Plunged into a world of 1930s swing bands – Fletcher Henderson, Chick Webb, Jimmie Lunceford and, yes, Count Basie and Duke Ellington — for an upcoming piece in the Playboy Jazz Festival program, I was in need of some temporal balance, a contemporary counterpoint. Via my high school library’s subscription…
Big Bang Big Band
Relativity and Ray Mazurek's Exploding Star Orchestra
May 14th, 2011 · No Comments
Tags: The Rabbit Rants
Absolutely Zawinul
Acoustic ensemble joins the composer-electric keyboardist on his final recording.
April 9th, 2011 · No Comments
Of all the electric keyboardists to come out of the fusion era, Zawinul was the most organic, most human. His synthesizer spanned an array of natural sounds–including Wayne Shorter’s tenor–and his use of voice through the Vocoder made his music take on folklorique, even choral qualities.
This natural quality of Zawinul’s…
Tags: Music Reviews
John McLaughlin Interview
The transcendent guitarist talks influence, Miles Davis and why he doesn't fret the past.
November 27th, 2010 · 1 Comment
John McLaughlin was a 27-year-old, relatively unknown guitarist in 1969 when he arrived in the U.S. from England to join drummer Tony Williams’ Lifetime band with organist Larry Young. His background was broad and without category. He had been brought up by a concert violinist mother to love classical music,…
Tags: Interviews · Music Reviews
David Murray On the Island
The saxophonist's Gwo Ka Masters project mixes Afro-Caribbean sounds, Ishmael Reed lyrics and Taj Mahal vocals.
June 26th, 2010 · No Comments
In his liner notes to Miles Davis’ post-Bitches Brew recording At Fillmore: Live At the Fillmore East, Morgan Ames quotes J.J. Johnson on Miles’ new direction. “If you put Miles and his new group in the studio and recorded them on spearate mikes, and then you cut the band track and…
Tags: Music Reviews
