Milt Buckner: The Life and Music of a Unique Jazz Pianist and Organist (Woodward)
Willard “Woody†Woodward writes a straightforward account of the career of the keyboard artist who pioneered the Hammond B3 organ in jazz. Milt Buckner paved the way for later organ heroes including Jimmy Smith, Don Patterson and—more recently—Joey DeFrancesco. His legacy encompasses the parallel-chords or locked-hands technique that Buckner developed as a pianist and transferred to his organ playing. Woodward, a pianist and organist inspired by Buckner, is thorough as he traces Buckner’s development, including his breakthrough in the early 1940s with Lionel Hampton’s band. In addition to his solid story telling, Woodward discusses details of Buckner’s settings of the pullout stops that determine the B3’s variety of sounds. It’s fascinating stuff, not too technical for most readers. If you are unfamiliar with Buckner’s work (it’s possible), go here for a demonstration.
For the first weekend of summer, Jazz Northwest features a collection of resident duos and trios playing music for those lazy summer days and nights.
funk. He wasn’t alone. Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock and George Benson were also incorporating funk in hopes of capturing wider shares of audiences oriented toward the basic—not to say primitive—emotions at the heart of much rhythm-driven pop music of the day. Blue Note albums like Carryin’ On and Ain’t It Funky Now illustrate Green’s dedication to the trend. The first track of Funk In France, recorded live in a Paris studio, is a cover version of the ultimate funk star James Brown’s “Don’t Want Nobody To Give Me Nothing (Open Up The Door I’ll Get It Myself).†The album also captures Green at the top of his bop game in two classics by Sonny Rollins, “Oleo†and “Sonnymoon For Two,†and in an untitled minor blues that incorporates aspects of both idioms. Green’s two-man rhythm section for the studio recording is drummer Don Lamond, the motivational drummer of Woody Herman’s great Second Herd, and bassist Larry Ridley during the period when he was having success with Freddie Hubbard, Philly Joe Jones and Dinah Washington, among many others. Barney Kessel, whose career went back as far as Lamond’s, joins Green to provide  moving second-guitar accompaniment on Parisian Charles Trenet’s “I Wish You Love.â€
Slick! was recorded in 1975 at Oil Can Harry’s, a club that thrived in Vancouver, British Columbia, for a decade in the sixties and seventies. The CD’s first half finds Green in familiar territory with Charlie Parker’s blues “Now’s The Time.†A supremely relaxed 26-minute version of Jobim’s “How Insensitive†demonstrates Green’s absorption with the Brazilian music that had captivated Americans. Then, Green’s funk unit revs up with a medley that includes Stanley Clarke’s “Vulcan Princess,†the Ohio Players’ “Skin Tight,†Bobby Womack’s “Woman’s Gotta Have It,†Stevie Wonder’s “Boogie On Reggae Woman†and the O’Jays’ “For The Love Of Moneyâ€â€”in all, a fair overview of the pop-funk landscape of the mid-1970s. Green’s guitar and Ronnie Ware’s electric bass fairly leap out of the speakers during the medley until Green dials back the funk a bit for a relatively relaxed interval by Ware’s bass. Emmanuel Riggins’ electric piano, Greg ‘Vibration’ Williams’ drums and Gerald Izzard’s array of percussion round out the band. Izzard’s panoply of effects includes what may be bird calls and a police whistle. This newly-discovered music probably won’t replace Green’s beloved Blue Notes on collectors’ shelves, but the Resonance discoveries offer a way for those new to this gifted guitaist to make his acquaintance. In Slick! the Oil Can Harry’s audience gives Green and his quintet a joyous reception.
