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By Don Heckman So many artists, so many dreams…so much to hear…The post office box fills every day with envelopes packaging their songs, their music, their dreams of being heard. Since the advent of social media, DIY recording and CD production,CD Baby and self promotion and distribution, the avalanche of requests to be seen and… Read More CD Review: Jonathan Karrant’s “On and On”
by Faith Frenz Released last December by Blix Street Records, the Eva Cassidy Nightbird two-CD set is remastered from the original tape recordings of her 1996 performance in the Washington D.C. Jazz club, Blues Alley. All 33 songs were one take live performances in that club on one night. The album includes 12 previously unreleased… Read More Nightbird: Eva Cassidy’s “Complete Blues Alley” 20th Anniversary Collection
By Roger Crane, the Song Scout Ah, the gruff grit-and-gravel voice of Louis Armstrong and the warm, precise silky delivery of Ella Fitzgerald, a match made in heaven. Sandpaper and satin – but the difference is what makes it work. Ella and Louis displayed an extraordinary yin/yang vocal chemistry. As writer Doug Ramsey once noted… Read More A ROGER SONG SCOUT AURAL BACK RUB: Ella and Louis– “Sandpaper and Satin”
By Devon Wendell So much is written about the life and music of John Coltrane. Everyone has their favorite Coltrane period. Most fans and journalists focus on the ‘60s modal and “free” Coltrane eras. My favorite music of “Trane’s” career is his rebellious hard-bopper faze of the late ‘50s, when he was playing with Miles… Read More Doc’s Prescription for ‘Trane: John Coltrane-The Believer
By Don Heckman Jazz of every stripe, from New Orleans to Smooth, with all stops in between, has always been America’s gift to the world. Honored in countries reaching from Asia to Europe, South America, Africa and beyond, it has also stimulated a flow of unique creativity from musicians in every part of the globe.… Read More CD Review: Leonardo Amuedo’s “Guitar Stories” (Sony-Masterworks)
By Devon Wendell It’s no news that Hank Mobley was one of the most under appreciated tenor saxophonists and composers to emerge from the post bop revolution in terms of press coverage. But Mobley didn’t need the assistance of the often obtuse jazz journalism world to be heralded as one of the prime innovators of… Read More Doc Wendell’s Prescription for Hard-Bop: Hank Mobley’s “No Room For Squares” (Blue Note)
By Jane Rosenberg Before a video backdrop of ever changing cycles in the cultivation of rice – flooding, sprouting, harvesting, and burning – the superb dancers of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan enact a drama of life, death, and rebirth. Combining the idioms of ballet, modern dance, Qi Gong, and internal martial arts, Lin… Read More Cloud Gate Dance Theatre’s “Rice” at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
Give It Back to You (Concord) By Devon Wendell Way too many rock fueled blues bands of today are still hell bent on copying Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Guy, Johnny Winter, Albert King, and Stevie Ray Vaughan but not Los Angeles’ own The Record Company (Chris Vos, guitar, lead vocals, harmonica, Alex Stiff, bass, guitar, vocals,… Read More CD Review: The Record Company
By Roger Crane Jazz in film vs. jazz on film. In the former case jazz is on the soundtrack but no musicians appear on screen. In the latter, jazz musicians do also appear, perhaps as cameo only or perhaps given roles. In my first example, The Talented Mr., Ripley, Jude Law portrays a jazz loving… Read More JAZZ IN FILM: Looking at Two Examples
By Brian Arsenault There is a picture I can’t find online any more. There are so many. Those wretched Syrians fleeing the hell that was their country. Huddled masses on undersized boats, tempest tossed, frequently capsizing. More drowned children. This one particular picture: a father seen from the back embracing his two children.… Read More Brian Arsenault Takes on: The Wretched Refuse
The International Review of Music 