Robin Phillips (featured on this blog in 2018) once again delivers upbeat, fresh music even while re-visiting the past with his new album “Re-Versed.” The UK-based singer and pianist has selected some of the best jazz standards ever and adds... Continue Reading →
Modern music has come a long way from the hand-illustrated sheet music and heavy shellac albums circa 1925. Our Jazz Age predecessors struggled no less than contemporary artists do concerning rights, permissions, “sampling” and myriad points of contention in protecting... Continue Reading →
Charles Williams’s new CD “Flavors of Jazz” tingles on the taste buds and proves this pianist can swing for sure. A musician who loves arranging, he leads a trio and performs in several bands with that fat, big band feel... Continue Reading →
A sweet, thick layer of sax goes a long way over many years, and Joe Lovano and his tenor have trekked mountains, cities and countrysides. Recently he’s found himself at ECM Records with his newest work, “Trio Tapestry,” where there... Continue Reading →
He has a golden touch with pure tone and is one of those musicians who gets a point across with sweetness and light. Erik Truffaz’s music provides crystal clarity in a happy place. The common thread throughout his discography is... Continue Reading →
Flute player Bill McBirnie says he took everything he knows about being a musician and broke it down to the basics in his new book The Technique and Theory of Improvisation: A practical guide for flutists, doublers, and other instrumentalists.... Continue Reading →
Tenor sax player Kevin Blue Woods can serve up a sumptuous band of silky sound that hugs the soul and swaddles the spirit. In his latest CD “CityLife” that fat-and-happy sax sound presides over a collection of tracks that have... Continue Reading →
A song starts out and you’re totally open, ready to get your mind around the rhythm of it, the main tune of it, and soon after, to identify where the harmonies lie and where the other textures will start to... Continue Reading →
Being a jazz journalist who started in the 1970s has afforded Scott Yanow some priceless opportunities and serendipitous encounters. Yanow is an oft-quoted jazz reviewer who plies his trade in magazines, program guides, liner notes and just about anywhere else... Continue Reading →
