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 …
Les McCann was a soul jazz phenomenon. When he burst into the public’s consciousness in the early sixties, McCann’s ebullience and talent commanded attention—and inevitably contributed to having a good time. When he wasn’t touring (extensively), he was a continuing presence in the Los Angeles jazz scene. McCann recorded one …
The future of jazz composition, arranging, improvisation, and performance is in good hands. A recurrent event in the jazz community is the preparation of eager young new talent to build upon the innovations of past generations. Yet another young jazz musician, Eunmi Lee, has arrived with intricate shaded colors, advanced …
Most often, Ivan Lins’s heart speaks through the voices of others. Lins considers himself, first and foremost, to be a song writer who creates melodies originating from the quiet music within his heart. Indeed, he reports that he has written hundreds of songs. Only a fraction of those songs has …
Pianist David Ian has become a specialist in jazz interpretations of Christmas music. As well he should. After performing as the lead guitarist in several groups, one of which received a Grammy nomination, Ian adopted an entirely different approach to jazz piano. Bill Evans’s influence led Ian to investigate more …
Much remains to be written about the resultant health care, cultural, economic, political, and social challenges wreaked by the COVID pandemic. And much remains to be written about the experiences during the first viral pandemic to occur in a hundred years. The documentation to be written about the pandemic hasn’t …
