Jeff Tamarkin is the former editor of Goldmine, CMJ, Relix, and Global Rhythm. As a writer he has contributed to the New York Daily News, JazzTimes, Boston Phoenix, Harp, Mojo, Newsday, Billboard, and many other publications. He is the author of the book Got a Revolution: The Turbulent Flight of Jefferson Airplane and has contributed to The Guinness Companion to Popular Music, All Music Guide, and several other encyclopedias. He has also served as a consultant to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, NARAS, National Geographic Online, and Music Club Records.
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Bobby Watson really wants listeners to know that Keepin’ It Real, which unveils a fresh lineup of his Horizon band (appropriately redubbed New Horizon), has … Read More “Bobby Watson: Keepin’ It Real (Smoke Sessions)”
Things changed profoundly for the Netherlands’ Tineke Postma following the 2014 release of her album Sonic Halo, a collaboration with fellow alto and soprano saxophonist/composer … Read More “Tineke Postma: Living in the Maternal World”
Aside from its unusual approach to capitalization, the title isn’t an attempt to be clever; this album is the first recording released by pianist Andy … Read More “Andy Milne & Unison: The reMission (Sunnyside)”
What comes through above all else in these three extremely different sets of duets—first with saxophonist Lenny Popkin, then pianist Connie Crothers, and finally drummer … Read More “Lennie Tristano: The Duo Sessions (Dot Time)”
Sometime last year—just a week after completing Vol. 2: Into the Flow, her second album as the leader of the New York-based sextet MAE.SUN—alto and … Read More “Hailey Niswanger: The Healing Has Begun”
Jeremy Pelt needed to get some years behind him before he could make an album like The Art of Intimacy, Vol. 1. Like many young … Read More “Jeremy Pelt: The Art of Intimacy, Vol. 1 (HighNote)”
For his third Posi-Tone album and fourth overall, Theo Hill moves beyond the piano-trio format with the addition of a vibraphonist, Joel Ross. It makes … Read More “Theo Hill: Reality Check (Posi-Tone)”
You don’t get an answer when you ask Michel Camilo a question, you get a story—like the one about how he gravitated toward the piano … Read More “Michel Camilo: Teller of Tales”
Several years ago, in an interview with this reviewer, Stephane Wrembel said, “My music is for everyone. It’s beyond genre. It’s not for the rock … Read More “Stephane Wrembel: The Django Experiment V (Water Is Life)”
And why not? Although no one would ever have classified the Southern rockers, who flourished for nearly a half-century through numerous personnel changes, as a … Read More “Big Band of Brothers: A Jazz Celebration of the Allman Brothers Band (New West)”
Mose Allison has long found favor among pop and rock artists. John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers adapted his arrangement of “Parchman Farm” on their 1966 … Read More “Various Artists: If You’re Going to the City: A Tribute to Mose Allison (Fat Possum)”
Randy Napoleon’s reputation as a steadfast traditionalist with a predilection for well-defined, lyrical guitar lines has largely come via his work as a sideman over … Read More “Randy Napoleon: Common Tones (Detroit Music Factory)”
The title of Laszlo Gardony’s second consecutive solo piano album and fourth overall for Sunnyside bears the same name as that of the French national … Read More “Laszlo Gardony: La Marseillaise (Sunnyside)”
When Billy Cobham was scouting locations to record his new album, Crosswinds: Time Lapse Photos, it didn’t take him long to decide that Sweetwater Studios, … Read More “Inside the Recording of Billy Cobham’s Crosswinds: Time Lapse Photos“
“The complexity of playing simple” is what Billy Cobham calls that thing that happens when he sits down behind the drums. “How can I play … Read More “Billy Cobham: Blowin’ in the Crosswinds”
A boldfaced quote from the late Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa—“The role of the artist is to not look away”—adorns the inside cover of the … Read More “Randy Ingram: The Means of Response (Carrier)”
The Chinese game of mahjong may have been invented by Confucius more than 2,000 years ago or, possibly, sometime in the past few hundred years. … Read More “Jon Irabagon on Mahjong and Mezzo-Soprano Sax”
Although they’d played a handful of gigs together decades ago, Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava and American saxophonist Joe Lovano hadn’t undergone a proper co-leader tour … Read More “Enrico Rava/Joe Lovano: Roma (ECM)”
It’s always tempting to add a qualifier when listening to a prodigy: we say he is good “for his age.” True, Matthew Whitaker is only … Read More “Matthew Whitaker: Now Hear This (Resilience Music Alliance)”
This trio set by saxophonist Jeremy Udden might seem, on paper, to have been thrown together with little forethought. In his liner notes, Udden states … Read More “Jeremy Udden: Three In Paris (Sunnyside)”
The concept is simple and smart: Edmar Castaneda, master of the stringed llanera harp, and Grégoire Maret, equally adept on harmonica (a.k.a. mouth harp), meet … Read More “Edmar Castaneda/Grégoire Maret: Harp vs. Harp (ACT)”
Arvoles—it means “trees” in the ancient Ladino language—is something of a reining in after the expansive 1970, Cohen’s previous release. That one, released in 2017, … Read More “Avishai Cohen: Arvoles (Razdaz)”
It’s easy to write off Pieces of a Dream as just another smooth-jazz remnant, and a predictable one at that. On Another Note is the … Read More “Pieces of a Dream: On Another Note (Shanachie)”
There’s often a note of humor in the titles and artwork of arranger/saxophonist/composer Ed Palermo’s recordings (The Great Un-American Songbook featured several British Invasion-era tunes), … Read More “Ed Palermo Big Band: A Lousy Day in Harlem (Sky Cat)”
There’s purity in the clarity of a vibraphone and double bass, sans other instruments, working things out, a pair of distinctive, radically different melodic and … Read More “Michael Davidson & Dan Fortin: Clock Radio (Elastic)”
It’s useful, but not imperative, to read Scott Yanow’s liner notes in order to understand the concept behind The Seven Rays. They explain the titling … Read More “Jerry Bergonzi: The Seven Rays (Savant)”
With the momentum she’s built in the past several years, Sheléa Frazier (who goes by her first name professionally) could have taken the easy way … Read More “Sheléa: Pretty World: A Tribute to Alan and Marilyn Bergman (Breath of Life)”
Saxophonist Logan Strosahl has been nothing if not prolific since releasing his debut, Up Go We, on Sunnyside in 2015. That was a septet recording, … Read More “Logan Strosahl Spec Ops: Sure (Sunnyside)”
Their unsullied positivity and demonstrable zeal are inherent in the name of their band, Becoming Quintet. “We’re all young, we’re all trying to become something. … Read More “Becoming Quintet: Five One-Track Minds”
“This concert and music was inspired by, and is dedicated to, Jimmy Giuffre,” says a notation in the liner notes for Free Fall, featuring the … Read More “Lucian Ban & Alex Simu: Free Fall (Sunnyside)”
