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Wardell Gray
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Wardell Gray was one of the truly great, yet by now almost obscure, bebop tenor saxophonists. With a smooth mellow and consistent tone, he created a tenor style that veered from swing to bebop, a style that was elegant, sure-footed, mature and distinctive. His premature death under mysterious circumstances in 1955, robbed the jazz world of another unique player, and cast him into distant recollection, though his talent deserves greater recognition. Born in Oklahoma City, Gray grew up in Detroit, playing locally as a teenager. He was a member of the Earl Hines big band during 1943-1945 before moving to Los Angeles in 1945
Mark Masters Ensemble: Dance, Eternal Spirits, Dance!
by Jack Bowers
In 2023-24, the celebrated arranger Mark Masters led his superb southern California-based ensemble into studios to record a pair of tribute albums. The first, Sam Rivers 100, was dedicated to the music of the late saxophonist on the one hundredth anniversary of his birth; the second, Dance, Eternal Spirits, Dance!, to that of another renowned saxophonist, ...
Nick Hempton-Cory Weeds: Horns Locked
by Jack Bowers
It has been far too long since anyone had the pleasure of eavesdropping on a two-tenor duel as heated and expressive as the one between Canadian gurus Nick Hempton and Cory Weeds on the suitably named Horns Locked. As the album's opening number, James Moody's fast-chugging “Last Train from Overbrook," unfolded, the memories came flooding back: ...
Gravity and Resurgence: The Many Dimensions of Dexter Gordon
by Arthur R George
Long Tall Dexter; swinger, bebopper, saxophone balladeer; acting the dissipated genius expatriate who was not unlike himself in the movie Round Midnight; his dressed-up persona “Society Red;" the laconic elder statesman of his later years. Dexter Gordon is all those things, but more than a kaleidoscope of caricatures. Those who trace their lineages through ...
Hadley Caliman / Pete Christlieb: Reunion
by Thomas Conrad
At the end of the first decade of the new millennium, one of the most gratifying developments in jazz is the late blossoming of Hadley Caliman. In 2008, at 76, he released Gratitude, his first recording as a leader in 31 years. It was followed in 2010 by Straight Ahead. They created a buzz on the ...
Two-Trumpet Cacophony
by AAJ Staff
This article was first published at All About Jazz in February 2002. Miles had it figured out: never record with another trumpeter in a small group setting--it just don't work. Or was it his ego? Two, three, and multi-trumpet small group ensembles represent an obscure configuration in modern jazz. This position contrasts sharply ...
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, ...
Cristina Zavalloni: fra canzone e ricerca
by Libero Farnè
L'ecclettismo, la vitalità creativa e l'intelligenza interpretativa di Cristina Zavalloni ci hanno abituato a sorprese continue, sia in concerto che nelle edizioni discografiche. È significativa la successione delle sue incisioni degli ultimissimi anni, a cominciare da For the Living (Encore, 2020), lavoro “impegnato" realizzato nel primo anno del Covid a capo di una formazione italo-scandinava da ...
Jazz Musician of the Day: Sonny Clark
All About Jazz is celebrating Sonny Clark's birthday today! Conrad Yeatis “Sonny" Clark was an American jazz pianist who mainly worked in the hard bop idiom. Contents Clark was born and raised in Herminie, Pennsylvania, a coal mining town southeast of Pittsburgh. At age 12, he moved to Pittsburgh. When visiting an aunt in California at ...
Jimmy Greene: Gifts and Givers
by C. Andrew Hovan
The two-tenor battle is not a new idea, with iconic pairings from the jazz pantheon running the gamut from Dexter Gordon and Wardell Gray to Eddie “Lockjaw" Davis and Johnny Griffin. In more recent times, Eric Alexander and Grant Stewart have fueled the fire with their own incendiary adventures as heard on the current albums Wailin' ...
