Life on the Road: The Journal of a Traveling Jazz Musician: Frøy Aagre’s three-part article may be the most insightful account you will ever read about the realities of road life for most jazz musicians. It is not a pretty picture, but it was a story that very much needed to be told.
Jazz and Hip-Hop: Can They Really Mix? Jared Pauley presented a smart mini-history of the courtship between jazz and ...]]>
Just ask the drummers who knew him, as I did a few years back when Downbeat gave me the honor of writing a lengthy obituary. “Before Max, all the drummers, even the great ones like Baby Dodds or Gene Krupa ...]]>
Hailing from Reykjavik, Iceland, Björk Gudmundsdottir burst onto the international music scene in 1993 with Debut, an album featuring the jazz standard “Like Someone in Love.” Prior to that, Björk recorded Gling-Glo, an album of vocal jazz, with an Icelandic piano trio. And in 1995, she scored what is still her biggest hit with “It’s Oh So Quiet,” a rambunctious swing num...]]>
Once described by the late George Russell as the most original voice in European jazz, saxophonist Jan Garbarek made his debut on the ECM label in 1970 wit...]]>
The first eight months of 2009 were extraordinarily busy for bassist John Patitucci. He did several tours with Wayne Shorter and a sojourn with drummer Roy Haynes. He gigged with a Jack DeJohnette-led trio that includes the pianist Danilo Perez. On top of all that, he taught a full schedule as Associate Professor of Jazz Studies at the City University of New York.
Yet during the dog days of August, Patitucci carved out time to present the project nearest to his heart: his trio with saxophonist Joe Lovano and drummer Brian Blade. The group celebra...]]>
Will Friedwald has written several articles in this column about the great jazz detectives who unravel the tangled histories of past performances. Now Will puts on his deerstalker hat and tries to solve one of these mysteries on his own. T.G.
In the 1950s, the song "Ace in the Hole" was a staple of dixieland revival bands—nearly all of them played it: Turk Murphy, Bob Scobey, Lu Watters & Yerba Buena Jazz Band, The Dukes of Dixieland—and, on the English "trad" side of the pond, Humphrey Lyttelton, Lonnie Donegan, and Kenny Ball. Further, it was pic...]]>
According to modern jazz great Slide Hampton, “we trombonists are problem solvers.” Although they have been an integral part of jazz bands throughout the music’s history, great jazz trombonists are often overlooked by jazz fans and historians. This omission, however, is not due to the lack of amazing music made on the lanky brass instrument. Despite being burdened by an awkward instrument, trombonists have applied virtually every jazz style to the instrument—from Al Grey’s bluesy inflection to Albert Mangelsdorff’s multiphonic free improvisation. Since jazz pioneers such as Kid Ory and Jimmy Harrison began ...]]>
For the first time in jazz’s brief century, many leading artists are staying active beyond their eighth decade. OctoJAZZarians is an on-going series celebrating these living legends, pioneers who were first hand participants in the evolution of America's greatest art form.
Our subject in this installment is pianist/vocalist Bob Dorough.
“I'm dramatic,” Robert Glasper told me in 2005 for a Downbeat story. “I feel like an actor and a painter—all the arts in one. When I play, I won't sacrifice the vibe for some chops.”
On his 2009 release, Double Booked [Blue Note], Glasper actualizes this aspiration more completely than on any of his previous recor...]]>
In conjunction with Christian McBride’s Guest Artist Dozens, focusing on classic tracks by bassist Ray Brown, jazz.com is publishing Ted Panken’s conversation with the two bassists from 1996. T.G.
Ray Brown’s supple sound, elemental beat, harmonic wizardry, and ability to create ...]]>
An apropos torch-passing occurred last May, when Christian McBride took possession of an acoustic bass that had belonged to Ray Brown [1926-2002], his prime influence, mentor, and frequent employer in the ‘90s ensemble Super Bass, along with John Clayton. “We had a very fatherly relationship,” McBride said in the cover feature in Downbeat’...]]>
Jazz .com's Ted Panken sat down this past summer for two extended interviews with composer/trombonist/scholar George Lewis. Their conversations centered around Lewis' 2008 book, A Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music [University of Chicago Press], the history of the AACM, and Lewis own work in the areas of jazz and experimental musics. This is Part 2 of the two-part article. For Part 1, click here.
Standing in the wings of the Perugia’s Morlacchi Theater watching George Lewis rehearse the AACM Great Black Music Ensemble for the first of their six concerts over three nights at the 2009 summer edition of Umbria Jazz, Marija Sepac marveled at the singular nature of this particular c...]]>
First up, my selections for the best blues and roots music CDs of 2009. Ten albums made the cut. Here they are, in alphabetical order.
