Dennis Mackrel is at once a giant as a jazz drummer and as a composer, arranger, and conductor. There are certainly important jazz drummers who’ve written great tunes, but at least until recently the list was much smaller if the criteria include a high level of arranging and orchestration skill. That standard was probably set…
Continue ReadingDavid Lindley, who recently passed on at the age of 78, was a musical chameleon – a multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, explorer of multiple cultures and phases of American music history, and more. As a devotee of slide guitar, I was first reeled in to his work through hearing him play electric lap steel as a…
Continue ReadingWhat a winter of centennials – Bags, then Dexter, now a happy 100th birth anniversary to the extraordinary guitarist Wes Montgomery. Back when I was a teenager, I used to read guitar magazines and as limited as my own chops on that instrument were (and indeed maxed out at being), I was nonetheless fascinated by…
Continue ReadingHappy 100th birth anniversary (on 2/27) to absolutely one of the greatest tenor saxophonists who ever lived, Dexter Gordon. When I was a senior in high school, my friend Jimmy Greene loaned me two Dexter cassettes that blew my mind: the mid-60s Blue Note session Gettin’ Around and the mid-70s Steeplechase record Bouncin’ With Dex…
Continue ReadingWow, what a great run Burt Bacharach had for his 94+ years on the planet. So many wonderful songs, so many of them performed in diverse ways by varied performers. These aren’t intended to be the “best” (as indeed is the case for all these lists) but these are the tracks I’ve been reaching for…
Continue ReadingOn this Martin Luther King Day, my community in Middletown, CT continues to reel from the death of Quentin “Q” Williams 11 days ago in a car accident as he drove home from the inaugural ball hours after being sworn in for his third term as our state representative. He was as tireless in his…
Continue ReadingUpon learning of guitarist Jeff Beck’s passing, I find myself reflecting on the significant impact his music had on my development (in addition to, of course, the impact he had on music itself). I encountered his music in passing here and there as a kid (hearing a Yardbirds song here and there, watching the MTV…
Continue ReadingI listened to a LOT of music this year. Maybe that’s true every year, but this time around I spreadsheeted up (to keep track on various levels) and the stats say that I averaged about 8 full albums and 6-7 more partial albums each week. Hundreds of these were marked as warranting attention, so even…
Continue ReadingThis week I will turn 49 on the 10th anniversary of the Sandy Hook school shooting, a grim milestone to which I’ve been mentally counting down since December 15 of last year. I do not aspire for it to be a “happy birthday,” and I am rather ambivalent about even acknowledging the personal milestone in public, lest I subject myself to wishes to that effect or, worse, shift attention to me beyond the minimum extent necessary to share these thoughts and experiences that might have some relevance to others. I choose to remember this tragedy, on this and all other days, and below I’ll reflect a bit on what that looks like in practice.
Continue ReadingNext weekend (11/19/22) I’ll have the honor and privilege of playing some of drummer/composer Yoron Israel’s music at Resonant Motion’s “Jazz Up Close” series in Middletown, CT, and I’m thrilled. I have been a fan of his music for thirty years, with some of his early recordings playing a significant role in my own formative…
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