Willard Jenkins
Willard’s Contributions
November 2003 News
Jack DeJohnette : Busy Body
It’s one week after the 2003 Montreal Jazz Festival, whose Invitation Series feted Jack DeJohnette and Lee Konitz. But rather than relaxing and basking in the glory of that honor, DeJohnette is in his Woodstock, N.Y., home wrestling with a recalcitrant water...
May 2003 Hearsay
Omar Sosa
Cuban pianist Omar Sosa is a kinetic spirit, fascinated with multitudinous African cultures and their diaspora kin. His eight recordings for the Otá label have ranged from Afro-Cuban rhythms, to Oaktown funk and beat poetry stemming from his four-year Oakland...
06/19/02 Concerts
Fez Festival of World Sacred Music & Festival D'Essaouira Gnaoua
From sacred to secular, Morocco celebrates three major music Festivals over a four-week period straddling May and June. The eldest, the Fez Festival of World Sacred Music, commences in the imperial city with the oldest, largest medina (or old city) in the...
January/February 2002 Albums
Live at the Village Vanguard
Mary Stallings
Mary Stallings is a classic example of how it takes time, musical seasoning and living a full life to mature as a vocalist and to address a lyric properly. While youthful instrumentalists may have something to say, 20-something vocal ingenues need not apply...
January/February 2002 Albums
Blue York
Pamela York
For her debut recording, the San Diego-area-based Canadian pianist Pamela York, who is from Nanaimo, B.C.-the same unlikely burg that produced Diana Krall and trumpeter Ingrid Jensen (is there something in the water there?)-had the good sense to recruit...
December 2001 Albums
Soho Stories
Ian Shaw
Ian Shaw, a native of Wales, continues to impress with his vocal artistry. His phrasing is liquid and easeful; his vocal timbre is impressive and lush on ballads; and he has a sense of drama that serves him well-especially on his reading of "I Never Went...
September 2001 Albums
Arts and Crafts
Matt Wilson
From reading his accompanying description of Arts and Crafts I get the feeling Matt Wilson is a sensitive soul; that impression is clearly borne out by his drumming. He is a veritable singer on the traps, always musical, always supportive, forever dialogic...
07/09/01 Concerts
Roy Hargrove and Enrico Rava at the 2001 Montreal Jazz Festival
Among the myriad charms of the massive Montreal Jazz Festival are its Invitation series. These four-night stands by multifaceted musicians offer a unique glimpse into the versatility and vision of the invited artists. For the 22nd edition of the festival...
July/August 2001 Albums
Ballads: Remembering John Coltrane
Karrin Allyson
Here's a singer who has mostly slipped past my radar. It won't happen again. Allyson's new CD is a very personal remembrance of the balladry of John Coltrane, sweetly reviving the memory of how in the midst of his most explorative period, J.C. paused to...
July/August 2001 Albums
Balaio
Richard Boukas/Jovino Santos Neto
Were it not for small, independent labels like the Brazilian music-oriented Malandro (based in Cincinnati, of all places) deserving artists like guitarist Richard Boukas and pianist Jovino Santos Neto might not have much opportunity to craft records like...
June 2001 Albums
Remembrance
Kenny Jr. Drew Trio
Saddened by the same-week passing of Milt "Bags" Jackson, Art Farmer and pianist Manfredo Fest, Kenny Drew Jr. developed this tribute. Yes, yet another homage, but Remembrance is delivered sans mimicry or pretension, and Drew's no nonsense delivery of the...
June 2001 Albums
Flights of Fancy: Trio Fascination, Edition Two
Joe Lovano
Flights of Fancy, edition two of saxophonist Joe Lovano's trio series, presents a quiet program boasting four different trio settings for his reeds: bass and drums with Cameron Brown and Idris Muhammad; percussion and drums with Billy Drewes and Joey Baron;...
April 2001 Albums
The Last Great Concert
Oliver Jackson
Besides George Wein's appropriately laudatory paragraphs on Jackson's drum prowess and some brief bios, there's scant info on how this crew came together. It was obviously a swell night in Hamburg when they made this concert, as their collective joy of swing...
April 2001 Albums
The Birdland Sessions
Garrison Fewell
Guitarist Garrison Fewell's previous recording garnered positive notices and he has labored in jazz-education trenches at Berklee for many years. For this date, pianist Jim McNeely, Steve LaSpina, bassist-of-choice for several guitarists, and drummer Jeff...
April 2001 Albums
Birdland Sessions
Jill Seifers
With a timbre reminiscent of Rickie Lee Jones, sans the quirks and humor, Jill Seifers is a pleasant enough chanteuse. Backed solely by pianist Michael Kanan, however, a sort of vocal malaise sets in after a few doses from her nine-track set of tried and...
April 2001 Albums
Birdland Sessions
Magali Souriau Orchestra
Recorded over two nights in '97 and '98, Magali Souriau has crafted a 10-track program of nine impressionistic originals and a fresh reshaping of Monk's "Ask Me Now." The recipient of a Gil Evans fellowship, this young French woman is apparently a piano...
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