The Death of the Cool By Robert McHenry Cool was once associated with reticence, savoir-faire, and irony, none of which is much practiced or regarded these days. Whether or not it is true that you can’t go home again, as Thomas Wolfe claimed—and the claim is just a special case of the more general observation of Heraclitus that you cannot step into the same river twice—it seems that...
Review: Chris Botti (Cadogan Hall, Tuesday November 3rd by Frank Griffith) Chelsea Bridge. American trumpeter, Chris Botti, bridges Chelsea and Jazz at Cadogan Hall on 3 November. Botti's show was ticking all the right boxes. He was bringing an untypical jazz audience to a jazz-influenced programme; he was delivering plenty of lively improvisation to familiar melodies and settings. His wonderfully...
SANTA CRUZ Jazz-rock fusion Alex Riel (drums) Poul Halberg (guitar) Frans Bak (keys) Hans Ulrik (sax) Bo Stief (bass) During the 1980s SANTA CRUZ was one of the most successful jazz-rock fusion bands in Denmark. Today their only release from those days, the LP Daylight from 1985, has a cult like status in the country. Since then each of the band members has been leading their individual groups and...
Here's a mix that has been salvaged from my bookmarks directory where it has been residing for the last month. An extraordinaire Turkish jazz mix from 60s/70s by Onur Engin . Sorry for sittin' on this one for so long, it's an amazing piece of history, and one that will set you looking for more from this era, if you've got the ears & mind. Kudos to Onur.
Wednesday, October 28 Celebrate Hadley Caliman Seattle Art Museum, downtown 7:30pm $18 general, $10 students An all-star quintet featuring renowned saxophonist Hadley Caliman, the legendary Curtis Fuller (trombone), Larry Vukovich (piano), Jeff Chambers (bass), and Eddie Marshall (drums) concludes its Pacific Northwest tour in a special tribute concert to the Seattle-based tenor master...
This is "Birdland" (by MF alum Joe Zawinul) in the original Maynard band arrangement. Maynard is in full force of nature mode here, as throughout the 70's, even as record label Columbia (now Sony) increasingly commercialized his music. The band always kicked butt live, though. Eric Traub on tenor sax. Nice performance here by the MF band, if not ultra-clean. I don't know why I do anything...
This week, let's peruse some video clips of saxophonist Kenny Garrett , who will be in St. Louis with his quartet starting this Wednesday, October 21 through Saturday, October 24 to perform at Jazz at the Bistro . After launching his career working with the big bands of Duke Ellington and Mel Lewis, Garrett first gained wide public attention as a member of one of Miles Davis' last groups, performing...
The Freddie Hubbard Tribute Band Indianapolis Jazz Festival Indianapolis, Indiana Sept 25, 2009 When losing a trumpeter of such sterling agility, originality and influence as Freddie Hubbard, it's only natural to pay tribute to his passing. So it was at the Madame Walker Theater in Indianapolis on September 25th under the direction of jazz educator David Baker, another local musical legend and a contemporary...
Title: Cantaloupe Island Artist: Herbie Hancock Recorded live at Town Hall, New York City on February 22, 1985 This was jazz’s return to modality, with a funky twist. By the time this performance took place in 1985, ‘Cantaloupe Island’ had been a jazz standard for over 20 years, having been released in 1964 on Hancock‘s 4th album, ‘Empyrean Isles.’ But it still...
When a cultural legacy is truly passed on, it takes the form of something like Friday's concert at the Madame Walker Theatre celebrating the music of Freddie Hubbard.
In this video clip, bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen introduces Freddie Hubbard, who chooses the verse of one imperishable ballad to set up the chorus of another, to NHOP's evident bemusement. It may be from may be Denmark television in the...
Los Angeles, CA -- Concord Records caps a year in which it reissued many of Ray Charles' classic albums (Genius: The Ultimate Ray Charles Collection, Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, A Message From the People and The Genius Hits the Road) with the artist's only Christmas album of his entire career, The Spirit of Christmas. Concord's digitally remastered reissue marks the first time the album...