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"Steve Davis is one of my favorite trombone players of all time. I like his sound, I like the way he writes. He is a very special musician," according to Jackie McLean. Steve and Larry Willis, two of Jackie's greatest protégés, front this smoking group. more... |
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JazzTimes says "an astonishing palette of sound from the unorthodox instrumentation...inventive and full of panache, with a dash of the experimental avant garde.". more... |
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Paul Murphy, the legendary Jimmy Lyons' blazingly fast drummer, inspired this history-making session — an inspired depths in Larry Willis' piano you'll hear nowhere else. more... |
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In Frank’s words, “This is something quite different…I’m
not trying to revolutionize the big band, I’m just telling
it the way I hear it with thirteen horns and a rhythm section.”
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For years, I’ve been itchin’ to find someone to lay down
a heavy duty Latin jazz CD, something closer to the Afro-Cuban roots
than today’s fare. Then my friend Asante, the legendary master
drummer from Ghana, discovered this red hot young lion of Latin
piano—and promptly brought him north to the U.S. more... |
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Holy or heathen, it’s hard not to fall in love with Kenyetta’s
voice. Imagine the emotional and musical power of Dinah Washington
with the spiritual intensity of the ARC Choir. That’s the unique
beauty of Kenyetta’s jazz vocals. more... |
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In the wee hours of a Clifford Jordan session, Andy first caught
my ear with a down-in-the-gutter blues solo. Then and now, Andy
can play some blues. Even better, he’s a hell of a composer.
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I keep hearing the same thing about this CD: “I didn’t
know what to think the first time I played the C-Nuts. Now it’s
one of my favorites CDs.” These guys play traditional jazz
versions of rock hits they grew up with—Dire Straits, The Pretenders,
Joe Jackson, Peter Gabriel, all that.
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Give a listen to the blues-soaked groove on Bookie’s tune “Pete’s
Rock”–you’ll understand why Monk, Cannonball, Sarah
Vaughan and Sonny Rollins loved playing with Walter. more... |
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I love the real deal, the old Fats Waller, Benny Goodman and Artie
Shaw 78s from the swing era. This clarinet-vibes combo came burning
to play—you hear it in the foot-tapping bounce of “Cheek
to Cheek,” in the bluesy pain that permeates “Black and
Blue.” more... |
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If you like your jazz uptempo and overflowing with vitality, look
no farther. Patience is a cooking, muscular-toned tenorman somewhere
between Coleman Hawkins and Sonny Rollins—a musician great
enough to have toured with Ellington, David Murray and Stevie Wonder.
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Patato, the history-making pioneer of the modern Latin three-conga
style, is the most melodic and the most African of all the Cuban
congueros I’ve heard. You’ll never hear the gorgeous attack
and resonance of his congas better than here. more... |
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Andy’s feel-it-in-the-floor bass propels the gorgeously natural-sounding
horns and the warm electric guitar. Billy Kilson’s drums are
excitingly splashy and dynamic The originals by McKee are irresistible.
Their rhythmic twists and turns, their surprising changes in mood
keep me riveted. more... |
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The trademark low brass punch of the NY Classics knocks out audiences
all over the Big Apple, me included. Not so much a jamming big band
like Clifford’s, they’re more in the tightly-knit Ellington
groove. more... |
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Clifford’s big band wasn’t a machine of stunning precision
like the Basie Band. It was a warm and swinging group with great
jazz soloists, akin to Dizzy’s big band from the late ’40s.
more... |
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Fans of the Modern Jazz Quartet or the Canadian Brass Quintet, take
special notice. EBQ melds the instrumentation of a classical quintet
(two trumpets, trombone, Frech horn and tuba) into a mellow, new
jazz sound. more... |
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If you’re a fan of blues-steeped jazz with an unstoppable groove,
you have to hear this CD. The line-up is stellar: Bluiett on bari
sax; ex-Mingus star Jack Walrath on trumpet; young lion Mark Shim
on tenor and a peerless rhythm section—Larry Willis, Keter
Betts and Jimmy Cobb. more... |
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A La Carte serves up a New Orleans street band marinated with a
hot salsa percussion section. The brass section stomps like the
Dirty Dozen and moans like a Bourbon Street funeral..
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I’m still blown away by the majesty and quietly swinging power
of Larry’s solo piano on this, his first Mapleshade session.
For 20 years, he’d wanted to record his jazz interpretations
of the church music he grew up with. Here’s the fruit of those
creative years. more... |