For many aficionados of Bix Beiderbecke the surprise is not that there is so little film of the great cornetist, but that there is any. To the left, we see a frame of film shot in 1928 for Fox Movietone News of the Whiteman orchestra recording or rehearsing a piece called “My Ohio Home.” When Beiderbecke died in 1931 at the age of 28, he had earned the admiration of his contemporary and friend Louis Armstrong and become an inspiration for generations of cornetists and trumpet players. The official cause of his death was pneumonia, his lifestyle strongly suggests that advanced alcoholism was a contributing factor. Beiderbecke was a primary model for Rex Stewart, Jimmy McPartland, Benny Carter and Bobby Hackett, among dozens of others. The influence of his tone, lyricism and phrasing continued well into the new century in players including Warren Vache, Ed Polcer and Richard Sudhalter. Sudhalter was also 
Lorraine Gordon, who inherited the Village Vanguard after her husband Max died in 1989, remained its proprietor and no-nonsense guiding spirit until her death yesterday in New York. She was 95. Under the Gordons, the Vanguard became quite likely the most famous jazz club in the world. Bill Evans, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra and Wynton Marsalis were among many musicians who made memorable live recordings and videos there. The club is a destination not only for New Yorkers but also for jazz listeners from throughout the world who make it a required stop when they visit the city. Here is a recent interview with Mrs. Gordon, courtesy of the National Endowment For The Arts.
Compatibility, mutual responsiveness and subtle interactivity characterize this album from guitarist Ben-Hur and bassist Harvie S. It might have just as appropriately been titled “Interaction.†With drummer Tim Horner as a third partner, the trio moves through a ten-track collection encompassing several rarely-recorded pieces. Among them are Thelonious Monk’s title tune; the Brazilian master Ary Barroso’s “Prá Machucar Meu Coração;†an intricate take on George Shearing’s “Conception; Harvie S mournfully bowing the melody of Billy Strayhorn’s “Blood Count;†and welcome explorations of Jerome Kern’s “Nobody Else But Me,†Neil Hefti’s “Repetitionâ€, Baden Powell’s “Deixa,†Tadd Dameron’s “Focus†and Kenny Dorham’s “Asiatic Raes.†The album is an attractive amalgam of standard songs, Latin classics and neglected jazz tunes integrated with uncommon sensitivity.
musical theatre success based on Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote. As she advances in her career, Elias’s playing seems to gain harmonic and sonic depth. Alternating between all-star rhythm sections with bassists Eddie Gomez and Mark Johnson and drummers Jack DeJohnette and Satoshi Takeishi, she is captivating from “To Each His Dulcinea†through the playfully rich chord-play of the concluding “A Little Gossip.†Elias alternates between all-star rhythm sections, one with bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Jack DeJohnette, the other with bassist Marc Johnson and Satoshi Takeishi on drums. Throughout, Manolo Baderna enlivens the rhythmic atmosphere with rich percussion touches. This is a captivating collection.
quartet, to say the least, a Russian pianist, a Norwegian bassist, an Oregon reed player and a bebop drummer—Yelena Eckemoff; piano; Paul McCandless, oboe, English horn, soprano saxophone, bass clarinet; Arild Anderson, bass; Peter Erskine, drums and percussion. As she prepared this latest in her impressive succession of themed L&H albums, Ms. Eckemoff chose musicians who could picture and feel the desert she conceived. The vision extends to the short-short story and descriptive poems she wrote in the liner notes and her atmospheric painting that makes the cover of the booklet. The music visualizes the unnamed desert to which she gives sonic life. McCandless’s oboe is notably evocative in that regard. Ms. Eckemoff’s own playing leads the way, harmonically and in depth of keyboard tone, as she establishes the album’s feeling of mystery and languor. Eckemoff’s concept is akin to that of many albums released on the ECM label over the years, making it a natural setting for bassist Anderson, often a leader of ECM sessions. Erskine’s percussion array allows him to generate colors beyond his customary mainstream palette.
