A long-lost live recording featuring one of John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy’s 1961 sets at New York’s Village Gate has been unearthed for release this summer.
Evenings at the Village Gate, out July 14 via Impulse! Records, was recorded in the summer before Coltrane’s legendary slate of Nov. 1961 dates at the Village Vanguard, with a similar quintet lineup: The short-lived tandem of Coltrane and Dolphy alongside drummer Elvin Jones, pianist McCoy Tyner, and bassist Reggie Workman.
Ahead of the album’s release, Impulse! Records has shared the night’s...
Evenings at the Village Gate, out July 14 via Impulse! Records, was recorded in the summer before Coltrane’s legendary slate of Nov. 1961 dates at the Village Vanguard, with a similar quintet lineup: The short-lived tandem of Coltrane and Dolphy alongside drummer Elvin Jones, pianist McCoy Tyner, and bassist Reggie Workman.
Ahead of the album’s release, Impulse! Records has shared the night’s...
- 6/1/2023
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
Ahmad Jamal, the influential jazz pianist whose style influenced generations of musicians for seven decades, died on Sunday, The Washington Post reports. He was 92. His wife, Laura Hess-Hey, confirmed the news to the newspaper. No further details were disclosed.
Jamal began his professional career while still in high school in his hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and continued to create and influence multiple music genres through his seven-decade career. Originally performing under the name Fritz Jones, he was among the first African American artists who publicly adopted the Muslim faith and...
Jamal began his professional career while still in high school in his hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and continued to create and influence multiple music genres through his seven-decade career. Originally performing under the name Fritz Jones, he was among the first African American artists who publicly adopted the Muslim faith and...
- 4/17/2023
- by Althea Legaspi
- Rollingstone.com
12 January 2023 – Blue Note Records has announced the upcoming 2023 line-up for the Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series. The acclaimed series is produced by the “Tone Poet” Joe Harley and features all-analog, 180g audiophile vinyl reissues that are mastered from the original master tapes by Kevin Gray of Cohearent Audio. Tone Poet vinyl is manufactured at Rti in Camarillo, California, and packaged in deluxe gatefold tip-on jackets. The titles were once again handpicked by Harley and include acknowledged treasures of the Blue Note catalog as well as underrated classics, modern era standouts, and albums from other labels under the Blue Note umbrella including Pacific Jazz.
Newly announced titles begin March 3 with the release of two under-recognized albums that are available for pre-order now on the Blue Note Store. Pianist Andrew Hill’s excellent 1968 session Dance With Death featured his singular compositions performed by a versatile quintet with trumpeter Charles Tolliver, saxophonist Joe Farrell,...
Newly announced titles begin March 3 with the release of two under-recognized albums that are available for pre-order now on the Blue Note Store. Pianist Andrew Hill’s excellent 1968 session Dance With Death featured his singular compositions performed by a versatile quintet with trumpeter Charles Tolliver, saxophonist Joe Farrell,...
- 1/12/2023
- by Music Martin Cid Magazine
- Martin Cid Music
Pharoah Sanders, the revered tenor saxophone player who was part of John Coltrane’s band in the 1960s and helped popularize the spiritual jazz movement, died Saturday in Los Angeles, his label announced. He was 81.
Luaka Bop revealed the news on social media. “Always and forever the most beautiful human being,” the label wrote. See the full post below.
Hollywood & Media Deaths 2022: A Photo Gallery
Born Farrell Sanders on October 13, 1940, in Little Rock, Ak, he briefly studied music at Oakland Junior College before relocating to New York, where he played with Sun Ra — who gave Sanders the “Pharoah” nickname. The Sun Ra live album Featuring Pharoah Sanders & Black Harold was recorded on New Year’s Eve 1964, but not released until 1976.
After recording his debut solo album, Pharoah’s First, he began playing live gigs and recording with Coltrane. He went on to play on about a dozen of the...
Luaka Bop revealed the news on social media. “Always and forever the most beautiful human being,” the label wrote. See the full post below.
Hollywood & Media Deaths 2022: A Photo Gallery
Born Farrell Sanders on October 13, 1940, in Little Rock, Ak, he briefly studied music at Oakland Junior College before relocating to New York, where he played with Sun Ra — who gave Sanders the “Pharoah” nickname. The Sun Ra live album Featuring Pharoah Sanders & Black Harold was recorded on New Year’s Eve 1964, but not released until 1976.
After recording his debut solo album, Pharoah’s First, he began playing live gigs and recording with Coltrane. He went on to play on about a dozen of the...
