Jazz News (3312)
Find out what's going on in the world of jazz through industry press releases, news stories, and staff viewpoints.
A music created mainly by black Americans in the 20th century through an amalgamation of elements drawn from European-American and tribal African music. A unique type, it cannot safely be categorized as folk, popular, or art music, though it shares aspects of all three. It has had a profound effect on international culture, not only through its considerable popularity, but through the important role it has played in shaping the many forms of popular music that developed around and out of it. …
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As we close one decade and get ready to open a fresh one, it seems that jazz is in a healthy state, fostered tremendously by the colossal reissue boom. That's not to say there wasn't great new music being made. In fact, there was an interesting shift in equilibrium as the overt neo-classicism of Wynton Marsalis and his clan gave way to a healthier mix of styles, from the "tradition with an edge" of Nicholas Payton to the mind-expanding journeys of Dave Douglas, Don Byron, and many others. As a s …
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In what's shaping up to be a ridiculously busy late Winter season, there are enough events going on to almost keep even me happy, and out and about filling my ears and soul with the godsend known as jazz. No time to waste: get our your calendars and start marking dates! Vancouver's acid jazz hot stuffs Millennium Project, who just released their latest album on Mo' Funk Records (and have hopefully answered their last question about how they got the infamous Bill Laswell to produce their disc) …
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Over the years, people have come up to me with this, "Hey Duffy, the big bands are coming back." My response, with a detectable assertiveness, was, "They never left!" Any discussion about big bands cannot go without a definition or what constitutes a big band? Actually, big bands never went anywhere; they have, to some extent, succumb to economics; more importantly, to the many modes and styles of music which constitute simplicity and lie under the umbrella of what is considered today as, pop …
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The gig was over, and there I was, walking down Bourbon street at 5 AM. I had just left a session at the Monteleone Hotel; it began a little before midnight. As I walked to my hotel, six blocks away, wearing my Dobbs Fifth Avenue, blue blazer, red tie, and the usual...I was holding my black tenor bag in one hand, my clarinet in the other hand; the tools of my trade...a musician. I noticed that there were only three people in the street; the driver of a garbage truck, a young African-American kid …
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From where does jazz intensity in it's primordial self originate? The answer is three-fold; from the soul, the composition being played, and leave us not forgot, the performing musician. So what about the soul; can we have an awareness of it. Yes! Through the use of our intellect. Why intellect? It is with the intellect that we conceptualize and perceive the existence of the soul, spirit, and ultimately, jazz intensity! Is it possible to identify with jazz intensity. Yes! The facial expressio …
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Drummer Randy Kaye brought together, in an unusual setting for improvisational music, bassist Richard Downs, reed players Joe Giardullo and Joe McPhee. This gig, juxtaposed with listening to the Hat Hut reissue on CD of McPhee’s first solo album TENOR, brought to light an understanding of McPhee’s playing heretofore unrealizable. The focus of Joe’s music is to strike a balance between structure and expression. These are polarities in the musical world. The distance between them allows for a m …
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You truly need a score card to keep up with the distribution end of the Savoy label over the past five to ten years or so. Going as far back as this reviewer can remember, Muse was reissuing the catalog on vinyl and then CD, usually with re-done covers. A bit further down the road, things changed and Denon Japan got a hold of the inventory and the direction they took, not surprisingly, was one of facsimile reissues with original graphics and often woefully short playing times. Just at the tail e …
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There I was, standing in front of 20 of the heaviest musicians in the business. The date was Thursday, April 20, 1972. The place, Lococo's Manhattan in Manhattan Beach, Ca. Was I nervous?...you damn right I was nervous. I had just drank two martinis...this was my third; one more and I'll be conducting 40 musicians, not 20? What was the occasion? Well, it goes down something like this. For several months, I had been scoring charts for a 20 piece jazz orchestra-I needed a place to premier this …
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...WELCOME TO SPRING 1999 where we've just had a whack of great big shows (can you say Joshua Redman Band, Rova Saxophone Quartet and Erik Friedlander's "Topaz" within a five-day period!?!) courtesy of the jazz fiends at the Coastal Jazz & Blues Society, the non-profit organization that is responsible for year-round concerts and the annual summer jazz extravaganza known as the du Maurier International Jazz Festival Vancouver. Coastal Jazz & Blues has been bringing Vancouver some of the world's f …
