Michael Sarian is a musician who has continued to evolve artistically throughout not only his career, but also throughout his life. Ultimately, the explorative jazz musicians—such as Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, and Herbie Hancock, for example—compiled/compile discographies that, from beginning to end, documented/document never-ending …
Despite numerous challenges, big-band jazz continues to offer original compositions, rewarding musical experiences, and exciting recordings. The transition from dance-hall big bands of the thirties and forties started with the introduction of advanced harmonies, flowing lines of rhythm, more muted hues, longer thematic compositions, and Impressionistic influences by forward-thinking leaders …
Ordinarily, I don’t use words to describe a musician’s physical appearance. My assignment is to describe the elements and the quality of the universally inspiring art form of music, the potentially eternal purity of which exists at a level higher than the finite characteristics of the human body. However, Orrin …
Zev Feldman’s reputation preceded him. When, serendipitously, Frank Marshall found in his garage a fifty-year-old tape recording of Chet Baker and Jack Sheldon, he realized its significance. Yes, he is the Frank Marshall. The producer of the Indiana Jones movies, the Bourne movies, Schindler’s List, the Back to the Future …
In his early thirties, Yusef Lateef converted to Islam, changed his name from William Emanuel Huddleston, and began his studies of music without boundaries. Dr. Lateef disliked the word “jazz” to describe his music because he believed that its connotations didn’t encompass the spiritual nature of music. He developed the …
For more than 50 years, the fervent B-3 organ jazz musician, Tony Monaco, has remained unwaveringly dedicated to the instrument’s soulful tradition. In 1975, none other than NEA Jazz Master Jimmy Smith called the 16-year-old Monaco to provide encouragement. In 1979, Smith invited Monaco to perform at his supper club …
“I think jazz needs to expand. It needs to continually evolve,” said producer Gregory Howe in DownBeat’s article about his determinedly independent label, San Francisco-based Wide Hive Records. Avoiding commercialism and limitations about the boundaries of jazz, Howe has developed organically a coterie of musicians, known as the Wide Hive …
Lionel Hampton, Red Norvo, Milt Jackson, Terry Gibbs, Roy Ayers, Bobby Hutcherson, Peter Appleyard, Jay Hoggard, Gary Burton, Joe Locke, Steve Nelson, Stefon Harris, Warren Wolf, Joel Ross. The list of major jazz vibraphonists is brief, but their jazz contributions to the instrument’s status progressed through the generations as their …
This release represents quite the event, even for Resonance Records, which has produced six previous Wes Montgomery albums. The excitement of all the professionals involved in this newly released and painstakingly engineered recording is evident in producer Zev Feldman’s essay within the CD package, which describes this album’s uniqueness within …
Jazz Detective, the label of musical producer and jazz archaeologist extraordinaire Zev Feldman, captured the attention and praise of the jazz universe with its first releases: Ahmad Jamal’s Emerald City Nights: Live at the Penthouse (1963-1964) and (1965-1966). Indeed, the two-LP/two-CD albums received much notice as one of the top …