- 9/24/2022
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
Pharoah Sanders, the legendary tenor saxophonist who performed alongside John Coltrane in the mid-1960s, has died. He was 81.
Sanders’ passing was announced on Saturday (Sept. 24) by his record label Luaka Bop, which released the influential jazz musician’s 2021 album, Promises, a collaboration with Floating Points and the London Symphony Orchestra. A cause of death was not provided.
“We are devastated to share that Pharoah Sanders has passed away,” Luaka Bop wrote on Twitter. “He died peacefully surrounded by loving family and friends in Los Angeles earlier this morning. Always and forever the most beautiful human being, may he rest in peace.”
Born in Little Rock, Ark., on Oct. 13, 1940, Sanders — whose real name was Ferrell Sanders — moved to the Bay Area in the late 1950s before relocating to New York City, where he met fellow jazz artist Sun Ra, who encouraged him to take the name Pharoah.
Pharoah Sanders, the legendary tenor saxophonist who performed alongside John Coltrane in the mid-1960s, has died. He was 81.
Sanders’ passing was announced on Saturday (Sept. 24) by his record label Luaka Bop, which released the influential jazz musician’s 2021 album, Promises, a collaboration with Floating Points and the London Symphony Orchestra. A cause of death was not provided.
“We are devastated to share that Pharoah Sanders has passed away,” Luaka Bop wrote on Twitter. “He died peacefully surrounded by loving family and friends in Los Angeles earlier this morning. Always and forever the most beautiful human being, may he rest in peace.”
Born in Little Rock, Ark., on Oct. 13, 1940, Sanders — whose real name was Ferrell Sanders — moved to the Bay Area in the late 1950s before relocating to New York City, where he met fellow jazz artist Sun Ra, who encouraged him to take the name Pharoah.
- 9/24/2022
- by Mitchell Peters, Billboard
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Pharoah Sanders, the saxophonist who helped John Coltrane explore the avant-garde and pushed jazz itself toward the spiritual, has died at the age of 81.
Record label Luaka Bop, which released Sanders and Floating Points’ acclaimed collaboration Promises in 2021, announced the jazz legend’s death Saturday; no cause of death was provided.
“We are devastated to share that Pharoah Sanders has passed away,” the label wrote on Instagram. “He died peacefully surrounded by loving family and friends in Los Angeles earlier this morning. Always and forever the most beautiful human being,...
Record label Luaka Bop, which released Sanders and Floating Points’ acclaimed collaboration Promises in 2021, announced the jazz legend’s death Saturday; no cause of death was provided.
“We are devastated to share that Pharoah Sanders has passed away,” the label wrote on Instagram. “He died peacefully surrounded by loving family and friends in Los Angeles earlier this morning. Always and forever the most beautiful human being,...
- 9/24/2022
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
Despite being John Coltrane’s most celebrated album, and one of the most beloved jazz albums of all time, A Love Supreme wasn’t a record that the saxophonist touched on much in the live setting. Up until now, most Coltrane enthusiasts have only ever heard a single live performance of the literally divinely inspired four-movement suite that makes up the LP, taken from a July 1965 performance at a French festival and first released on a 2002 reissue. That will change in October, when Impulse! will issue another full live version of A Love Supreme,...
- 8/26/2021
- by Hank Shteamer
- Rollingstone.com
In June of 1965, two young saxophonists, Pharoah Sanders and Archie Shepp, gathered at New Jersey’s famed Van Gelder Studio as part of an 11-piece band convened by John Coltrane. At the time, Coltrane was leading his so-called classic quartet, one of the most celebrated bands in jazz, but he was looking toward a wilder, more expansive sound. And he’d enlisted a crew of hungry up-and-comers to help him get there. Joining fellow new faces like Marion Brown and John Tchicai on the date — the results of which came...
- 3/24/2021
- by Hank Shteamer
- Rollingstone.com
Chick Corea, an American jazz pioneer, composer, keyboardist and bandleader, died Tuesday, according to a post on his Facebook page. He was 79. The Facebook statement says Corea died from “a rare form of cancer which was only discovered very recently.”
Corea was the fourth-most-nominated artist in the history of the Grammys, with 65 nominations, winning 23 times. He also earned three Latin Grammy Awards, the most of any artist in the Best Instrumental Album category.
From straight-ahead to avant-garde, bebop to fusion, children’s songs to chamber music, along with some far-reaching forays into symphonic works, Corea had an astonishing number of musical bases in his illustrious career.
His compositions “Spain,” “500 Miles High,” “La Fiesta,” “Armando’s Rhumba” and “Windows” are jazz standards. He was a member of Miles Davis’ band in the late 1960s, participating in the birth of jazz fusion. Corea played on several classic Davis albums, including Bitches Brew,...