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Like many jazz collectors of my general age range, I began my serious collecting back in the early '80s and Blue Note discs were always at the top of my ever-expanding want list. Of course, staying put in Cleveland, Ohio was no way to develop a jazz collection; you had to venture out to other cities (Ann Arbor, Michigan being one) and various mail order sources (Euclid Records, Craig Moerer, and Toad Hall come to mind) to get "the good stuff." Then the internet came along and opened up new vista …
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Ed Smith and his "JAZZ" store celebrate 1st year Birthday Bash with Kirk Whalum, Benita Hill and Rod McGaha to an enthusiastic crowd all day at Bellevue Center Mall. The festivities mark Ed’s first year in business in Nashville and the birthday of his wife Lynn (Dec, 01, 2001), who incidentally, is from the Crescent City. Ed Smith is a renaissance man who has an infectious excitement about jazz music and art as evidenced by the "top shelf" products he stocks his store. He has been an arts curato …
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Since 1990 Toronto-based Rita di Ghent has enjoyed a professional career as a jazz bandleader, vocalist, composer and teacher. She made her New York performance debut in 1993 as a special guest with Verve recording artist Mark Ledford; she formed her indie label, Groove, in 1995 and released her debut CD, Mindin' the Shop. Her new release on the Groove label, The Birth of Sprawl, was produced by Nick Blagona (Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie, Tony Bennett, Cleo Laine, Barbara Streisand and others). …
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If you've never heard Bird play "Laura" and "April In Paris" backed with strings, then you have something to look forward too; Bird weaves in and out of the chords with double- time figures that only Bird can manifest, and still maintain the sonorities of the melody with the inimitable technique of the craftsman that he was; his incomparable artistry is surpassed by none! Charles Christopher Parker was born in Kansas City, Kansas, on August 29th, 1920. Parker played his last gig at Birdland o …
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Although the development of jazz took place exclusively in America, the music’s roots are clearly African in origin. It comes as no great surprise then that the percussive influences of Africa and other derivative Latin styles (all of which, of course, have as their origin the music of Africa) have played a colorful role in the musical melting pot that distinguishes many hybrids. Jelly Roll Morton is largely acknowledged for taking advantage of what he called "the Spanish tinge" in his writing a …
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The closer you get to New York City, the more it draws you near. Not only because of its big city heart and the appealing diversity of its people, but for its exciting jazz and the history it embraces. Exhilaration builds as the taxi winds its way towards your hotel. Looking out the window, the flavor of the city rushes past you sidewalk soft-pretzel vendors, waiters changing the daily menu specials on the marquee, delivery trucks lined up by the curb, sneaker-clad people in business attire, …
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When it comes to the opportunity to expose some of the many talents that got lost in the shuffle during the ‘50s and ‘60s, no other concern has more to unearth than Fantasy’s group of associated labels, including Prestige, Riverside, and Contemporary. Through their Limited Edition Series, Fantasy is able to present releases that will undoubtedly appeal to only a small number of jazz fans, but will nonetheless have importance in bringing to light some unfairly ignored performers and performances. …
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Following the most recent batch of Van Gelder reissues that focused on the label’s earliest sides (the current set of Stateside RVG Editions numbers some 56 albums), a new set of titles launched at the start of 2002 attempts to pick up some stray items from the modern period, including several albums that have never been available in the United States on compact disc. So, in no particular order, here’s a quick synopsis of some praiseworthy and up-to-the-minute RVG Editions. Maybe it was the s …
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The most recent issue of Jazziz magazine contained an article by Michelle Mercer entitled "The Fire Down Below." In the article Ms. Mercer writes about taking novice jazz listeners to see the Mingus Big Band and one woman’s surprised sexual arousal from the music. Ms. Mercer comes to the conclusion that listening a jazz show in a New York club today is "a singularly existential listening experience, so if you get your freak on there, it’s all yours." In plainspeak, you are probably the …
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Hello everyone - I'm sorry it's been a while since the last installment; my trio, QB3, and I have been very busy gigging in and outside of the New York City area. We were also in the midst of breaking in a great new bassist, which has been absolutely worth it. In any case, I'm looking forward to presenting you all with some music for your listening pleasure soon.With that being said, welcome to the official 3rd installment of Guitar Picks. For new readers, the purpose of this colu …
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