Steve Futterman
Steve’s Contributions
March 2006 Albums
Live at Port Townsend
Red Mitchell and George Cables
The final two decades of Red Mitchell's career might be dubbed "the duo years." From the start of the '70s to his death in 1992, the incomparable bassist's preferred instrumental setting was an intimate get-together with one other player; memorable encounters...
January/February 2006 Albums
Teddy Wilson: Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz
Marian McPartland
Marian McPartland must be a great dinner party guest. As mistress of ceremonies for the long-running radio program Piano Jazz, McPartland has elegantly interacted with all manner of jazz musicians and, more recently, pop stars who harbor affection for jazz...
January/February 2006 Books
The Fifty Greatest Jazz Piano Players of All Time
Gene Rizzo
What's a more noxious thought: A ranking of the 50 greatest jazz piano players of all time, or a ranking that puts Monty Alexander at No. 5 and Jelly Roll Morton at 43? Add a single-page addendum titled "The Next Twenty," which finds room for such "also...
January/February 2006 DVDs
Stan Levey: The Original Original
Stan Levey
If drummer Stan Levey hadn't missed the sessions that produced the revolutionary Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie sides of early 1945, would he be better known today? The Original Original weaves together interviews with its subject, as well as Quincy...
January/February 2006 DVDs
Norman Granz Jazz in Montreux: Jazz at the Philharmonic '75
Various Artists
Jazz impresario Norman Granz was no dummy. Although it doesn't take a genius to realize that films of all-star concerts featuring the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Milt Jackson, Benny Carter and Roy Eldridge might be worthwhile viewing somewhere down the line...
November 2005 Albums
Ruby, My Dear
Richard Galliano
Certain instruments have yet to lodge themselves in the jazz mainstream, but that hasn't stopped intrepid virtuosos from distinguishing themselves on these overlooked musical tools. As Toots Thielemans is to the chromatic harmonica, Richard Galliano is to...
October 2005 Eighty-Eights
Page 3
Peter Beets
Dutch pianist Peter Beets must look forward to his New York City visits. Hitting the Apple to record, he hooks up with some of the best young bassists and drummers on the scene: Wynton Marsalis associates Reginald Veal (bass) and Herlin Riley (drums) are...
October 2005 Eighty-Eights
Full Moon Music (Grand Ideas Vol. 3)
Armen Donelian
Donelian's Grand Ideas each employ solo piano: Vol. 1 focused on standards; Vol. 2, original compositions. But Full Moon Music tackles free improvisation. The 14 mostly brief pieces are laden with atmosphere, draped in misty impression, brooding chords and...
October 2005 Eighty-Eights
Crazy World
Laurence Hobgood Trio with special guest Kurt Elling
If the name Laurence Hobgood rings a bell, you must be a Kurt Elling fan. Hobgood has been the Chicago-based vocalist's valued musical associate for more than a decade, and his recording mates on Crazy World, bassist Rob Amster and drummer Frank Parker...
October 2005 Eighty-Eights
Now & Again
Dick Hyman and Randy Sandke
The title of this duet recording between the trumpeter Randy Sandke and the pianist Dick Hyman couldn't be more apt. For these two wide-ranging musicians, it's always now and again-both men have established careers that routinely straddle the present and...
October 2005 Eighty-Eights
Remembering Bobby Darin
The Roger Kellaway Trio
The troubled production history of the Bobby Darin biopic Beyond the Sea foretold disaster; it took Kevin Spacey to make that disaster a reality. Yet if another Hollywood dog was let loose, at least we got two deserving tie-ins out of the deal. A sequel...
October 2005 Eighty-Eights
Live at Yoshi's Vol. 2
Mulgrew Miller
Mulgrew Miller has reached that enviable plateau as a group leader where his established trio has become a seamless extension of his own musical identity. On Live at Yoshi's, Vol. 2 Miller exhibits his customary mainstream mastery. A fluid improviser in...
October 2005 Eighty-Eights
Live in Brooklyn
Arturo O'Farrill
Arturo O'Farrill's high-profile gig as the leader of the Lincoln Center Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, not to mention his bloodline heritage as son of Latin jazz pioneer Chico O'Farrill, would lead you to expect an emphasis on Latin-influenced music when it...
October 2005 Eighty-Eights
Eretik
Sacha Perry Trio
Sacha Perry claims the gifted, if obscure, pianist Frank Hewitt as a primary influence; still, you can't miss the flavor of such revered masters as Herbie Nichols, Thelonious Monk, Barry Harris and, no surprise, Bud Powell in the work of this emerging, 30...
October 2005 Eighty-Eights
Simplicitas
Edward Simon
Edward Simon's Simplicitas has primary sources in Latin jazz, but it breaks free of rigid categorization. The Venezuelan-born Simon logged crucial time with the bands of Bobby Watson and Terence Blanchard, leaving him with a firm grounding in contemporary...
October 2005 Eighty-Eights
Live at Yoshi's Volume 2
Jessica Williams
Jessica Williams coaxes such a luscious sound from her instrument on Live at Yoshi's, Vol. 2 that you can happily wallow in her tone alone. With an acute sensitivity to melody aligned to that magnificent touch, her ballads become akin to personal gifts to...
E-mail
Share
RSS
Report