Corea was the fourth-most-nominated artist in the history of the Grammys, with 65 nominations, winning 23 times. He also earned three Latin Grammy Awards, the most of any artist in the Best Instrumental Album category.
From straight-ahead to avant-garde, bebop to fusion, children’s songs to chamber music, along with some far-reaching forays into symphonic works, Corea had an astonishing number of musical bases in his illustrious career.
His compositions “Spain,” “500 Miles High,” “La Fiesta,” “Armando’s Rhumba” and “Windows” are jazz standards. He was a member of Miles Davis’ band in the late 1960s, participating in the birth of jazz fusion. Corea played on several classic Davis albums, including Bitches Brew,...
- 2/11/2021
- by Tom Tapp
- Deadline Film + TV
As we finally turn the calendar on the Cruelest Year, let’s take a moment to reflect on some of the memorable people we lost from the world of entertainment. Click through the photo gallery above.
Among those who passed during 2020 were big-screen Hollywood legends from Kirk Douglas and Olivia de Havilland to Sean Connery and Chadwick Boseman, sitcom favorites Jerry Stiller and Dawn Wells and two of the all-time showbiz multihyphenates in Carl Reiner and Buck Henry. Other actors who left us include Diana Rigg, Max Von Sydow, Brian Dennehy, Kelly Preston, Fred Willard, Naya Rivera, Nick Cordero, Monty Python’s Terry Jones and Indian stars Irrfan Khan and Soumitra Chatterjee.
The movie world also mourns filmmakers Alan Parker, Joel Schumacher and Kim Ki-duk, along with a man who would be on a Mount Rushmore for film composers: Ennio Morrocone.
Also gone this past year were such admired TV personalities as Regis Philbin,...
Among those who passed during 2020 were big-screen Hollywood legends from Kirk Douglas and Olivia de Havilland to Sean Connery and Chadwick Boseman, sitcom favorites Jerry Stiller and Dawn Wells and two of the all-time showbiz multihyphenates in Carl Reiner and Buck Henry. Other actors who left us include Diana Rigg, Max Von Sydow, Brian Dennehy, Kelly Preston, Fred Willard, Naya Rivera, Nick Cordero, Monty Python’s Terry Jones and Indian stars Irrfan Khan and Soumitra Chatterjee.
The movie world also mourns filmmakers Alan Parker, Joel Schumacher and Kim Ki-duk, along with a man who would be on a Mount Rushmore for film composers: Ennio Morrocone.
Also gone this past year were such admired TV personalities as Regis Philbin,...
- 12/31/2020
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
Robbie Shakespeare — reggae artist extraordinaire, prolific bassist, and in-demand producer alongside his longtime collaborator Sly Dunbar — admits he was “humbled” upon learning he made Rolling Stone’s recent list of the 50 Greatest Bassists of All Time.
“Number 17, that’s good,” Shakespeare says of his ranking, “compared to all the bass players in the world.” When asked where he’d put himself on the list, the Sly and Robbie hitmaker jokes, “Number two.”
For Shakespeare, great bass playing is all about “the style.” “Most bass players, like drummers, have a style,...
“Number 17, that’s good,” Shakespeare says of his ranking, “compared to all the bass players in the world.” When asked where he’d put himself on the list, the Sly and Robbie hitmaker jokes, “Number two.”
For Shakespeare, great bass playing is all about “the style.” “Most bass players, like drummers, have a style,...
- 7/21/2020
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
When we talk about rock, we talk about bands: Zeppelin, the Who, the Stones. But when we talk about jazz, we tend to talk about individuals: Miles, Monk, Coltrane. On some level, that makes sense: If the song is the primary mode of rock expression, the solo is generally the way you make your mark in jazz. Whether you’re considering Coleman Hawkins, Louis Armstrong, Freddie Hubbard, or the colossal, now-retired Sonny Rollins, it was when they stepped out front and said their piece that they truly embodied their legendary status.
- 3/7/2020
- by Hank Shteamer
- Rollingstone.com
McCoy Tyner, one of the most influential pianists in jazz history, died Friday at his home in northern New Jersey. He was 81 and his death was confirmed by a nephew. No cause was given.
Tyner was a part of John Coltrane’s seminal 1960s quartet, and his distinctive, clean and percussive sound on acoustic piano was an influence on everyone who followed him. Even Coltrane acknowledged his force when he said, “He’s sort of the one who gives me wings and lets me take off from the ground from time to time.”
