Even Johnny Cash sang about it. You gotta have that drive that makes you want to dance if you care about people listening to music. Concerts (and church, for that matter) were intended for CELEBRATION, not CEREBRATION. A soloist is…
Month: September 2014
WONDERFUL MID-50s JAZZ FROM HOLLYWOOD…Conti Candoli: Sincerely, Conti, Peggy Connelly: That Old Black Magic, Russ Garcia: Four Horns and a Lush Life, Frank Rosolino: I Play Trombone, Marty Paich: Jazz City Workshop
The wise choice by some executive to reissue material from the old Bethlehem Label is bringing out some wonderfully obscure albums from the mid 50s that deserve a second and third look. These were the days when artists from the…
ERIN DAVIS-MILES AHEAD
WHEN AN ARTIST DIES, WHO KEEPS THE LEGACY GOING? SCAREY STORIES ABOUND CONCERNING THE WAY THAT MUSIC AND IMAGES OF ARTISTS FROM ELVIS TO HENDRIX HAD BEEN HANDLED. LIKE ANY DUTIFUL OFFSPRING OF A PRINCE, ERIN DAVIS (ALONG WITH HIS…
SMOKIN’ PIANOS! Cyrus Chestnut: Midnight Melodies, Eric Reed: Groovewise, Orrin Evans: Liberation Blues
Smoke Session Records has been releasing some wonderful concert material from their NYC jazz club. These latest trio feature some sharp fingered pianists in three different formats, trio, quartet and quintet. What more could you want? Cyrus Chestnut is an…
COLTRANE THE HARD BOPPER…John Coltrane: Sideman-Trane’s Blue Note Sessions
Before going off on his own solo career as a far sighted hard bopper and then the pied piper of modal and beyond, John Coltrane honed his skills as a sideman not only for Miles and Monk, but also for…
BOSSA NOVA LOVE AFFAIR…Verve Reissues Jobim, Getz, Gilberto, etc
If it weren’t for the saving grace of Bossa Nova, jazz would have probably died a death of starvation by now. Brazilian music is what keeps me coming back to jazz, as the singers, rhythms and harmonies created a symbiotic…
Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson: Thick As A Brick-Live In Iceland
The mix of rock with jazz and classical music probably reached its apotheosis in 1972 when the band Jethro Tull released Thick as a Brick. Band leader Ian Anderson, still with flute in hand, leads a most recent edition of…
Bianca Rossini: Meu Amor
I recently reviewed Brazilian vocalist and composer Bianca Rossini’s premier cd Kiss of Brazil and her concert performance in LA. Intrigued by the sounds and melodies, I went back and found this follow up ep, which was released a couple of years…
HARVEY MASON: THE CHAMELEON
GUARANTEED: IF YOU HAVE EVEN A HALF DECENT ALBUM COLLECTION THAT INCLUDES MUSIC FROM THE 70’S-80’S, DRUMMER HARVEY MASON IS IN YOUR HOUSE. THE MOST IN-DEMAND DRUMMER OF OUR GENERATION, HE’S ON COUNTLESS JAZZ AND POP ALBUMS AND HAS AN…
PARTY TIME! Sir Sultry: Soleangeles, The City Boys Allstars: Blinded By the Light
Here are a couple of discs to liven up your lawn parties or tailgaiters. Thought you’ve heard it all? Try this one by the Sir Sultry Quintet, an LA-based band that mixes blues and jazz with a liberal dash of…