21 years old at the time of this 2017 recording, the identical Maguire twins—bassist Carl and drummer Alan—were born in Tokyo and raised in Hong Kong. In a dramatic change of scenery and culture, they moved with their parents to Memphis, Tennessee, in 2011. The brothers enrolled at the Stax Music Academy and came under the influence of bassist John Hamar, pianist Donald Brown and saxophonists Greg Tardy and Kirk Whalum. Brown is heard only on electric piano on one track. All of those musicians but Whalum and Hamar are on the twins’ debut album on their family’s label, as are pianist Aaron Goldberg and trumpeter Bill Mobley. The twins manage extremely well in that heavy company. Carl’s responsive drumming is impressive behind Goldberg on Brown’s “An Island, A Piano, and Keith,†dedicated to his son, also a pianist. Carl Maguire contributes two original compositions to the playlist, Alan one. Alan’s bass introduction is important to the success of his abstract arrangement of “Someday My Prince Will Come.†It will be interesting to follow this pair of promising rhythm players as they develop further.
The seasoned New York pianist traveled west to record with a sterling rhythm section of veteran Los Angeles players. The bicoastal combination clicked. Drummer Joe La Barbera, bassist Darek Oleszkiewicz, and—on two pieces—guitarist Larry Koonse meld with Piket in a collection of standards and originals by her and others. After Piket wrote “Mentor,†she discovered that it reminded her of her former teacher Richie Beirach and dedicated it to him.  Her eight-bar exchanges with LaBarbera highlight the track. Zippy versions of Chick Corea’s “Humpty Dumpty,†Richard Rodgers’ “Falling In Love With Love†and George Shearing’s “Conception†are up-tempo successes balanced by the trio’s ballad artistry in Piket’s “A Bridge To Nowhere.†In Walter Donaldson’s 1920s ballad “My Buddy,†she lingers over the melody and Oleszkiewicz caresses the verse mid-chorus. They revive the song so touchingly that one wonders why it isn’t performed more often.
From nearly the moment he moved from Detroit to New York in 1944, pianist Hank Jones was a central figure in jazz as the music evolved from swing to bebop. In this album recorded at a leading Danish jazz club, Jones reunites with drummer Shelly Manne, another key musician who thrived in New York in the mid-1940s. Manne moved west and became a leader in the community of musicians who coalesced into the movement eventually labeled West Coast Jazz. Danish bassist Mads Vinding completed the Jones trio for the Jazzhus engagement. Half the age of Jones and Manne, Vinding was a professional at 16. By 1983 he was in demand by American stars who visited Copenhagen, among them Art Farmer, Kenny Drew, Dexter Gordon, Roland Hanna and Johnny Griffin. Of a generation that produced several, he is one of Scandinavia’s true jazz stars.
recovery the tenor saxophonist and flutist sounds as confident and inventive as ever. Braden’s generation was immersed in the music of Stevie Wonder and the pop/jazz ensemble Earth Wind And Fire. He adapted some of their best-known pieces for this tribute collection. He is particularly moving on flute as he expresses the melody of Wonder’s “I Can’t Help It.†The album gets underway with Braden on tenor sax in EW&F’s “Fantasy.†His fluid solo underlines this relatively young musician’s familiarity with saxophone masters going back as far as Lester Young and Don Byas. Braden’s two combos on the album include pianists Brandon McCune and Art Hirahara, bassists Kenny Davis and Joris Teepe, and drummers Cecil Brooks III and Jeremy Warren. The music may be inspired by preferences of the 1970s, but Braden and company find its timeless qualities.
The exclamation point on the album title emphasizes the spirit of Cannonball Adderley’s music and
helped spread American culture across the world. Now Brubeck’s sons Chris and Danny pay homage to their father’s contribution in a collection with seven of his compositions and four by members of the BBQ. The album includes famous Dave Brubeck pieces—â€Blue Rondo A La Turk†and “Thank You (Dziekuje)†among them—and it’s good to hear them by his sons, pianist Chuck Lamb and guitarist Mike DiMicco. Apart from the commemorative aspect, it is a pleasure to hear the quartet playing so well. After several years together in this format, they have become one of the most consistently satisfying small bands in jazz. Lamb’s “Prime Directive†and “Boundward Home,†with its enticing use of repetition; DeMicco’s “North Coast,†and Chris Brubeck’s atmospheric “3 Wise Men†do not merely hold up well side by side with father Dave’s pieces; they sound as if he might have written them.
