I Like Jazz

Detroit International Jazz Festival: Navigating a stellar lineup

Jazz News — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 10:10:54 +0000

You'll have to choose between Terence Blanchard, pictured here, and two other great acts tonight at the Detroit Jazz Festival.

INTERVIEW/PROFILE: Jazz Musician of the Day: Lars Danielsson

All About Jazz News — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 09:10:02 +0000

All About Jazz is celebrating Lars Danielsson's birthday today! Lars DanielssonThe bassist Lars Danielsson is reknown and admired in the International Jazz world for his lyrical but groovy playing... more Website | Photos | Articles Follow Lars Danielsson...

Matuto explores the sounds of Brazil a ” by way of Appalachia

Jazz News — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 06:06:34 +0000

Matuto, featuring guitarist Clay Ross and accordionist Rob Curto, has tapped into the sounds of Brazilian music and bluegrass to become a force in New York's busy Brazilian scene.

Larry Carlton / Tak Matsumoto: Take Your Pick

John Kelman — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 06:05:18 +0000

It's a shame that artists' careers are reduced to oversimplifications of who they are and what they're capable of. Guitarist Larry Carlton, for example--despite releasing kick-ass blues-centric records like Sapphire Blue (Bluebird, 2004) and, more recently, the exciting yet unfailingly tasty Live in Tokyo (335 Records, 2007), not to mention delivering iconic solos on m: Steely Dan albums like The Royal Scam (MCA, 1976) and Gaucho (MCA, 1980)--is, more often than not, associated with the smooth jazz of albums like Alone/But Never Alone (MCA, 1986). Not that there's necessarily anything wrong with that, especially when it's real players playing music that's easy on the ears but has its own set of challenges, but it's too easy to forget that Carlton can play through changes with the best of them, as his still-stunning bop-centric solo on "Mulberry Street," from Strikes Twice (MCA, 1981), amply proved nearly thirty years ago...

The Spiritual Beauty of Marilyn Crispell

Lloyd Peterson — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 06:05:16 +0000

There have been a number of pianists within the classical and jazz genres whose work have remained majestic and timeless, but never has there been a pianist quite like Marilyn Crispell. Never has a pianist been able to reach such extraordinary depths of spirituality and complexity. Nevertheless, levels of creativity rarely equate to levels of popularity and therefore, it's not surprising that visionary works remain largely misunderstood and unappreciated during their own time. Such is the case with Marilyn Crispell...

Dan Berg and The Gestalt: Manifesto

Karl Ackermann — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 06:05:14 +0000

Manifesto, the debut release from Dan Berg and The Gestalt, may be one of 2010's best recordings. The composer/keyboardist--a Brooklyn native and former student of reed man m: Marty Ehrlich--has created a smart, versatile and accessible collection that bridges genres and techniques, while remaining at home in the jazz idiom. With touches of m: Tin Hat Trio, bits of rock, Latin and the occasional operatic vocal, Manifesto has a broad appeal that fits contentedly within the overall scheme of the collection. Berg's eclectic tastes would not be a surprise to those aware of his cultural studies in Havana, or his work as an activist. Those tastes, as the album title may suggest, are manifested throughout the collection...

Peter Brotzmann Chicago Tentet: “3 Days in Oslo”

Lloyd Peterson — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 06:05:12 +0000

We live during a time when society needs music in boxes, connected with dots; music that can be readily explained and even more readily understood. But Peter Brotzmann tears down the walls, rips apart the boxes and completely shatters any preconceived notions of what music is supposed to be. He understands the necessity of art being able to express from the soul and spirit of the artist, and that is a freedom fought for, one that is intensely fought for. It is a simplicity found in its own complexity, a search that cannot be taught but must be carefully found through one's own sense of discovery. It is the nature of the universe in it's highest and most creative form...

Fred Anderson: In Loving Memory….

Lloyd Peterson — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 06:05:10 +0000

I had the opportunity to interview with Fred Anderson on several occasions. In each instance I walked away with the feeling that I was a better person for the time I spent with him. It was his wisdom, his generosity of spirit, his knowingness that our time here on this planet was short at best, and his humble appreciation to have been able to play music during this lifetime...

Soft Machine: NDR Jazz Workshop a€’Hamburg, Germany 1973

Nic Jones — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 06:05:08 +0000

By May, 1973, Soft Machine was well on its way from being a truly remarkable outfit to being a comparatively anonymous fusion band. This CD and DVD set goes to show this, but at least the music is played with the kind of fire that wasn't apparent on their studio albums of the time. While the rhythm section--bassist m: Roy Babbington and drummer m: John Marshall--was a lot more "correct" than its predecessors, the pair does inject a kind of redeeming energy into "Link 1 / Link 2," while m: Karl Jenkins, on baritone sax, proves that he did, indeed, have equal facility on reeds and keyboards. In such company, Soft Machine's sole surviving founding member, keyboardist Mike Ratledge, plays it a lot straighter than he did in earlier incarnations of the band...

Jeff Lorber Fusion: Now is the Time

Eugene Holley, Jr. — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 06:05:06 +0000

An accepted kernel of jazz historiography states that cats who play what has ultimately become smooth jazz play it because they can't play the real music. But even back in the day--specifically the seventies--I knew this wasn't true across the board ; as evidenced by the undeniable chops of Ramsey Lewis, Grover Washington, Joe Sample, and the Philly-born keyboardist Jeff Lorber. His group The Jeff Lorber Fusion was a mainstay on urban black radio, and his compositions, arrangements and solos, swung in the commercial contexts of the day, so much so that decades later rap artists would resurrect his songs in the hip-hop generation of the nineties...