Tag Archives: Jazz music

Cannonball Adderley’s The Black Messiah

Three and forty years after it was recorded, this amazing set of live jazz by the Cannonball Adderley Quintet is seeing its first release on CD. It’s a revealing snapshot of where jazz and especially Adderley were in those heady … Continue reading

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June Tabor, Iain Ballamy & Huw Warren’s Quercus

In a world filled with young divas and wannabes whose role models are the imitators of Whitney Houston’s double-barreled melisma and the manufactured pop and hip-hop princesses who can’t sing without auto-tune, it’s good to know that there are still … Continue reading

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Sound bites: Fiddles, folksongs and a little jazz

The CDs awaiting review are piling up on all my indoor horizontal surfaces, the way the snow was drifting outside the door a short while ago. There’s only one thing to do with drifting snow or gathering CDs – clear … Continue reading

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Ensemble Denada’s Windfall

Ensemble Denada is the creation of Norwegian composer and trombonist Helge Sunde. It’s a 15-piece orchestra whose music falls under the rubric of jazz, in much the same way that Frank Zappa’s music was considered rock — an arbitrary category … Continue reading

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John Coltrane’s Afro Blue Impressions

This two-CD set marks the 50th anniversary of the dates on which this live disc was recorded, and the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Pablo Records label on which it was eventually released. The recording captures John Coltrane’s … Continue reading

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Bill Evans Trio’s How My Heart Sings!

I didn’t realize how much I had come to love Bill Evans’s music until I found that I was listening to this CD on repeat almost daily. This is such a superb album that it could easily work its way … Continue reading

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Elina Duni Quartet’s Matanë Malit (Beyond The Mountain)

This is a very special album, one that combines two forms of music that I appreciate immensely, Balkan folk music and jazz. I don’t claim any particular expertise in writing about either, so bear with me if I make mistakes … Continue reading

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Choban Elektrik’s Choban Elektrik

Take three musicians who are Frank Zappa fanatics, cross them with the insane vitality of Balkan dance music, and you have Choban Elektrik (Electric Shepherd), and their self-titled debut release. Choban Elektrik’s music is billed as Balkan psychedelic jazz-rock, and … Continue reading

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Andy Statman’s Old Brooklyn

My introduction to Andy Statman is intimately associated with my introduction to Brooklyn. On the first night of my first visit to New York, visiting a friend who was living in Brooklyn in 2002, I attended a jazz clarinet performance … Continue reading

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Stanley Turrentine’s Don’t Mess With Mister T

Don’t Mess With Mister T was Stanley Turrentine’s final disc as a member of Creed Taylor’s CTI stable, a run that started in 1970 with the highly regarded Sugar. He continued recording for numerous other jazz labels in a career … Continue reading

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