Composer, pianist and singer Amina Claudine Myers is a part of the first generation of the famed Chicago collective the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). Coming north from her native Blackwell, Arkansas, she was an unusual presence in the organization--not just as one of the few female members, but as a singer and songwriter willing to, at times, employ traditional song...
Jazz saxophonists had a field day with the bossa nova in 1962. The jazz-Brazilian folk experiments first undertaken by alto saxophonist Bud Shank and guitarist Laurindo Almeida in the early and late 1950s became a winning formula for jazz in the spring of 1962. With Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd's Jazz Samba LP racing up the charts, many established jazz saxophonists took a shot at the new beat with great...
Title: Listen Here (Live Montreux) Artist: Eddie Harris (tenor sax), Jodie Christian (piano), Melvin Jackson (bass) and Billy Hart (drums) Two major distinguishing factors that make Eddie Harris an innovator had to do with his teacher at DuSable High School in Chicago, and his use of the Varitone Saxophone. It’s a pickup for saxophone. If you look closely at the video, you’ll see he’s...
All About Jazz is celebrating Houston Person's birthday today! JAZZ MUSICIAN OF THE DAY Houston PersonHouston Person wears the Boss Tenor crown, worn so long by Gene Ammons. Mr. Person is busy working his own gigs; booking his tours, finding new clubs, having phone numbers for every major concert promoter on every continent... more...
Tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander is one of the busiest musicians on the mainstream scene, recording many albums as a leader and a sideman. On this album he confidently charges into the fray again, aided by Harold Mabern on piano, Nat Reeves on bass and Joe Farnsworth on drums. His strong and agile tone recalls Dexter Gordon and Gene Ammons and is well suited to this collection of standards and bluesy...
Disc Five of this collection of tenor saxophonist John Coltrane's recordings as a sideman for the Prestige label is the final one in this package, beginning with a very interesting album under the leadership of the tuba player Ray Draper. During the days of early jazz, tuba was a common instrument until it was displaced by the upright bass in the 1930's. Draper was far from a dusty relic, he was a...
(From Rico's Facebook with Rico artist Tim Price) In this lesson, I’ve taken an in-depth approach to give you all some information, new ideas, ear training, and fresh approaches to this form. http://www.saxontheweb.net /Price/Blues1.html Pick out a few licks that you like and that lay well for you that you can hear. Now, think of how your favorite player such as Sonny Rollins might play this...
If the name {{Bernt Rosengren = 3919}} doesn't ring a bell, it probably would if you lived in Sweden. Rosengren, an unabashed champion of such implacable hard-boppers as {{Gene Ammons = 3405}}, {{Hank Mobley = 9478}}, {{Dexter Gordon = 7127}} and {{Johnny Griffin = 7239}}, has been one of that country's leading tenor saxophonists for more than half a century, and as his latest CD affirms, he's still...
Side Steps the third and final set in a series of Coltrane Box Sets, hits stores today via Prestige Records. The 5-CD set captures Coltrane in a supporting role, as a sideman to leaders like Sonny Rollins, Gene Ammons, Red Garland, Tadd Dameron and others. The collection of 43 tracks represents the entirety of Coltrane’s session work as a Prestige sideman, from mid-1956 to early 1958, with...
"Junior Mance is something else... So complete is his psychological command over his instrument that very few of his fellows approach him in this area." --DownBeat Magazine worldpianosummit.com proudly presents Junior Mance at 81 in a rare solo concert at Boston's Church of the Covenant, [67 Newbury Street, Boston, MA 02116] on Thursday, October 8 at 7:30 p.m...
PRESTIGE RECORDS RELEASES SIDE STEPS, A 5-CD BOXED SET OF JOHN COLTRANE’S PRESTIGE RECORDINGS AS A SIDEMAN TO A HOST OF JAZZ LUMINARIES Over the past three years, Prestige Records has released boxed sets of Coltrane’s numerous sessions from the mid- to late ’50s, each spotlighting a specific dimension of his tenure with the label. Fearless Leader – released in September 2006,...
Lester Young was born 100 years ago today and died in his 49th year In March, 1959. Billie Holiday called him the president of the tenor saxophonists. His nickname became Prez, and he called nearly everyone else Prez. There is...
Writtten hastily during rehearsals, these songs contain some of the most memorable melodies in 20th-century music In this blog's last visit to the sublime and storm-tossed world of Charlie Parker we heard the saxophone genius in his dazzling prime by the age of 25. Parker had moved swiftly, from the revelations of his prototype style that first emerged with the Jay McShann swing band in 1942, through...
Go away. Are you still here? How did that happen? Did you get lost trying to turn around and go out the way you came in? It's really very simple, you know. Just put one foot to the side, then swing the other across... oh, heck, just shuffle until you have your nose pointed in the opposite direction. Go on, now, you can do it. I know you can. I've seen much less-developed animals figure this one out....
"Shout Bamalama" with the Big "O"—Otis Redding, hang with the Mali-cool of Mamou Sidibé and Rokia Traore, and check out 12 shades of Monk's majestic composition "Round Midnight" featuring Thelonious Monk, Gotan Project with Chet Baker, Joana Machado, Pharoah Sanders, Chaka Khan, GRP All-Star Big Band, Marlena Shaw, Ravi Coltrane, Joe Henderson, Jacintha, Gene...
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