Today I saw an even-slicker-than-usual Wynton Marsalis hawking iPods, laying out lines of boppish exactitude for the conspicuous consumption of moneyed hipsters. It’s the 21st century, baby. Even in jazz, surface is all. Blood and guts are so 1979.
Oliver Lake might disagree.
With an album title like Zoot Suit Funk, Gayelynn McKinney makes her aim clear. There’s hardly a tune here that doesn’t give you the urge … Read More “Gayelynn McKinney: Zoot Suit Funk (Beatstix)”
Philadelphia tenor and bass saxophonist Charlie Ventura was a hot dog. Along with possessing a great honk, he tried to make bop into a national … Read More “Charlie Ventura: Adventure with Charlie – Expanded Edition (Jasmine)”
Every Mosaic Records release is for the niche jazz obsessive, but The Complete 1975 Toronto Recordings is both more niche and more obsessive than most. … Read More “Paul Desmond: The Complete 1975 Toronto Recordings (Mosaic)”
“His music is always very, very joyful,” Kenny Barron says about fellow piano master Monty Alexander in the notes accompanying Love You Madly, documenting a … Read More “Monty Alexander: Love You Madly: Live at Bubba’s (Resonance)”