As Bruce Talbot points out in his 
Pianist Zeitlin has recorded three albums with bassist Buster Williams and drummer Matt Wilson, beginning in 2001 with Stairway To The Stars, then the adventurous Slickrock in 2003 and In Concert, in 2009. Wishing On The Moon, recorded earlier but just released, revisits several items that Zeitlin has recorded before, including “Slickrock.†Inspired by his and his wife’s mountain-biking adventures, Zeitlin expands the piece into a four-part suite that conjures up the sport’s peaceful setting in the sandstone reaches of Utah’s Moab region and the thrills it gives the cyclists who ride there.
Erskine’s quartet luxuriates in excitement that recalls and updates his achievements as Weather Report’s keystone drummer.  Later when he was with Steps Ahead,  that group further contributed to electronica as a legitimate jazz movement. The band features saxophonist Bob Sheppard, John Beasley playing keyboards, and the ebullient electric bassist Benjamin Shepherd. As it has for decades, Erskine’s drumming incorporates rhythmic subtlety and explosiveness in a balance that makes him in many respects the prototype fusion drummer. Highlights include humor and near-abandon as Erskine stimulates irresistible energy from Sheppard on tenor sax and Shepherd on bass in their solos on “Hawaii Bathing Suit†from a live date recorded in Italy. The tenderness of Sheppard’s tenor work is memorable in Henry Mancini’s “Dreamsville.†For sheer enjoyment, the live set edges out—just barely—the first disc, recorded in a US studio date.
Hersch opens his new trio album with Thelonious Monk’s “We See†and closes it with an unaccompanied performance of “Blue Monk.†A longtime source of inspiration for the pianist, bassist John Hébert and drummer Eric McPherson, Monk seems to trigger renewed stimulation and interaction whenever they play his compositions. In “We See,†Hersch maintains a flow of stimulating ideas even as he fragments the melody line that he develops so brilliantly. Hersch’s “Newklypso,†a tribute to Sonny Rollins, builds on the saxophonist’s devotion to the calypso music of his Caribbean ancestry. Hersch dedicates “Bristol Fog†to the late British pianist John Taylor, and the languorous, quirky, blues “The Big Easy†to New Orleans writer Tom Piazza. The album was recorded in concert in Brussels, Belgium. Six Hirsch compositions and two Wayne Shorter pieces, “Miyako†and “Black Nile,†complete the collection and help make it one of the trio’s most satisfying in their nine years together.
DavisQuintet, and whatever you’ve heard about it is probably true. Yes, Coltrane was breaking away from Davis conceptually, headed toward his “Giant Steps†reinvention of himself. Yes, at times he indulges his every random musical thought in displays of concentrated energy, perhaps even unto the anger his critics accused him of during this transition (Coltrane denied using his music to express anger). Yes, pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Jimmy Cobb are at a peak of the heated swing that made them the gold standard of mainstream rhythm sections in the late 1950s and early ‘60s. Yes, these concerts in Paris, Copenhagen and Stockholm radiate the tension generated by Coltrane’s disgruntlement with Davis’s music and, no doubt, with his inability, under the circumstances, to find his own way.
