John Schu
John’s Contributions
12/01/09 Books
The Birth (and Death) of the Cool
Ted Gioia
Ted Gioia's latest book looks at the broader impact of the "cool" aesthetic as first pioneered by jazzers like Miles Davis and Lester Young. JT online contributor John Schu gets a read on the book and thesis.
12/01/09 Books
The Jazz Singers: The Ultimate Guide
Scott Yanow
It is almost inevitable that a knowledgeable person will question the exclusion and inclusion of artists in any list of, for example, jazz singers, even in a list of as many as the top 500 of them. This book provides good, concise bios and CD recommendations...
12/01/09 Books
Maynard!
Ralph Jungheim
Maynard Ferguson was a trumpeter who possessed astonishing technique, particularly in the upper register, and also played trombone and reed instruments and led a successful big band for many years. Author Jungheim interviewed 30 of Ferguson´s associates...
10/10/09 Books
Forward Groove: Jazz and the Real World from Louis Armstrong to Gilad Atzmon
Chris Searle
Searle begins this work with an entertaining account of his introductory jazz learning experiences in the UK and then states his main purpose in writing this work: to show “brilliant jazz performances….(that) sometimes very obviously, and other times less...
10/10/09 Books
Jazz Greats Speak: Interviews with Master Musicians by Roland Baggenaes
Baggenaes is a Danish writer whose interviews with seventeen musicians between 1972 and 1987 have now been collected and published in book form. Baggenaes’ questioning is good. Many of Bagganaes’ subjects are European musicians or musicians who spent a substantial...
10/10/09 Books
In Love With Voices: A Jazz Memoir
Brian Q. Torff
Veteran bassist Torff states early in his memoir that he is “the last of the young players who came of professional age in the 1970s who had the incalculable honor of working with older giants of blues, Dixieland, swing, bop, cool and beyond.”, which serves...
10/10/09 Books
Music Outside: Contemporary Jazz in Britain
Ian Carr
Ian Carr, who died this February and is best known for biographies of Miles Davis and Keith Jarrett, was as good a writer as anyone who has written about jazz. He was also at least as good a musician as any writer with substantial output on the subject...
10/01/09 Books
Ron Carter: Finding the Right Notes
Dan Ouellette
Authorized biography works hard to establish bassist's legacy.
10/01/09 Albums
Libra
Tim Garland
Multi reedman Garland, who is still best known to some for his tenures with Bill Bruford and Chick Corea and has become one of the UK’s more prominent jazz musicians presents an ambitious double CD with his trio (The Lighthouse Trio) on every track, but...
09/16/09 Albums
East Harlem Skyline
Greg Skaff
Guitarist Skaff’s second CD as a leader is primarily an update of the familiar guitar-organ-drums trio format that filled urban bars with live music in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Nine of the ten tunes have this instrumentation with George Colligan handling the...
09/15/09 Albums
More Dedications, Volume II
Chip White All-Star Ensemble
White’s current mainstay is the drum chair in Houston Person’s group and has a substantial history as a high level jazz drummer, mostly in straight ahead situations. White has once again established himself as a fine band leader in this vein with this release...
09/15/09 Albums
Stickadiboom
Steve Haines Quintet with Jimmy Cobb
Double-bassist Haines’ composed all but one of the eight tunes here, the exception is from drummer Cobb, who appears on six of the tunes. The overall sound of the group and the music suggests the period in which Cobb was most prominent, the early 60’s and...
09/14/09 Albums
Live in Poland
Miyumi Project
The Miyumi Project is a Chicago based group of Asian- American and African- American musicians led by bassist /composer Tatsu Aoki. The group combines three taiko drummers with Aoki, a violinist, and two reed players. Each of the compositions establishes...
09/01/09 Albums
Autumn Moonlight
Avery Sharpe Trio
Most jazz fans are familiar with bassist Sharpe through his long association with McCoy Tyner, but Sharpe has also been making his own records with varied instrumentation for many years and has established a substantial catalog as a leader. Sharpe does not...
02/23/09 Books
Sounding Salsa:Performing Latin Music in New York City
Chris Washburne
Washburne is a NYC based trombonist with a great deal of experience in playing salsa in NYC area clubs and in touring groups. He has written a combination of a personal memoir of his experiences and an ethnographic study of salsa. Washburne’s paragraph structure...
08/06/06 Concerts
Chick Corea's "In the Spirit of Mozart" & the Herbie Hancock Quintet
The Vienna Jazz Festival gives the traveler good incentive to plan a Vienna visit in late June/early July. The festival takes place over the unusually long timeframe of 18 days and is held at 11 venues. Three of them—the MuseumsQuartier, the Fernwaerme and...
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