Jazz Music Club

Chico Hamilton was ahead of his time over and over again. In each disparate decade, the drummer’s proclivity for change pushed him towards some endless searching. But as jazz fans, we should all be thankful considering the band leader was able to introduce the world to players like Gabor Szabo and Larry Coryell. Read more

The best of new recordings in old genres are able to either create some new avenue for a music to go down or fool listeners into thinking that the album is from decade’s past. There’s obviously not a confluence of the two, but if there could be, it’d be pretty likely that Steve Reid, drummer to the stars, would come up with it.

Recording since he was just 17 – and playing for about a year prior to that with Quincy Jones – Reid has cut a career through which he’s been able to perform in any number of genres with a litany of rather famous and well respected players both new and old. Read more

Releasing forward thinking jazz discs that encompassed as much of the past as the future didn’t bode well for too many folks.  Especially as the ‘70s pushed on, it seemed as if the genre was growing increasingly complacent while refusing to offer up any sort of new space for performers that had been working steadily behind the scenes to get a bit of that sought after lime light. Read more

Changing times aren’t always kind to stalwarts of a particular approach to jazz. Of course, the best of them are always able to transition into a new style, but even that doesn’t assure anyone of being successful. There are a few folks, though, that were able to pretty easily move from one sub-genre to the next with nothing short of ease. And while Eddie Harris today isn’t remember by too many folks apart from those that scour dusty used bins of records, he’s a player that has as much funk and soul in his sax as anyone else. Read more

Ellington and Coltrane "In a Sentimental Mood" from 1995.

The fact that Horace Silver looks like a fortune teller on the cover of his 1970, Blue Note released album That Healin’ Feelin’ doesn’t bode well for the disc’s listening audience. Yep, it’s still unfair to judge a book by its cover and all, but seriously, Silver looks like a grandmother getting’ all gussied up for a hot date.

ZING!

Anyway, this is not an acoustic date for the pianist and band leader. That alone might make one think that avoiding the disc is the way to go. And while that’s not a view point that can easily be dispatched, there’re a few redeeming moments on That Healin’ Feelin’. Just as a warning, though, there’s no reason to ever purchase or download this disc despite those momentary musical highlights. Really. Read more

Jazz singers mean a lot of things to a lot of people – Nina Simone specifically. As much as bop and free jazz would propel a black political consciousness, jazz singers had just as much to do with cultural ideas being set forth.

Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit” is probably the most well known vocal comment on race relations in the jazz idiom. And while Holiday is and shall always be considered a remarkable figure in not just the genre, but American music, most of Simone’s career revolved around relating to the world outside of her own social sphere.

Of course, being a performer necessitated the singer to interact with white folks she probably wouldn’t have had to deal with otherwise, but her professional negotiations as much as her musical work went a long way towards explaining what she was all about. Read more

The dawning of the ‘60s found the profligation of traditional jazz was being wrung in with a veritable array of sub-genre spectaculars. There were so many new derivations of the genre that attempting to pigeonhole any group or sound led to consternation. That being said, there was really no other way to dub soul-jazz apart from just calling it what it was.

There had always been a blues element to jazz – even knotty bop solos were, on occasion, dealt over top of a familiar sounding progression. But with folks like Big John Patton and Grant Green kicking around, the soul quotient to jazz was about to be ratcheted up. Read more

Anytime from the late ‘50s through the ‘70s and even perhaps into the following decades (O.J. and Rodney?) a tangible tension could be felt in the poorer sections of any major city. There wasn’t (and isn’t) a thoughtful enough person in power – or one able to gain notoriety – that can alleviate the socio-economic problems that so many people face in the States. And during that broad time period, music that was recorded more and more reflected the inherent problems in western culture. Read more

A slew of upstanding side men can make a recording a memorable one. Prior to becoming THE Grant Green, the guitarist enlivened countless slightly funky discs and finally went on to lead his own groups. Much the same, Blue Mitchell developed over time while working in other player’s groups. But on Sam Jones’ first date as a band leader, not just Mitchell, but both Adderlys (Nat and Cannonball), Jimmy Heath and Bobby Timmons support the recording.

Released in 1961 The Soul Society is really an extension of Cannonball’s groups from the late fifties. Most of the talent here at some point made contact with his line ups from a few years back. And in the future, these players would again convene in various configurations as it carried one of the more traditional, albeit occasionally exciting, visions of bop to the following generation. Read more