Geri Allen: Apollo's Muse
Pianist/composer Geri Allen is gearing up for her role as artistic director for an especially ambitious production of the 2013 Harlem Jazz Shrines Festival at the Apollo Theater. Presented as “Geri Allen & Friends Celebrate the Great Jazz Women of the Apollo," the program will offer two shows on May 11, 2013 that explore the legacy ...
Read MoreKit Downes: Old Stars, New Blues
Cheltenham Jazz Festival, Saturday 30th April 2011. The young British pianist and composer Kit Downes has travelled to this west of England town to première his latest composition, Animation Migration, at the Playhouse Theatre. It was an unusual event for a jazz festival. Downes' band played music inspired by the story of evolution and DNA alongside ...
Read MoreMelissa Aldana: Living a Second Cycle
Melissa Aldana may still be in her early twenties, but the tenor saxophonist already knows what it is like to play with big jazz names like saxophonists George Coleman, Benny Golson and George Garzone. In a short time, Aldana has found her own place in the difficult New York jazz scene because she has developed a ...
Read MoreJerry Bergonzi: Eternal Student
Jerry Bergonzi is regarded as one of the most important saxophonists in the world. Equally, he continues to make significant contributions in the world of jazz education. He is the author of Inside Improvisations Series (Jazzwise Publications), a manual developed in seven volumes--his eighth book is due to come out soon--that has become essential for jazz ...
Read MoreKurt Elling: Stories from New York
Singer Kurt Elling seems to be always on the go, working with his fine quartet and lending his artful vocals to a variety of other projects as time allows. Whatever the situation, he brings high aesthetic values and standards. He likes to investigate different musical possibilities under the jazz umbrella, which he embraces without reservation.
“I ...
Read MoreMedeski, Martin & Wood: Sound Sculpting
Progressive keyboard trio Medeski, Martin & Wood has helped redefine the boarder where musical genres meet since the group's inception over 20 years ago. MMW has experimented with everything from song structure to acoustic-electric instrumental blends, all while appealing to both jazz-specific and mainstream audiences. Free Magic (Indirecto, 2012) is a fine example of MMW's exploratory ...
Read MoreBen Williams: The Effect of Sound
It's continuously perplexing that Ben Williams did not set out on playing the bass first. Forced to pick the most attractive string instrument amongst the cellos and violins, the 7th grade aspiring guitarist ended up picking the instrument that he, now in his upper twenties, is in massively high demand for and is unsettlingly proficient in. ...
Read MoreAntonio Sanchez: Doing It All
Antonio Sanchez has been guitarist Pat Metheny's first-choice drummer for the past decade. The tremendous finesse, propulsion and extensive vocabulary that Sanchez possesses have illuminated not only Metheny's recordings, but those of heavyweights such as vibraphonist Gary Burton, saxophonist Michael Brecker, and pianists Chick Corea and Danilo Perez. In recent years, Sanchez has been much in ...
Read MoreChris Potter: The Personal Stamp
Chris Potter is one of the most visible saxophonists on the scene in recent years. There are reasons for that. Not only does he have incredible chops, inner drive, intensity and the impulse to always be creative--as if that's not enough--he can fit into any musical situation and find a way to contribute. Coming through the ...
Read MorePat Metheny: Pulling It All Together
As the 1970s came to a close, guitarist Pat Metheny was riding high on a wave of well-received albums, from his self-named Group and Trio and as a contributor to works by vibraphonist Gary Burton, bassist Jaco Pastorius and others. In 1980, he went somewhere else entirely and recorded what has come to be regarded as ...
Read MoreGrant Stewart: The Sound of Hard Bop Today
Grant Stewart is regarded as one of the most influential tenor sax players of the contemporary jazz scene. After nine formative years of intense learning and playing in his hometown of Toronto, the 19 year- old Stewart took his saxophone and bought a flight to New York. Once there, he did things his own way from ...
Read MoreChristian Scott: Shining a Light
Trumpeter/bandleader Christian Scott's aTunde Adjuah (Concord, 2012), like its immediate predecessor, Yesterday You Said Tomorrow (Concord, 2010), delivers on two fronts. Musically, it retains what is precious in the jazz tradition, while drawing in ideas from hip hop, rock, funk, ambient and Afrorock. Extra-musically, it reaffirms jazz as protest music. Born and brought up in New ...
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