Always on the forefront of mixing rock, jazz and Spike Jones, Frank Zappa by 1973 had one of his most fusioned bands, one which included George Duke/key, Jean Luc-Ponty, Sal Marquez/tp-voc, Ian Underwood/wwinds, Bruce Fowler/tb, Tom Fowler/b, Ruth Underwood/vibes, Ralph…
Author: George W. Harris
SAY AMEN! The Famous Clara Ward Singers: 1949-62
Philadelphia bred, The Famous Clara Ward Singers were at one time the most important and popular gospel groups of the post WWII era. You can hear their influence on Baby Boomer soul acts like Aretha Franklin, as Motown/Stax singers were…
A SWINGING SINGER…Mildred Bailey: The Queen of Swing-All The Hits and More 1929-47
While overlooked these days, before there was Ella, Sassy and Billie, Mildred Bailey (1907-1951) was the premier female jazz vocalist of the Swing and Pre-Swing era. She had a unique almost childlike voice that was inherently rhythmic as she paired…
Steve Hackett’s Genesis Revised@The Lobero 11.17.23
What first attracted me to jazz was that back in the 1970s it was possible to still see in concert musicians who actually created styles of music from ragtime to swing, bebop and hard bop. A half century later, the…
House Of Waters@The Grape Ventura 11.15.23
I first saw the House of Waters trio opening for Snarky Puppy a few months ago in LA, and the fact that the lead instrument was a hammer dulcimer grabbed my attention. Somehow, Max ZT has turned something usually associated…
****RINGER OF THE WEEK****FOXY! Jimi Hendrix Experience: Hollywood Bowl, August 18, 1967
One must give thanks to the Experience Hendrix LLC for doing a yeoman’s work of putting the Jimi Hendrix catalogue in repair after years of mis-use. Not only have the respectfully reissued the classic albums, but they’ve put out some…
BLUES BROTHERS….Nick Wade: Feeling Good is Good Enough
Down home rural folk blues are worn well by Nick Wade, sitting and picking on an album that sounds like it might have been on a vintage Alan Lomax recording from the Depression. His voice is akin to Muddy Walters,…
Audrey Silver: Okalahoma
Clever, more “jazzy” arrangements of tunes from the iconic musical Oklahoma are adroitly delivered by Audrey Silver, singing in a nightclub fashion and occasionally playing the Native American flute, teamed with Bruce Barth/p, Peter Bernstein/g, Adam Kolker/f-bcl Kahlil Kwame Bell/pec…
Gerald Cohen: Voyagers
Compositions by Gerald Cohen are produced by the Cassatt String Quartet, Narek Arutynian/bcl-cl and Colin Williams/tb on this recent release. On their own, the Quartet is featured on a three part “Playing For Our Lives” that ranges from askance slashes…
Nick Maclean Quartet: Convergence
Canadian-based Nick Maclean leads a vintage Blue Note-inspired ensemble of Brownman Ali/tp, Ben Duff/b Jacob Wutzke/dr and a handful of guests through a hard bopping mix of original and Herbie Hancock covers. In fact, the whole album feels like Hancock…