Larry Appelbaum
Larry’s Contributions
March 2003 Brass Tracks
Decidedly
Roy Eldridge
By his 64th year, the once mighty trumpeter Roy Eldridge had lost some of his dexterity but none of his fire. On Decidedly (Pablo), he heats up a live, previously unreleased 1975 performance at Antibes surrounded by fellow jazz giants. This is a Jazz at...
March 2003 Brass Tracks
There Will Never Be Another You
Harry Sweets Edison
Having played with everyone from Count Basie and Art Tatum to Nat Cole and Frank Sinatra, Harry "Sweets" Edison is best known for his perfect timing and his way of repeating a note or phrase over several measures. He didn't make that many records under his...
March 2003 Brass Tracks
Candoli Live
Conte Candoli
The recently departed Conte Candoli was a trumpeter who sounded equally at home playing in big bands or small groups. His latest, and quite possibly his final recording, Candoli Live (Nagel-Heyer), was made just a year and a half before he died of cancer...
March 2003 Brass Tracks
Big Easy
Kermit Ruffins
You don't have to wait for Mardi Gras or Jazzfest to visit New Orleans. A spin of the latest by Kermit Ruffins, Big Easy (Basin Street), will take you on a musical good-time tour of the Crescent City. You don't look to Ruffins for virtuosity or innovation;...
March 2003 Brass Tracks
Profile
Jeremy Pelt
Jeremy Pelt is originally from Los Angeles, but since graduating from the Berklee College of Music, he's been playing in and around New York and making a name working with the Mingus Big Band, Jimmy Heath, Cassandra Wilson and drummer Louis Hayes' Cannonball...
March 2003 Brass Tracks
Feel the Sunshine
Hugh Ragin
Next time you're in the Denver, make it a point to go see trumpeter Hugh Ragin. A veteran who's worked and recorded with modernists Roscoe Mitchell, David Murray and Andrew Cyrille, Ragin has the chops and imagination to impress the stodgiest of moldy figs...
March 2003 Brass Tracks
The Dream
Ryan Kisor Quartet
There's a quiet intensity about Ryan Kisor's latest, The Dream (Criss Cross). While the CD doesn't push many technical or stylistic envelopes, the trumpet man from Sioux City takes a creative step forward backed by a taking-care-of-business rhythm section...
March 2003 Brass Tracks
Hindsight
Alex Sipiagin Quintet
Russian trumpeter Alex Sipiagin arrived in New York in 1991 and is best known for his work with the Mingus Big Band, as well as orchestras led by George Gruntz, Gil Evans and Gil Goldstein. For his solo effort Hindsight (Criss Cross), he's assembled a knockout...
March 2003 Brass Tracks
Matrix
Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie's Matrix (Castle Music) is a two-CD reissue that compiles three obscure Gillespie titles recorded for the Perception label in the early 1970s: an embarrassing The Real Thing, the hip Portrait of Jenny and a flawed but fascinating Giants...
02/09/03 Concerts
Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra: Portrait of Cannonball
Despite a snowstorm that threatened to shut down the government, an enthusiastic audience turned out on a frigid Friday night to see the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Sextet perform its portrait of Julian "Cannonball" Adderley. Such tributes can be problematic...
December 2002 Spheres
Le Pas Du Chat Noir
Anouar Brahem
The conservatory-trained Anouar Brahem has deep respect for traditional music, but he's also a modernist who assimilates classical and jazz influences, writes for film and dance and has helped push the oud (Arabic lute) from an ensemble role into center...
December 2002 Spheres
Alight
Safa
Vancouver-based tar player and vocalist Amir Koushkani is bringing traditional Persian repertoire into the modern era by collaborating with creative improvisers; in this case, clarinetist and fellow Vancouverite Francois Houle, and Puerto Rican percussionist...
December 2002 Spheres
The Twelve Tribes
David Krakauer's Klezmer Madness!
For a walk on the wild Lower East Side, it's worth checking out clarinetist David Krakauer. If you've been following his work, you know he has iron chops, a deep grasp of Jewish musicology and the ability to play in and outside the tradition. He's also been...
December 2002 Spheres
Akimba
Mezcla
Because of the ongoing embargo, Americans have a limited and somewhat distorted view of Cuban music. Other than the Cubans signed to Blue Note, it seems that the only recent music to get through to consumers here are older stylists, like the soneros associated...
December 2002 Spheres
Ukranianism
John Stetch
Canadian pianist John Stetch draws from his heritage in his new solo outing Ukranianism (Justin Time). Stetch creatively deconstructs a medley of songs associated with a circle dance on "Kolomeyka Fantasy" and reaches into the piano to strum the strings...
December 2002 Spheres
Hungarian Bebop
Mihaly Dresch Quartet/Archie Shepp
American saxophonist Archie Shepp recorded Hungarian Bebop (BMC) in Budapest with the Romanian Mih ly Dresch Quartet. Shepp and Dresch both play tenor and soprano saxophone, but it's not hard to tell them apart. On the opening "Lily of the Valley," for example...
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ReportAbout Larry Appelbaum
Larry Appelbaum is a Senior Music Reference Librarian and jazz specialist in the Music Division at the Library of Congress. He writes for various music magazines and websites around the world, curates a film series and hosts a jazz radio program for WPFW-FM in Washington DC.