The Best Blues and Roots Music CDs of 2009
Fiona Boyes: Blues Woman
Buckwheat Zydeco: Lay Your Burden Down
Various Artists: Chicago Blues: A Living History
Shemekia Copeland: Never Going Back
Ramblin' Jack Elliott: A Stranger Here
Tinsley Ellis: Speak No Evil
Seas...]]>
While conducting research for a Steely Dan concert review that I wrote for jazz.com, I read a headline published in Wired that called Pitchfork, “the most influential tastemaker on the music scene.” Later, I discovered a Pitchfork column in which the adjectives “lengthy,” “indistinguishable,” and “putrid” describe the group’s Grammy winning album Two Against Nature. The writer, who shall remain nameless, asked readers, “Why are you even curious about Steely Dan in 2000,” continuing, “Only their 20 year absence gives them any press or assumed credibility.R...]]>
During his exhaustive research last June into "The Strange Case of Nat King Cole," jazz.com's self-styled sleuth Alan "Woodstein" Kurtz uncovered startling evidence debunking the myth that the lyrics to Cole's 1945 hit "The Frim Fram Sauce" are, in a word, nonsense. That itself, contends Woody (as Alan is known among the select community of jazz investigative reporters), is nonsense. Although jazz.com is pleased to set the record straight, anyone with attention deficit disorder is strongly cautioned to consume the following morsels in short, skeptical bites. Bon appétit!
Though he began his career as a bebopper, Mark Levine has forged a remarkable career in Latin jazz. A graduate of Boston University, and a respected pianist, composer, educator, and author, Levine's interest in Latin jazz was stoked by a visi...]]>
What if your great moment in jazz arrived, and you slept through it. Walter Kolosky relates the story below. T.G.
My approach to the appreciation of jazz, and all the arts, has been shaped by a series of illuminating personal experiences and unique tales relayed to me by friends. These events and stories have become part of my human fabric. There is not a day that goes by that I do not benefit from these unexpected lessons, which I can pluck like apples from a tree. I hope you may get some use from them as well. That is why I periodically offer them to jazz.com readers.
My good friend Chuck swears to me the following story, told to me in the 1980s, is true. For the record, Tim...]]>
Can the cello swing? Can the cello be as melodically sophisticated as traditional jazz instruments? Is the cello capable of strongly accompanying a jazz band? Since the beginning of jazz, stringed instruments have played an important role in the instrumentation of jazz. Different from early jazz string instruments like the violin and bass, the cello has only recently become a more conventional instrument in the jazz ensemble.
Initial practitioners of the instrument included bassists Harry Babasin, Oscar Pettiford and Ray Brown, who all lauded the cello for its dynamic and stimulating musical range and for its difference in size making more rapid...]]>
Can the cello swing? Can the cello be as melodically sophisticated as traditional jazz instruments? Is the cello capable of strongly accompanying a jazz band? Since the beginning of jazz, stringed instruments have played an important role in the instrumentation of jazz. Different from early jazz string instruments like the violin and bass, the cello has only recently become a more conventional instrument in the jazz ensemble.
Initial practitioners of the instrument included bassists Harry Babasin, Oscar Pettiford and Ray Brown, who all lauded the cello for its dynamic and stimulating musical range and for its difference in size making more rapid...]]>
Thomas Cunniffe covers the world of DVDs for jazz.com. His most recent review here looked at Charles Mingus's Epitaph and Town Hall Concert. Now Cunniffe turns his attention to two videos featuring the late vocalist Anita O'Day. T.G.
In a vintage interview from the Today show, Bryant Gumbel questioned Anita O’Day about her life filled with rape, abortion, substance abuse and jail time. When he presses her about how she could stay upbeat in t...]]>
A Sonny Rollins concert is an event in the world of jazz. Rolling Stone once said that, in the future, people will boast of having seen Rollins perform, much as the lucky few now boast of having seen the great bebop pioneer Charlie Parker.
