklin
March 2, 2020

This week we focus on new releases from pianist Jen Allen, vocalists Rosemary Loar, Simone Kopmajer, Casey Abrams and Ian Shaw, plus birthday shout outs to Nina Simone in the first hour (who also has a new single out), flutists Nicole Mitchell and Mayu Saeki, vocalists Nancy Wilson, Anne Phillips, Kellye Gray and Shirley Crabbe, violinist ...

Russell Malone

Born: November 8, 1963

Russell Malone's first guitar was a plastic green toy his mother bought him. Only four years old, Malone strummed the little guitar all day long for days on end trying to emulate the sounds he had heard from guitarists at church in Albany, Georgia. As a child, Malone developed an interest in blues and country music after seeing musicians on television like Chet Atkins, Glen Campbell, Johnny Cash, Roy Clark, Son Seals, and B.B. King. Then, at age 12, he saw George Benson perform with Benny Goodman on Soundstage.

Malone has said, "I knew right then and there that I wanted to play this music." A self-taught player, Malone progressed well enough to land a gig with master organist Jimmy Smith when he was 25. "It made me realize that I wasn't as good as I thought I was," Malone recalls of his first on-stage jam with Smith. After two years with Smith, he went on to join Harry Connick Jr.'s orchestra, a position he held from 1990-94, appearing on three of Connick''s recordings.