Born in Philadelphia in 1938 as Alfred McCoy Tyner, he began taking piano lessons at 13. His mother bought him his first piano, setting it up in her beauty shop. Tyner later studied at the Granoff School of Music, and began playing professionally at age 16 with a rhythm & blues band. In 1957, he met saxophone legend John Coltrane at a Philadelphia nightclub,...
Tyner was a part of John Coltrane’s seminal 1960s quartet, and his distinctive, clean and percussive sound on acoustic piano was an influence on everyone who followed him. Even Coltrane acknowledged his force when he said, “He’s sort of the one who gives me wings and lets me take off from the ground from time to time.”
Born in Philadelphia in 1938 as Alfred McCoy Tyner, he began taking piano lessons at 13. His mother bought him his first piano, setting it up in her beauty shop. Tyner later studied at the Granoff School of Music, and began playing professionally at age 16 with a rhythm & blues band. In 1957, he met saxophone legend John Coltrane at a Philadelphia nightclub,...
- 3/6/2020
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
McCoy Tyner, one of the most distinctive and influential jazz pianists of the past 60 years, who became best known for his work with John Coltrane’s legendary 1960s quartet, died at age 81.
“It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of jazz legend Alfred ‘McCoy’ Tyner,” his family wrote in a statement. “McCoy was an inspired musician who devoted his life to his art, his family, and his spirituality. McCoy Tyner’s music and legacy will continue to inspire fans and future talent for generations to come.”
Tyner...
“It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of jazz legend Alfred ‘McCoy’ Tyner,” his family wrote in a statement. “McCoy was an inspired musician who devoted his life to his art, his family, and his spirituality. McCoy Tyner’s music and legacy will continue to inspire fans and future talent for generations to come.”
Tyner...
- 3/6/2020
- by Hank Shteamer
- Rollingstone.com
Next month, John Coltrane’s label, Impulse!/Ume, will release Blue World, a new album by the legendary saxophonist. Recorded in 1964 and largely unreleased until now, the 37-minute session was intended as a soundtrack for Le chat dans le sac (“The Cat in the Bag”), a film by the Quebecois director Gilles Groulx. Only 10 minutes’ worth of the music actually appeared in the film, and none of it has appeared on any prior album.
Like Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album, an unearthed mid-Sixties Coltrane LP released for the...
Like Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album, an unearthed mid-Sixties Coltrane LP released for the...
- 8/16/2019
- by Hank Shteamer
- Rollingstone.com
Tracing the progression of rock ‘n’ roll as art in the 1960s, it’s easy to see how each of the great bands of the time attempted to build on and outdo what had come just before. The Beach Boys’ 1966 release “Pet Sounds” has often been cited by Paul McCartney as the springboard for the Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper” the following year. And hearing that psych-pop landmark, what evolutionary choice did the Byrds have in 1968 but to blow the collective minds of the Haight-Ashbury generation with… an album of traditional country music.
“Sweetheart of the Rodeo” is widely regarded as the world’s first true country-rock album. That R&R&C&W landmark status makes it riper than any other effort in the Byrds’ catalog — even their earlier, far more successful efforts — for silver-haired, silver-anniversary commemoration. Fans are getting the desired “Sweetheart” deal with a tour headlined by ex-Byrds Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman,...
“Sweetheart of the Rodeo” is widely regarded as the world’s first true country-rock album. That R&R&C&W landmark status makes it riper than any other effort in the Byrds’ catalog — even their earlier, far more successful efforts — for silver-haired, silver-anniversary commemoration. Fans are getting the desired “Sweetheart” deal with a tour headlined by ex-Byrds Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman,...
- 7/26/2018
- by Chris Willman
- Variety Film + TV
For devotees of John Coltrane, whose adoration of the late, pathfinding saxophonist borders on the religious, 2018 has been a banner year.
In March, Sony Legacy released a four-cd set of Coltrane’s 1960 European live performances with trumpeter Miles Davis, with whom he had famously worked on and off since the mid-‘50s. The collection – the first legit issue of material previously available only in gray-market packages – compiled concert dates on which Trane upstaged his boss with boundary-pushing, screaming playing that drew cheers and catcalls in equal measure.
The import of those exciting sides is superseded this week with the materialization of an unexpected and thrilling treasure, finally unburied: a never-before-released session featuring Coltrane in the full flush of his solo fame, with his “classic quartet” of pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison and drummer Elvin Jones.
Titled “Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album,” the set released by Impulse!/Verve...
