Artist Profiles
November 2008 By John Murph
Corey Wilkes: Chi-City Swagger
When musicians are as versatile as Corey Wilkes, the sky is the limit when it comes to choosing which direction to take on a debut album. The 29-year-old Chicago native has employed his crackling tone and improvisational swagger to a handful of forward-thinking...
November 2008 By Michael J. West
Tim Warfield: York State of Mind
York, Pennsylvania, isn’t most people’s idea of Jazz Central, but for saxophonist Tim Warfield it’s exactly that. “It’s a very healthy place to maintain a jazz career,” says the 43-year-old York native and resident. “I’m one hour from Baltimore; 90 minutes...
October 2008 By Melissa Daniels
René Marie: Star-Spangled Controversy
When Colorado-based jazz singer René Marie first performed her arrangement of “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” and “The Star-Spangled Banner,” she knew she’d created a song that made her feel like an American. “After I sang the song for the very first time, I...
October 2008 By David R. Adler
Mike Reed: Doubled Up
Chicago drummer Mike Reed drops two ambitious albums on the same day When drummer Mike Reed recorded The Speed of Change and Proliferation, he didn’t foresee putting both out at the same time. But together, the two discs (on 482 Music) say something important...
October 2008 By Bill Milkowski
Gerald Clayton: To the Bopcave
During his 10-night residency at the Umbria Jazz Festival in the picturesque medieval hill town of Perugia, Italy, pianist Gerald Clayton created a buzz during his nightly set in the Rocca Paolina. An intimate space housed in the catacombs of a 16th-century...
October 2008 By Bill Meredith
Flecktone Jeff Coffin: Constant Change
Saxophonist Jeff Coffin has recorded with his Mu’tet band every few years since joining Béla Fleck and the Flecktones in 1997, and arranged solo touring dates around that quartet’s schedule. Such was the plan this year after the release of his stellar new...
September 2008 By Geraldine Wyckoff
New Orleans’ Treme Brass Band: Crowded House
Everybody knows everybody at the Candle Light Lounge, the Wednesday night headquarters of the Treme Brass Band. When the group strikes up at the small, down-home New Orleans bar, located in the heart of the Treme neighborhood, it often looks more like an...
September 2008 By John Murph
Bobby Previte: Watch the Music
Without a doubt, there’s a cinematic allure to Bobby Previte’s latest disc, Set the Alarm for Monday (Palmetto). Steering his current ensemble, the New Bump, the veteran drummer/composer invents dreamy soundscapes that sound as if they were lifted from some...
September 2008 By Eric Fine
Bill McHenry: Inside Out
Bill McHenry’s range encompasses opposite polarities. On his own the tenor saxophonist is an unabashed free player, but he co-leads a quartet that sticks to standard but obscure songs and performs in a large band featuring exotic fare. McHenry attributes...
September 2008 By Brian Soergel
Wayman Tisdale: Back on the Offense
Wayman Tisdale’s 44 years of life so far have been the stuff of inspiration. Filled with amazing highs, thanks to an all-star pro basketball career that segued into the life of a smooth-jazz star, Tisdale suffered a setback early last year when doctors discovered...
