The telling originality and influence of a great innovator in jazz, based on their instrument, technique, and voicing, is often echoed by the number of outstanding musicians of future generations that advance the established style. The signature thumb-based strumming method, soft tone, and octave-chordal sound of Wes Montgomery’s Gibson...
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Doug Hall’s Choice of Top Jazz Recordings Of 2021
To echo the converging sentiments and “high-fives” for a slew of extraordinary releases under a continued full-frontal assault of Covid Revenge part 2, there is a lot to embrace. I found myself sweeping though streaming releases and recordings of a vast variety of jazz genre. Seeing new faces and...
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Ray Brown: Bassist of first choice for all legendary band leaders: Gillespie, Peterson and Sinatra
In the arena of large jazz orchestras – whether it be Duke Ellington, Count Basie, or Dizzy Gillespie – the choice of an individual musician becomes a critical decision for any bandleader. Ray Brown, legendary acoustic double-bassist, DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame winner, and peer-less performer of his instrument,...
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Randy Brecker Interview: Jazz-Funk master and shaping the sound of jazz for 4 Decades
Jazz trumpeter and composer, Randy Brecker, has been at the center of seminal jazz-funk groups with his late brother Michael (on saxophone) through the mid-‘70s and early ‘80s. Brecker has helped shape the sound of jazz, R&B, and rock for more than four decades. Playing both trumpet and flugelhorn,...
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Nina Simone: An iconic original in jazz performance and force for social & political change
If ever there was a jazz singer whose musical career could not be separated from the legacy of their own political and social statements and positions, it would be Nina Simone. From early on in her performances and recordings, her establishment and approach as an Afro-American female and individual...
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Dewey Bunnell of America Talks 50 Years of Exceptional Harmonies (INTERVIEW)
A perfect match was found between the intimate setting of The Cabot theater, in Beverly, MA., and the distinctive mellow sound of the folk-rock band, America, on their 50th Anniversary tour. This newly renovated 850 seat theater, from the 1920’s art-deco period, offered an acoustically exceptional and cozy...
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Tony Bennett: Jazz was the teacher for the Legendary American Crooner
As one of the greatest crooners and stylists of the Great American Songbook, Tony Bennett has been influenced by and taken vocal impressions from many singular, legendary jazz performers. Bennett’s well-known emotional and physical reaction to hearing the birth of Bebop through Charlie Parker’s rapid-fire saxophone soloing at Birdland...
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Herbie Hancock: Profile of Jazz Journeyman of Musical Genre
A sweeping messenger of the widest of musical genre explorations (classical, traditional jazz, post-bop, jazz-rock fusion, funk, electronica, hip-hop, pop, and ambient); jazz pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and composer Herbie Hancock is true to his own label as “cultural ambassador.” Early in his musical career, Hancock followed a seemingly unbroken...
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“Free” Jazz saxophonist Jon Irabagon channels Charlie Parker in Black Hills
When I started playing fast out in the canyon it just didn’t make sense at first. I had to stop and say ‘this doesn’t feel right’—like this open ravine with river doesn’t give a crap about bebop. —Jon Irabagon An un-planned flight from peak Covid spread in New York...
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Erroll Garner: 100th Anniversary birthday of the immortal swinging maestro of jazz piano
In the 1950s, with the advent of “cool jazz” and Miles Davis leading the way with a modal change with Birth of the Cool (1957) Milestones (1958), and later the seminal, legendary recording of Kind of Blue (1959) with its stellar cast of musicians, there were suddenly jazz recordings...