In March, Sony Legacy released a four-cd set of Coltrane’s 1960 European live performances with trumpeter Miles Davis, with whom he had famously worked on and off since the mid-‘50s. The collection – the first legit issue of material previously available only in gray-market packages – compiled concert dates on which Trane upstaged his boss with boundary-pushing, screaming playing that drew cheers and catcalls in equal measure.
The import of those exciting sides is superseded this week with the materialization of an unexpected and thrilling treasure, finally unburied: a never-before-released session featuring Coltrane in the full flush of his solo fame, with his “classic quartet” of pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison and drummer Elvin Jones.
Titled “Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album,” the set released by Impulse!/Verve...
- 6/29/2018
- by Chris Morris
- Variety Film + TV
Okay, it's time for me to stop trying to listen to more 2016 albums and just wrap up this list. In the past I would split my jazz list into a new releases part dedicated to current recordings and a historical part combining first releases of archival material with reissues. This year I'm skipping reissues, partly because some projects were so gargantuan that little guys like me weren't serviced with them, partly because the vinyl renaissance means everything is being reissued at once, and partly because so much stuff is just rehashing the same material in new packaging, with or without a gimmick or a little additional material added. So first releases of archival material are lumped in here. Maybe that's not entirely fair to the current guys, but on the other hand I don't include many archival items on my list.
1. Matthew Shipp & Bobby Kapp: Cactus (Northern Spy)
Two generations...
1. Matthew Shipp & Bobby Kapp: Cactus (Northern Spy)
Two generations...
- 2/9/2017
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
Today being international jazz day, there will be much celebrating of the greatness of its history. I’ve done that in the past; it is a great history. But it is not all back in historical times; jazz lives, and evolves, and continues to be great. Yet how many lists of the greatest jazz albums include anything from the current century?
That they do not is no indictment of them; only sixteen percent of the years when recorded jazz has existed (not counting the present year yet) are in the twenty-first century, after all, and some prefer to bestow the label of greatness after more perspective has been achieved than sixteen (or fewer, for newer releases) years.
Nonetheless, if people are to respect jazz as a living art form, a look back at the best of its more recent releases seems worthwhile. Here’s one man’s “baker’s dozen...
That they do not is no indictment of them; only sixteen percent of the years when recorded jazz has existed (not counting the present year yet) are in the twenty-first century, after all, and some prefer to bestow the label of greatness after more perspective has been achieved than sixteen (or fewer, for newer releases) years.
Nonetheless, if people are to respect jazz as a living art form, a look back at the best of its more recent releases seems worthwhile. Here’s one man’s “baker’s dozen...
- 4/30/2016
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
1. William Parker: For Those Who Are, Still (Aum Fidelity/Centering)
I have been an admirer and observer of William Parker for a quarter century, but nothing prepared me for the impact of this three-disc set's final CD, which features an orchestral composition, Ceremonies for Those Who Are Still, which ranks high among the best orchestral music of the 21st century, and I'm including classical composers. In other words, don't cringe while imagining the usual jazz-with-strings hack job. There are moments in Ceremonies for Those Who Are Still -- particularly when the choir is singing Parker's poems of life and loss and creation -- when the grandeur of the year's most fashionable jazz album, Kamasi Washington's The Epic (also a three-cd set) comes to mind, but the difference -- the reason Parker's set ranks much higher -- is that his orchestrations are vastly more contrapuntal, colorful, individual, and just plain daring.
I have been an admirer and observer of William Parker for a quarter century, but nothing prepared me for the impact of this three-disc set's final CD, which features an orchestral composition, Ceremonies for Those Who Are Still, which ranks high among the best orchestral music of the 21st century, and I'm including classical composers. In other words, don't cringe while imagining the usual jazz-with-strings hack job. There are moments in Ceremonies for Those Who Are Still -- particularly when the choir is singing Parker's poems of life and loss and creation -- when the grandeur of the year's most fashionable jazz album, Kamasi Washington's The Epic (also a three-cd set) comes to mind, but the difference -- the reason Parker's set ranks much higher -- is that his orchestrations are vastly more contrapuntal, colorful, individual, and just plain daring.
- 1/3/2016
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
Mvd, will release John Coltrane "So Many Things: The European Tour 1961" 4-Disc Set, March 10, 2015:
"...the music Coltrane made on this trip took audiences to the very cutting edge, leaving many questions unanswered, even for the saxophonists most ardent fans. For some he had taken the fundamentals of modern jazz to a breaking point, thrusting it into 'the realms of higher mathematics'.
"To others, Coltrane was the voice of progress, bravely reasserting the exploratory nature of jazz, daring to push through a process of continual reinvention, taking himself, his fellow players and those who flocked to hear him on an impassioned journey of discovery, night after night.
