Some great music came out this year, and while I allowed myself to be a little less prolific in my listening, I still plowed through more than an album per day on average. “Plowed through” makes it sound like a chore, which is unfair (even if not always 100% inaccurate) given how much genuine nourishment…
Continue ReadingI’m a few months late to acknowledge pianist/composer Mal Waldron’s centennial. His style, though initially rooted in bop and blues, was singular, and he was never a “star” per se, yet had a footprint in so much important music, including classic records by Abbey Lincoln, Charles Mingus, Jeanne Lee, Kenny Burrell, Gene Ammons, Max Roach,…
Continue ReadingI’m a few months late in acknowledging the great pianist Oscar Peterson’s centennial. It’s fascinating to me how controversial his non-controversial approach to music is in some circles. Nobody can deny that he is a major figure with Tatum-esque virtuosity and a distinctive conception that made him superlatively in-demand. That said virtuosity was often quite…
Continue ReadingI can safely say that the music of Steve Winwood (who I had the pleasure of hearing last night on the first stop of his brief U.S. tour) has had a huge impact on my development from his teenaged output (when he was still going by Stevie) to more recent live work. It’s difficult to…
Continue ReadingIf you’ve been a jazz fan over the last several decades, you have surely heard the brilliant drummer Jeff Hirshfield on something. I am looking very much forward to having my first opportunity to play with him as part of Jamie Baum’s visit to Resonant Motion’s Jazz Up Close series on September 11, and here…
Continue ReadingI’m thrilled that on September 11 (as part of Resonant Motion’s Jazz Up Close series) I will finally have the opportunity to play with flutist Jamie Baum, and better still to play some among her many lovely compositions. Over more than thirty years she has established a musical niche with her distinctive conception, and yet…
Continue ReadingA bittersweet farewell to the extraordinary jazz vocalist Sheila Jordan. Bitter for the obvious reason that the world is poorer in her absence and sweet because my GOODNESS what a legacy she built in her almost 97 years on the planet. Some singers resist being pigeonholed as jazz vocalists because it doesn’t fully reflect the…
Continue ReadingThe Sun of Latin Music has set, so we should all wish safe passage to the truly great Eddie Palmieri. I know Latin jazz like the back of my neck (which is to say better than the average citizen but not to what I’d consider an expert degree) but I do know that Eddie Palmieri…
Continue ReadingIt was bound to happen, but the passing of drum titan Al Foster is nonetheless representative of the end of an era. While a highly proficient player by any metric (in spite of not being a music reader) the individuality of his sound is a source of particular inspiration for drummers and other musicians and…
Continue ReadingFarewell, genius. If Sylvester Stewart’s only legacy had been the generations of musicians he influenced (from Miles to Prince) then he’d be a legendary figure, and the way he crossed over to diverse audiences made him an essential cultural trailblazer and industry leader. But the music! The music he produced from the late ‘60s through…
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