When so many albums arrive for possible review, there is always the possibility that a worthy one will end up in a music room nook or cranny, only to be rediscovered much later. That’s what happened to this 2012 gem. Tenor saxophonist Hamilton teamed with a world-class Scandinavian rhythm section for a collection of seven Swedish songs. It begins with “Ack Värmeland Du Skona,†long known outside of Sweden as “Dear Old Stockholm,†thanks to recordings by Stan Getz and Miles Davis. Hamilton also makes his unruffled way through, among other pieces, Ulf Sandström’s “You Can’t Be In Love With A Dream,†Ole Adolphson’s “Trubbel†and the Quincy Jones classic “Stockholm Sweetnin’,†which has Hamilton at his most vigorous. Pianist Jan Lundgren, bassist Jesper Lundgaard and drummer Kristian Leth support him with great sensitivity and—no surprise—authenticity. Hamilton gives a tender reading to “Min soldat†(“My Soldierâ€), a song popular in Sweden in the 1940s and revived in the 1970s when it was used in a TV series. The late Swedish pianist Jan Johansson’s “Blues i oktaver†wraps up the album. It includes a terrific solo by Lundgren, then a witty exchange of phrases between Hamilton and Lundgren, who is an admirer of and successor to Johansson. Lundgren contributes helpful liner notes.
For years pianist Shipp has gone his own unconventional way. Critics have shunted him into the avant garde piano category. That’s not where he belongs. He is the sole occupant of the Matthew Shipp category. The listener with open ears will understand that individuality is the core of Shipp’s approach. The title of his new solo album, Zero, may suggest metaphysical implications. My advice is, don’t worry about metaphysical implications. Simply listen to Shipp’s keyboard mastery and the wide range of emotions in his playing—and leave categories behind.
Crosby became the world’s best-selling recording artist, a title he holds 40 years after his death. According to his Wikipedia biography, Crosby has sold around the world more than one billion records, tapes, CDs and digital downloads. More important, his relaxed musicianship and charm…and his movie stardom…made him him one of the most influential performers during the period when jazz and American popular music were developing more or less in tandem.
recordings. He went on to major in music and anthropology at the University of New Mexico. During Army service in World War Two, drummer Kenny Clarke, a fellow soldier, convinced Lewis to move to New York when the war ended. Both men joined Dizzy Gillespie’s big band in 1945, and Lewis later recorded with vibraharpist Milt Jackson, Clarke and bassist Ray Brown when Jackson formed his own quartet. After Percy Heath replaced Brown on bass, the group changed its name to the Modern Jazz Quartet.
New Orleans is mourning the death on Friday of Charles Neville, saxophonist and ever-smiling presence in the Neville Brothers band from 1977 to 2015. Charles was a focal point with his brothers Cyril, Art and Aaron in the family band that became one of the city’s most successful and celebrated musical groups. For years, they were a fixture of the New Orleans Jazz And Heritage Festival. Neville died at home in Huntington, Massachusetts.He moved to New England in the 1990s, returning frequently to his hometown for performances and family reunions. In a 2011 concert at Angel Park in Williamsburg, MA, he and bassist Tyler Heydolph played Horace Silver’s “Song For My Father.â€
Dorough’s greatest fame in popular culture stemmed from his central role in the enormously successful television series Schoolhouse Rock. The program informed and entertained children, and many adults, from 1973 to 1985.
McNeely fortifies his position in the upper echelon of jazz arrangers in this set of new pieces for the formidable Frankfurt Radio Big Band. The album begins with his tribute to the late Bob Brookmeyer, “Bob’s Here.†Despite the dedication to the iconic player of the instrument, Christian Jaksjö manages to be himself on valve trombone. Indeed, all of the Frankfurt BB soloists—too many to name in a brief recommendation—are top-flight. Wait, I must mention the tag-team tenor saxophone work of Tony Lakatos and Steffen Weber in “Falling Upwards.†McNeely pays tribute to the arranging pioneer Don Redman, incorporating the classic Redman device of clarinet trios into “Redman Rides Again,†a piece that otherwise does not evoke the 1920s. In four other new compositions, McNeely’s writing is notable for its textures, intersecting lines across the horn sections and ingenious use of time relationships.