"The impact of Coltrane and his regular quartet sidemen - pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Elvin Jones - was made doubly controversial by the leaders last-minute decision to add the formidable multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy.
"Playing over 30 concert appearances in under three weeks,...
"...the music Coltrane made on this trip took audiences to the very cutting edge, leaving many questions unanswered, even for the saxophonists most ardent fans. For some he had taken the fundamentals of modern jazz to a breaking point, thrusting it into 'the realms of higher mathematics'.
"To others, Coltrane was the voice of progress, bravely reasserting the exploratory nature of jazz, daring to push through a process of continual reinvention, taking himself, his fellow players and those who flocked to hear him on an impassioned journey of discovery, night after night.
"The impact of Coltrane and his regular quartet sidemen - pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Elvin Jones - was made doubly controversial by the leaders last-minute decision to add the formidable multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy.
"Playing over 30 concert appearances in under three weeks,...
- 1/22/2015
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
Those who keep up with the more avant-garde end of the jazz spectrum have long known that Matthew Shipp is one of the great pianists, but he's reached a higher level of creativity this decade, most recently displayed in his two releases this year, the new solo album I've Been to Many Places and the trio album The Root of Things.
Quick recap of how he got there: While growing up in Delaware, Shipp studied privately with Dennis Sandole, one of John Coltrane's teachers. Later, at New England Conservatory, Shipp studied with Joe Maneri, another avant-jazz great. Shipp's recording career began in 1988 with a duo album with saxophonist Rob Brown, and within a few years the pianist had joined the David S. Ware Quartet; he recorded with that group from 1990 until it disbanded in 2007, then increased his already prolific output by making over two dozen albums as leader or...
Quick recap of how he got there: While growing up in Delaware, Shipp studied privately with Dennis Sandole, one of John Coltrane's teachers. Later, at New England Conservatory, Shipp studied with Joe Maneri, another avant-jazz great. Shipp's recording career began in 1988 with a duo album with saxophonist Rob Brown, and within a few years the pianist had joined the David S. Ware Quartet; he recorded with that group from 1990 until it disbanded in 2007, then increased his already prolific output by making over two dozen albums as leader or...
- 10/4/2014
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
Today is the second annual International Jazz Day. Last year I put together a list of albums for the occasion. This time around, a dozen of my favorite jazz compositions.
James P. Johnson: "Carolina Shout"
Count Basie Band: "Jumpin' at the Woodside"Duke Ellington: "C Jam Blues"Thelonious Monk: "'Round Midnight"Charlie Parker: "Relaxin' at Camarillo"Charles Mingus: "Better Git It in Your Soul"Joe Henderson: "Inner Urge"Albert Ayler: "Ghosts"Wayne Shorter: "Footprints"McCoy Tyner: "Passion Dance"Joe Zawinul: "In a Silent Way"Julius Hemphill: "The Hard Blues"
- Steve Holtje
Mr. Holtje is a Brooklyn-based composer, poet, and editor. His song cycle setting five of James Joyce's Pomes Penyeach can be heard here.
James P. Johnson: "Carolina Shout"
Count Basie Band: "Jumpin' at the Woodside"Duke Ellington: "C Jam Blues"Thelonious Monk: "'Round Midnight"Charlie Parker: "Relaxin' at Camarillo"Charles Mingus: "Better Git It in Your Soul"Joe Henderson: "Inner Urge"Albert Ayler: "Ghosts"Wayne Shorter: "Footprints"McCoy Tyner: "Passion Dance"Joe Zawinul: "In a Silent Way"Julius Hemphill: "The Hard Blues"
- Steve Holtje
Mr. Holtje is a Brooklyn-based composer, poet, and editor. His song cycle setting five of James Joyce's Pomes Penyeach can be heard here.
- 5/1/2013
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
Marzette Watts: Marzette Watts & Company (Esp-Disk')
In the brief period when I did a little work for Esp-Disk', this was the album the most people (especially record store owners and musicians) enthusiastically nominated for reissue. And now, here it is!
This album is distinguished by a number of factors, not least the fact that this is its first issue on CD in the U.S. (a few European reissues are in inferior sound). Recorded on December 8, 1966, it was Watts's first session as a leader (though, not released until 1971, it was his second album to appear, following a now-rare Savoy LP). Watts (1938-1998) never made any more albums after those two, alas, nor did he record as a sideman, though he appears in the credits on some albums from the free jazz scene as the engineer.
