Leader Tomas Fujiwara plays drums and vibes with another drummer Gerald Cleaver, a pair of guitarists in Mary Halvorson and Brandon Seabrook with horns proved by cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum and trumpeter Ralph Alessi. The result is a traffic jam…
Month: April 2022
OVERDUE SALUTES…Sal Mosca: For Lennie Tristano-Solo Piano 1970 & 1997
After decades of being ignored, pianist/teacher Lennie Tristano is finally getting some recognition. Mosaic Records recently unearthed solo to small group home recordings in an essential multi boxed set, and now Fresh Sounds is reissuing Sal Mosca’s tribute to the…
Roger McGuinn@The Smothers Theatre 04.25.22
It was fitting that Roger McGuinn opened his two hour concert with “My Back Pages”, as the famed creator of country rock took the packed Smothers Theatre on a cozy musical retrospective review. Dressed in vintage black and donning a…
WE DON’T NEED NO STINKIN’ RHYTHM SECTION!…John Scofield: John Scofield
Switching to a new label, guitar legend John Scofield makes a few changes in his band personnel, getting rid of everyone and going solo on this intimate collection of originals and well conceived covers and traditionals . He’s still on…
WHEN JAZZ AND THE BLUESWAS REAL, RELEVANT AND SWINGIN’…Charles Mingus: Presents Charles Mingus, Max Roach: We Insist!, Abbey L incoln: Straight Ahead, Lightnin’ Hopkins: Lightnin’ in New York, Otis Spann: Otis Spann Is The Blues
You’re going to have to take my word for it, but once upon a time, jazz and the blues were not only creative and daring, but also socially significant. Music with messages could also be works of art. The label…
LIFE WITHOUT DESMOND…Dave Brubeck Trio: Live From Vienna 1967
This album from a 1967 gig in Vienna is a ringer, as it features Dave Brubeck’s classic quartet of Paul Desmond/as, Eugene Wright/b and Joe Morello/dr without its famed alto saxist (with reason given in the liner notes). So, what…
****THIS IS A HARD BOP TRUMPET****Freddie Hubbard: The Essential Blue Note Collection
There are certain musicians that are the embodiment of not only their instruments, but their style; trumpeter Freddie Hubbard is such an artists. For most of his career, he was the Cock of the Walk on the trumpet, with every…
MUSIC FOR CHAMPAGNE…Shep Fields and His Rippling Rhythm: All The Hits and More 1936-43
If you’ve ever watched old movies from the 30s and 40s, there’s always a scene where the main couple (Think Gloria Graham and Bogie) are in some swanky night club, and there’s a classy band playing for the couple to…
WHEN ROCK ROLLED…Atomicat Rockers: Issue 04-Do You Wanna Dance
Eric Hoffer gave the classic line, “Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket”. Well, before it became a racket, rock and roll had an energy and pulse that was palpable. This…
Lew Jetton & 61 South: Deja Hoodoo
If you look on a map, Highway 61 takes you all the way from Minnesota down to Louisiana. This album by guitarist/singer Lew Jetton covers the bottom half of the chart, with some Southern hospitality in the blues with Sam…