Bagatellen (Free subscription) | 06/06/2008
Intakt 142 In historically criticizing the international breadth of improvised music, we�re still often quite apt to pigeonhole certain countries and regions as having a specific approach to sound. There�s the �Cleveland sound� exemplified by Albert Ayler and his...
All About Jazz (Free subscription) | 03/08/2008
Pianist Jaki Byard (1922-1999) is the first one you hear on 2007's great vault discovery, the previously unheard Charles Mingus Sextet with Eric Dolphy, Cornell 1964 (Blue Note). A favorite of Mingus, who famously disliked most piano players, Byard played with a wide range of jazz musicians and was an acclaimed teacher whose students included Fred Hersch, DD Jackson and Jason Moran. And as the music/jazz...
Bagatellen (Free subscription) | 03/07/2008
HighNote 7180 Pianist Mary Lou Williams prided herself in the assertion that she played jazz of all eras. Jaki Byard plied a similar time-traveling approach, but Williams had an edge in that she was actually alive to witness the...
All About Jazz (Free subscription) | 02/18/2008
Confrontational, sprawling and historic, this resurrected March 1964 performance by one of his favorite bands--Johnny Coles (trumpet) and Clifford Jordan (saxophone) with favorite sons Dannie Richmond (drums), Jaki Byard (piano) and Eric Dolphy (reeds, flutes)--presents the muse of bassist Charles Mingus in all its terrible glory...
Do the Math (Free subscription) | 01/29/2008
Footnote one: A Partial List of Distinctive "Rhythm Changes" Compositions and Performances. There are many more than listed here. Lester Young + Count Basie "Lester Leaps In" Kansas City riffs Ben Webster + Duke Ellington "Cotton Tail" awfully modern for...
Lerterland (Free subscription) | 01/06/2008
In case you missed the last one ... Jill Scott , The Real Thing: Words and Sounds, Vol. 3 (Hidden Beach): I don't much care for "Hate on Me," which lacks the harmonic interest of Scott's best work, and at first I was put off by the simplified Mahavishnu sample on the title track. But the album gets under your skin and the sound is marvelous. Ali Farka Toure , Red & Green (Nonesuch/World Circuit): Amazing...
Rifftides (Free subscription) | 01/04/2008
A Rifftides reader who identifies himself only as Rich J. comments on the Jaki Byard...
Rifftides (Free subscription) | 01/03/2008
Reading Gary Giddins's tribute to Jaki Byard in the February Jazz Times stimulated memories of...
Frederator Studios (Free subscription) | 12/27/2007
Jaki Byard Family Man Produced by Frederick Seibert Click the titles to play. 1. Just Rollin' Along 2. Mood Indigo/Chelsea Bridge 3. L.H. Gatewalk Rag 4. Ballad to Louise Excerpts from Family Suite 5. Prelude No.16 6. Gaeta 7. Garr 8. Emil 9. John Arthur Jaki Byard: piano, tenor saxophone, alto saxophone Major Holley: bass, tuba, Fender bass Warren Smith: drums, tympani, vibraphone J.R. Mitchell:...
Slate Magazine (Free subscription) | 12/18/2007
It's been a good year for jazz. No single new recording stands out, as Ornette Coleman's Sound Grammar did in 2006, but many albums more than satisfy. [ more ... ]
LP Cover Lover (Free subscription) | 12/10/2007
“The Freedom Book” Booker Ervin Prestige Records 1963 Booker Ervin, tenor sax; Jaki Byard, piano; Richard Davis, bass; Alan Dawson, drums Track List: A Lunar Tune, Cry Me Not (by Randy Weston), Grant's Stand, A Day to Mourn, Al's In. Rudy Van Gelder produced. Booker Ervin was an artist who bridged the gap in post-bop 1960s between straight ahead [...]
Denver Post (Free subscription) | 12/02/2007
The special jazz collections this holiday season look to the past.
All About Jazz (Free subscription) | 11/05/2007
Charles Mingus was a larger than life figure on the music scene, crashing. Volatile. Complex. Swinging. Intense. Delicate. Raucous and joyous. Depending on who you talk to, and maybe even what day, different images might be conjured up. Different words used to describe him by those who knew and performed with him...
All About Jazz (Free subscription) | 10/29/2007
Keyboardist Alan Pasqua has studied with pianists Jaki Byard and George Russell, and toured with artists as diverse as Stan Kenton to Tony Williams. Studio sessions with Eddie Money, Bob Dylan, Carlos Santana, Rick Springfield, Pat Benetar, Sammy Hagar and Whitesnake have also helped pay the bills. A versatile musician, Pasqua brings a highly melodic sensibility to the proceedings no matter the style...
Rifftides (Free subscription) | 10/25/2007
A few weeks ago, writing at length about a new CD of music by the...