Watts is heard here on tenor and soprano saxophones and on bass clarinet; Byard Lancaster (b.
In the brief period when I did a little work for Esp-Disk', this was the album the most people (especially record store owners and musicians) enthusiastically nominated for reissue. And now, here it is!
This album is distinguished by a number of factors, not least the fact that this is its first issue on CD in the U.S. (a few European reissues are in inferior sound). Recorded on December 8, 1966, it was Watts's first session as a leader (though, not released until 1971, it was his second album to appear, following a now-rare Savoy LP). Watts (1938-1998) never made any more albums after those two, alas, nor did he record as a sideman, though he appears in the credits on some albums from the free jazz scene as the engineer.
Watts is heard here on tenor and soprano saxophones and on bass clarinet; Byard Lancaster (b.
- 7/12/2012
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
Joe Henderson always had the respect of fellow musicians and hardcore jazz fanatics, but for a long time it seemed the closest he'd get to fame was his brief stint in Blood, Sweat & Tears (years later he reminisced, in one of my favorite interviews, about how that short period was when sax companies wanted his endorsement and gave him free horns). Hardly fair considering that he spent a quarter century ranked among the top three tenor saxophonists alive, along with Rollins and Shorter. Then, almost miraculously, Verve put together a masterful production/promotion campaign that made him more famous in his last decade than he'd ever been before. Alas, emphysema took him at age 64, but he'd managed to leave an impressive legacy with nary a misstep -- he never made a bad album, and his appearance on anyone else's album was always a mark of quality. (Why is Ptah, the...
- 4/24/2012
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
The challenge of recreating a beloved musician's greatest hits is a feat for any artist but this is especially the case when it comes to revisiting the work of a masterful musician and vocalist like Stevie Wonder.
Though Wonder's tunes have been revamped through the years by artists such as Jodeci ("Lately"), Mary J. Blige ("Overjoyed") and Intro ("Ribbon in the Sky"), members of the jazz ensemble Sfjazz Collective can add their names to the list of admirers who have reinterpreted the icon's music.
This month the eight-member modern jazz group has embarked on a 21-city national tour featuring the legendary singer's celebrated catalog of music.
"We have eight originals and then eight arrangements of Stevie Wonder's music," vibraphonist Stefon Harris explained to The Huffington Post. "Some of the arrangements include 'Superstition,' 'Visions.' There's a bit of 'Sir Duke' in there. So we're covering the classics."
The...
Though Wonder's tunes have been revamped through the years by artists such as Jodeci ("Lately"), Mary J. Blige ("Overjoyed") and Intro ("Ribbon in the Sky"), members of the jazz ensemble Sfjazz Collective can add their names to the list of admirers who have reinterpreted the icon's music.
This month the eight-member modern jazz group has embarked on a 21-city national tour featuring the legendary singer's celebrated catalog of music.
"We have eight originals and then eight arrangements of Stevie Wonder's music," vibraphonist Stefon Harris explained to The Huffington Post. "Some of the arrangements include 'Superstition,' 'Visions.' There's a bit of 'Sir Duke' in there. So we're covering the classics."
The...
- 3/8/2012
- by Brennan Williams
- Huffington Post
David Liebman - Richie Beirach Duo Cornelia St. Café, February 25, first set
Saxophonist David Liebman and pianist Richie Beirach have been working together at least since 1973, in the band Lookout Farm. Later they reteamed in the band Quest, and have had many duo collaborations as well. Fortunately for New Yorkers, the Brooklyn-born friends have in recent years made it a habit to get back together for a concert every February. Though that has usually been in the form of Quest, this year it was a duo at this intimate and much-loved Greenwich Village venue.
They opened with “Pendulum,” a Beirach tune they’ve been playing together for decades in various contexts. Nonetheless, like everything they played tonight, it sounded fresh. Beirach opened with tight dissonances over a bass drone; Liebman entered (on tenor sax) freely, then went into the theme. One of the pleasures of Beirach’s style is how...
Saxophonist David Liebman and pianist Richie Beirach have been working together at least since 1973, in the band Lookout Farm. Later they reteamed in the band Quest, and have had many duo collaborations as well. Fortunately for New Yorkers, the Brooklyn-born friends have in recent years made it a habit to get back together for a concert every February. Though that has usually been in the form of Quest, this year it was a duo at this intimate and much-loved Greenwich Village venue.
They opened with “Pendulum,” a Beirach tune they’ve been playing together for decades in various contexts. Nonetheless, like everything they played tonight, it sounded fresh. Beirach opened with tight dissonances over a bass drone; Liebman entered (on tenor sax) freely, then went into the theme. One of the pleasures of Beirach’s style is how...
