Thomas Conrad
Thomas’s Contributions
11/21/09 • Concerts
Belgrade Jazz Festival
International fest brings beautiful music to a complicated land
November 2009 • Albums
Testament
Keith Jarrett
Thomas Conrad reviews pianist's latest - a 3-CD set of solo concerts
November 2009 • Albums
Disfarmer
Bill Frisell
Thomas Conrad reviews guitarist's musical homage to photos of Mike Disfarmer
November 2009 • Albums
4A
James Moody
Because James Moody’s career coincides precisely with the history of modern jazz, where you came in on one is where you came in on the other. For this reviewer, it was the Jazz Workshop in San Francisco in 1964 on fake I.D., when Moody (and the pianist on...
May 2009 • Albums
Ray’s Way
Ray Levier
Lots of young musicians go out and get some established people to play on their debut recordings as leaders. Ray LeVier got strong ones: Joe Locke on vibes, either John Abercrombie or Mike Stern on guitar, Dave Binney on alto saxophone and Francois Moutin...
May 2009 • Eighty-Eights
Driftwoods
Ran Blake
If you have read about Ran Blake but do not know his music, Driftwoods is a good place to discover him. In contrast to Blake’s previous recording, All That is Tied (which was his 35th and which contained his own jagged, austere compositions), Driftwoods...
May 2009 • Eighty-Eights
New York Trio Recordings Vol. 3: Night Whispers
Marc Copland
Moodscapes, self-contained atmospheres of crystalline lyricism
May 2009 • Eighty-Eights
Turning It Loose
Dave Frank
Dave Frank taught for 17 years at Berklee and now directs the Dave Frank School of Jazz in Manhattan. His new album can be admired as a dissertation on the largest issue facing the solo jazz pianist, which is how the left hand deals with the absence of a...
May 2009 • Eighty-Eights
An Old Sweet Song
Frank Hailey-Eric Zukoski Trio
This recording describes itself as “a concept album that features soulful, groove-heavy jazz interpretations of popular compositions not normally associated with the jazz genre.” It is a curious description, given that several of the tunes here are in fact...
May 2009 • Eighty-Eights
Live in Japan
Christian Jacob
The trio here, with bassist Trey Henry and drummer Ray Brinker, is probably best known as Tierney Sutton’s back-up band. But they have also been a stand-alone ensemble for 12 years and sound like it. They interweave their three voices with a confidence and...
May 2009 • Eighty-Eights
88 Fingers
Eyran Katsenelenbogen
Eyran Katsenelenbogen, who claims Felix Mendelssohn in his family tree, plays solo piano like no one in jazz. His music is a wildly eclectic fantasia, with dizzying runs of ornamentation whirling at warp speed, spin-offs and digressions intruding upon and...
May 2009 • Eighty-Eights
Life’s Backward Glances
Steve Kuhn
This boxed set reissues three Steve Kuhn albums from the ’70s, all long out of print. It is an uneven package, with one solo gem (Ecstasy), one quartet album that is easier to respect than to love (Motility), and one problem (Playground). Playground is a...
May 2009 • Eighty-Eights
TV Trio
John Stetch
John Stetch’s improbable decision to create jazz versions of TV themes from the ’70s and ’80s gives rise to an interesting question: What is a “standard”? Conventional jazz wisdom answers “Stella By Starlight” or “Skylark,” which helps explain why jazz has...
May 2009 • Eighty-Eights
Tomorrows
Donald Vega
This is the debut leader recording by a musician with an extraordinary life story. Donald Vega was smuggled out of civil war-torn Nicaragua when he was 14, was eventually granted political asylum in the U.S., and, through benefactors in the Los Angeles jazz...
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ReportAbout Thomas Conrad
His day gig notwithstanding (Senior Vice President/COO of Magnolia Hi-Fi, a subsidiary of Best Buy), Thomas Conrad was an active jazz journalist for 20 years, as liner note author, columnist for CD Review, and regular contributor to Downbeat. Beginning in 2005, after foreswearing day gigs forever, he became more prolific. His work currently appears in Stereophile (where he is a Contributing Music Editor), JazzTimes (where he writes the “Eight-Eights” column on piano recordings), and All About Jazz—New York. He travels frequently to international destinations and much of his writing in recent years has dealt with jazz originating outside the borders of the United States. Another recurrent preoccupation in his work has been the audiophile world as it pertains to jazz. Conrad divides his time between Seattle, Washington and Palm Springs, California.