Years of playing together have refined the compatibility that saxophonist Lovano and trumpeter Douglas have displayed since their initial collaboration in the San Francisco Jazz Collective in 2004. Their fascination with the music of Wayne Shorter is evident in Sound Prints not only in their arrangements of two of Shorter’s best-known compositions, “Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum†and “Juju,†but also in original pieces by the co-leaders. Bluesy, riff-like repeats in Douglas’s “Ups and Downs†constitute one example of Shorter’s influence. Two others are Lovano’s reflective “Full Moon†with its entwining horn lines, and the skittering energies in his short “High Noon,†a track whose solos would be welcome at greater length. Douglas’s “Libra†opens with the harmonic riches of Lawrence Field’s piano chorus. Douglas and Lovano achieve an album high point in their rich unison ensemble in that piece. Bassist Linda Han Oh and drummer Joey Baron round out the quintet. They and Fields constitute a tight rhythm section, abetted in Lovano’s “Full Sun†by Baron’s stick work and joyous cymbal splashes, Douglas’s rising swoops of high notes and Linda Oh’s crisply intoned bass solo.
playlist includes two of his pieces, including the celebrated “Southern Nights.†It also has his piano performances of compositions by Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Fats Waller, Earl Hines and—perhaps to the surprise of some listeners—Bill Evans’ “Waltz For Debby.†Toussaint’s appreciation ran a wide gamut. Sidemen here can be surprising, among them guitarist Bill Frisell, saxophonist Charles Lloyd and lap steel guitarist Greg Leisz. On 19th Century New Orleans composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk’s “Danza,†Amy Shulman is at the harp. In his playing, Toussaint gives his chords a flow akin to running water. He sings one song, Paul Simon’s 1973 “American Tune.†It remains as moving as when Simon did it.
Sulieman (1923-2002) was a distinctive early bebop trumpet player. His experience as a young man included McKinney’s Cotton Pickers, the Earl Hines big band, Sid Catlett and Cab Calloway. His range and flexibility allowed him later to be featured with Thelonious Monk, the Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland band and Gerry Mulligan’s Concert Band. Sulieman was notable for his fluency, a kind of edgy lyricism, and the cavernous sound he achieved with a cup mute. This double CD album was recorded in Algeria at a Tangiers radio station and in a New York City studio. It features the little-recognized pianist Oscar Dennard, bassist Jamil Nasser and drummer Buster Smith. Dennard’s harmonic gift triumphs over a piano that it would be kind to call adequate, but his solos are so interesting that the unfortunate instrument barely matters. Sulieman and company are particularly incisive in Charlie Parker’s “Visa.†This is a good way for anyone unfamiliar with Sulieman to learn what he was all about.
composer†his longtime bass-playing associate Jeff Johnson is. The three pieces that Johnson contributed to Cubist leave no doubt about his writing ability. The title tune plus “Kiwi,†“Artists†and “Scene West†give Galper, Johnson and drummer John Bishop plenty of challenging material. They make the most of it. Galper’s post-bop credentials with Cannonball Adderly, Chet Baker and Phil Woods, among others, are part of his solid history. A few years ago he began to explore the challenges and charms of time-play, rubato, bypassing strict tempo—â€stealing time,†as the Italians sometimes put it. The approach requires that all hands feel the time or non-time at the same intensity, with the same flexibility. Galper, Johnson, Bishop and tenor saxophonist Jerry Bergonzi feel it together. “Scene West†is thirteen minutes of slowly building intensity capped by a bear-growling Johnson bass solo. Galper rounds out the album with compatible pieces not written by Johnson; Miles Davis’s “Solar,†Johnny Carisi’s “Israel,†a relaxed Ellington “In A Sentimental Mood†with another superb Johnson solo and laid-back, adventurous Bergonzi, and Galper’s own “Scufflin’,†which has stretches of Bishop in strict time that is not entirely unwelcome.