Blue Note’s co-founder Alfred Lion had a penchant for pianists who sounded different. In 1947, he signed Thelonious Monk, famed for his blend of dissonance and swing, and in the late 50s, recorded Herbie Nichols, another non-pareil pianist/composer. Given his track record, it was no surprise that Lion was drawn to Andrew Hill, who arrived … Read more
“I’m the bop writer!” boasts a character in The Subterraneans, Jack Kerouac’s 1958 semi-autobiographical novella set in the jazz districts of New York. The book, along with On the Road (1957) and The Dharma Bums (1958), captured what the writer called “the new bop generation way of speaking,” and all three owed much of their … Read more
Marlena Shaw, the highly-renowned soul and jazz singer most known for her hit song “California Soul,” has died. She was 81. Shaw’s daughter, Marla Bradshaw, shared the news of her death on Friday, January 19, in a video posted on Facebook. At the time of writing, the cause of the star’s death has not been … Read more
If you want the perfect album to show the world that jazz and the blues are much more than “kissing cousins,” this is it. When BB King said, “Jazz is the big brother of the blues. If a guy’s playing blues, he’s in high school. When he starts playing jazz it’s like going on to … Read more
The lasting influence of McCann was apparent in real time, but especially in the 1990s and 2000s when countless artists began sampling his songs in their own music. While bands like Massive Attack, the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, and H2O included portions of his tracks in their own, McCann’s pulse imprinted most effortlessly and noticeably … Read more
You might not immediately think of jazz for Yuletide, but over the years the holiday season has proved fertile ground for a whole host of jazz artists from Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Count Basie, and Duke Ellington to Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, and Mel Tormé, who, between them, have recorded some of the … Read more
Donald Byrd was slick. From the high-end sports cars pictured on his album covers to his high-flying trumpet style, he represented a sophisticated, upmarket style of jazz that paved the way for much of the fusion and even smooth jazz of the 1970s and 80s. Byrd recorded some of the biggest, most popular jazz albums … Read more
There’s an old adage about never judging a book by its cover. While that may be a truism that resonates for many people, it doesn’t really apply to ECM Records – a label whose name, fittingly, stands for Edition Of Contemporary Music. Just a cursory glance at the artwork of any ECM release in its … Read more
Beyoncé has long been on my list of must-see artists. When tickets for her Renaissance tour went on sale in London — where I live — I immediately tried, but failed to get seats for one of her May shows. When she added three June dates at the city’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, I made another … Read more
Jordan Clarkson #00 of the Utah Jazz speaks during the Utah Jazz Media Day at Zions Bank Basketball Campus on October 02, 2023 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Alex Goodlett/Getty Images/AFP SALT LAKE CITY — New building blocks emerged for the Utah Jazz last season and that paved the way for offseason moves to accelerate … Read more