- 2/26/2012
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
John Coltrane: The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings (Impulse!)
This set of 50-year-old recordings is a historic milestone no jazz collection should be without. The performances are presented chronologically on this 1997 four-cd compilation that finally brought together in one package material released haphazardly on four separate LPs while adding previously unreleased takes.
Coltrane was already a star when he played this November 1-5 stand with his quintet including Eric Dolphy (alto sax, bass clarinet), McCoy Tyner (piano), Reggie Workman (bass), and Elvin Jones (drums), supplemented by Jimmy Garrison (bass) and including guests Ahmed Abdul-Malik (oud), Garvin Bushell (oboe, contrabassoon), and Roy Haynes (drums). The four days captured here find Coltrane anticipating many other ideas he later expanded on before his untimely death in 1967.
Coltrane took a major leap forward, at least in his recorded work, with "Chasin' the Trane." Based on the familiar blues progression, it has no pre-determined theme...
This set of 50-year-old recordings is a historic milestone no jazz collection should be without. The performances are presented chronologically on this 1997 four-cd compilation that finally brought together in one package material released haphazardly on four separate LPs while adding previously unreleased takes.
Coltrane was already a star when he played this November 1-5 stand with his quintet including Eric Dolphy (alto sax, bass clarinet), McCoy Tyner (piano), Reggie Workman (bass), and Elvin Jones (drums), supplemented by Jimmy Garrison (bass) and including guests Ahmed Abdul-Malik (oud), Garvin Bushell (oboe, contrabassoon), and Roy Haynes (drums). The four days captured here find Coltrane anticipating many other ideas he later expanded on before his untimely death in 1967.
Coltrane took a major leap forward, at least in his recorded work, with "Chasin' the Trane." Based on the familiar blues progression, it has no pre-determined theme...
- 11/3/2011
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
New York -- The blue neon light and hot rhythms have beckoned music lovers from around the world to West Third Street for decades. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the world-famous Blue Note, the jazz club is presenting the inaugural Blue Note Jazz Festival throughout the rest of June, featuring performances by artists like Dave Brubeck, McCoy Tyner and Nancy Wilson who have been integral to the club's history.
Jazz is more about attitude than a musical genre so the performers span all types of styles from hip-hop to salsa in nearly 100 shows across the city, from the Highline Ballroom and Town Hall to B.B. King's and the eponymous club.
Critically-acclaimed rapper Talib Kweli, who brings his supergroup Idle Warship to B.B. King's on Friday night (June 10) in a show produced by Jill Newman Productions, says that he identifies with jazz's vitality and spirit. "Jazz is hip-hop,...
Jazz is more about attitude than a musical genre so the performers span all types of styles from hip-hop to salsa in nearly 100 shows across the city, from the Highline Ballroom and Town Hall to B.B. King's and the eponymous club.
Critically-acclaimed rapper Talib Kweli, who brings his supergroup Idle Warship to B.B. King's on Friday night (June 10) in a show produced by Jill Newman Productions, says that he identifies with jazz's vitality and spirit. "Jazz is hip-hop,...
- 6/10/2011
- by Marcus Baram
- Huffington Post
Kenny Werner: Balloons (Half Note)
This album is a showcase not only for Werner’s agile, silken-toned pianism, but also for his fine compositions, though only four of them -- perhaps if this had been recorded in the studio, it might have taken a different shape, but in concert three tracks are in the 12-minute range and the exception is nearly 18 minutes. Pianistically Werner is sort of a cross between Bill Evans and McCoy Tyner; yes, normally they are thought of as opposites, but the versatile Werner manages to unite Evans's Impressionist sensibility and balladic touch with Tyner's explosive refulgence. Compositionally he favors somewhat elegaic melodies over a mix of modality and harmony. His pieces can start out slightly brooding and gradually build to joyous exuberance.
read more...
This album is a showcase not only for Werner’s agile, silken-toned pianism, but also for his fine compositions, though only four of them -- perhaps if this had been recorded in the studio, it might have taken a different shape, but in concert three tracks are in the 12-minute range and the exception is nearly 18 minutes. Pianistically Werner is sort of a cross between Bill Evans and McCoy Tyner; yes, normally they are thought of as opposites, but the versatile Werner manages to unite Evans's Impressionist sensibility and balladic touch with Tyner's explosive refulgence. Compositionally he favors somewhat elegaic melodies over a mix of modality and harmony. His pieces can start out slightly brooding and gradually build to joyous exuberance.
read more...
- 6/5/2011
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
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