Tenor saxist Felipe Salles gives a tribute to Tyo Attallah Salah-El, the late saxist/composer who doubled as a prison activist. The story of the man who served a life sentence in a Pennsylvania prison before dying in 2018 is compelling…
Month: July 2022
THE HUMMING HAMMOND…Bill Heid: Dealin’ With It
One of the eternal sounds of jazz is the classic B3 trio with guitar and drums, and Hammondmeister Bill Heid works it well with his respective team of Perry Hughes and Randy Gelispie. Adding to the sizzle is percussionist Kevin…
BRIAN BROMBERG’S BODACIOUS BASS..Brian Bromberg: JB Project-Brombo I, JB Project-Brombo II, JB Project-Brombo III, Brian Bromberg-A Bass Odyssey, Brian Bromberg-Hands
One of the most prolific, respected and sometimes overlooked bassists these days is Brian Bromberg, who has been a sideman for artists including Getz and Hubbard as well as releasing some fantastic albums of his own, including his classic Jaco…
Andy Adamson Quintet: A Coincidence of Cats
The term for a group of cats is actually called a “clowder”, so the idea of a coincidence of cats is just the fact that they actually are together. This group of cats is put together by pianist Andy Adamson,…
Caleb Wheeler Curtis: Heatmap
For his third album, saxist Caleb Wheeler Curtis continues his trajectory of adventurism with post bop allstars Orrin Evans/p, Eric Revis/b and Gerald Cleaver/dr on a collection of fervent originals. On soprano sax, he gallops with Cleaver on the obstacle…
The Jazz Professors: Blues And Cubes
So, we’ve had the Jazz Messengers and the Jazz Crusaders, among others. Now we get the Jazz Professors, keeping the classic hard bop tradition alive with Jeff Rupert/ts-as. , Dan Miller/tp, Per Danielsson/p, Bobby Koelble/g, Marty Morell/dr-perc and Richard Drexler/b…
THE REAL “TWISTER”…Hank Ballard: Rocks
While Chubby Checker got the credit for The Twist craze, the real inventor of that dance, as well as being one of the founding fathers of rock, was Hank Ballard (1927-2003). Starting in gospel, moving on to doo-wop and eventually…
Wadada Leo Smith: The Emerald Duets
If free jazz were today’s popular music, 80 year old Wadada Leo Smith would be on the cover of every magazine and featured on numberless musical blogs. His tone is impeccable, he’s got fantastic lyricism and he’s filled with a…
BEFORE THE GLOVED ONE…Sammy Davis Jr. The Singles Collection 1949-62
When Michael Jackson died in 2009, everyone gave tribute to him, calling him “Mr. Entertainment”. All that meant is that these fans never heard, saw or appreciated Sammy Davis Jr (1925-1990), who sang better, danced better (yes!), acted better and…
****RINGER OF THE WEEK****Radha Botofasina: Carry On-The Spirtuals, Volume 2
Here’s an album that gets you back to the roots of all music-worshipping God. But this ain’t no Presbyterian Trinity Hymnal, Oh No! Vocalist Radha Botofasina, playing harp and supported by musicians ranging from Cecil McBee Jr/b, John Lehman/p, Munyungo…