Rollins...]]>
I’m still a little fuzzy on how I became an authority on acting cool. But sometimes one simply must accept the destiny fate hands out. In any event, I am sharing the wealth with an extract below from my new book The Birth (and Death) of the Cool. I am also doing double duty this week as a guest blogger at Powell’s. Finally, I am making cool appearances (or approximations thereof) next Tuesday (Nov. 17) at the Tattered Cover in Denver and a week from Saturday (Nov. 21) at Magers & Quinn in Minneapolis. Be there or be square! <...]]>
Hoagy Carmichael was born in Bloomington, Indiana on November 22, 1899. His given name, Hoagland, derived from a circus troupe “The Hoaglands” who stayed with the Carmichaels during Mrs. Carmichael’s pregnancy. Hoagy’s mother was a pianist, and by the age of 6, Hoagy was playing and singing himself. Hoagy received a law degree from Indiana University, but was unable to find lasting employment as a lawyer. Part of the reason was that he had discovered jazz, and his new friend Bix Beiderbecke encouraged him to write music. A slew of early hits, including “Riverboat Shuffle”, “Star Dust”, “Rockin’ Chair”, “Georgia On My Mi...]]>
Hoagy Carmichael was born in Bloomington, Indiana on November 22, 1899. His given name, Hoagland, derived from a circus troupe “The Hoaglands” who stayed with the Carmichaels during Mrs. Carmichael’s pregnancy. Hoagy’s mother was a pianist, and by the age of 6, Hoagy was playing and singing himself. Hoagy received a law degree from Indiana University, but was unable to find lasting employment as a lawyer. Part of the reason was that he had discovered jazz, and his new friend Bix Beiderbecke encouraged him to write music. A slew of early hits, including “Riverboat Shuffle”, “Star Dust”, “Rockin’ Chair”, “Georgia On My Mi...]]>
John Handy honored in San FranciscoAltoist receives the Beacon award from SF jazz fest. 
|
Lew Soloff at Charlie O'sDon Heck...]]> Below we conclude Stuart Nicholson’s two-part article on the inner workings of the Molde Jazz Festival—a hugely successful event that brings 100,000 visitors to a city with only 25,000 residents. For part one of this piece, click here. T.G.
Certainly, away from the big festival stage it is impossible not to notice the striking diversity of the Molde Festival programme. All genres of jazz are represented, from New Orleans through to futuristic electronic jazz using laptops a...]]>  You can approach guitarist Tim Sparks’ music from several directions. You can enter through Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite, originally arranged for orchestra, rearranged by ...]]> Stuart Nicholson looks at the inner workings of one of the most successful jazz events in the world—the annual Molde Jazz Festival. Now in its 50th year, the festival draws 100,000 fans to a city with a population of only 25,000. Below is the first installment of Nicholson’s two-part article. T.G.
From the early 20th century until his death in 1961, conductor Sir Thomas Beecham transformed musical life in the United Kingdom. And while London still has two symphony orchestras that were founded by him, The London Philharmon...]]>  . About twenty years ago, when he was writing the music for Spike Lee's Jungle Fever, his first film score, trumpeter Terence Blanchard took a hiatus from a successful...]]> 
Five days per week, jazz.com highlights an oustanding recent track as part of its Song of the Day feature. The aim is to guide listeners through the confusing array of new CDs on the market, and direct them to superior music they might otherwise miss. Some of the names below will be familiar, and a few—Hank Jones, Gerald Wilson—are famous veterans who were gigging back in the Swing Era. Yet many of the tracks highlighted come from new or little-known artists who have released self-produced disks or are working with small indie labels.
This week marks the publication of my new book, The Birth (and Death) of the Cool. With the permission of the publisher, I am sharing an extract below. Also, note that I will be making an appearance in the Los Angeles area this Friday, October 30, at Book Soup—on 8818 Sunset Boulevard—at 7 PM. T.G. Tim Wilkins, a regular contributor here, recently attended the Brooklyn Big Band Bonanza, a blowout event with so many large jazz ensembles on hand that the musicians almost outnumbered the audience. His report is below. T.G.  Are big bands cool? Darcy James Argue doesn't think so. "It's a dorky way to make m...]]> Bill Barnes concludes his three-part article on the role of guitar in jazz below. Click here for parts one and two. T.G. The “audience factor” can no longer be ignored. We are fast approaching a period in which jazz musicians may outnumber the people who want to hear them play. When that happens, we will no longer have a living, breathing art; we will be left with a hobbyist-driven artifact, the musical equivalent of Latin, a dead language spoken only in lecture halls and courtrooms.
As unassumingly as Bill Frisell presents himself in his everyday life is as fiery and unabashedly bold he is with his musical choices. A stylistic chameleon once all-too-appropriately deemed the “Clark Kent of jazz,” his fascination with and dedication to collective improvisation and his early training with Dale Bruning and Jim Hall imparts a jazz approach to most everything Frisell does – regardless of whether it sounds like jazz, or country, or folk, or rock, or a fusion of all, or none of the above. But the truth of the matter is that stylistic categorization hardly mat...]]>
As unassumingly as Bill Frisell presents himself in his everyday life is as fiery and unabashedly bold he is with his musical choices. A stylistic chameleon once all-too-appropriately deemed the “Clark Kent of jazz,” his fascination with and dedication to collective improvisation and his early training with Dale Bruning and Jim Hall imparts a jazz approach to most everything Frisell does – regardless of whether it sounds like jazz, or country, or folk, or rock, or a fusion of all, or none of the above. But the truth of the matter is that stylistic categorization hardly mat...]]> |
