WORTH A LISTEN
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I can’t recommend Gradually Going Tornado to everybody, but for those people who REALLY like the first two Bruford dates, Feels Good to Me and One of a Kind, it’s definitely worth picking up.
You see, if I were visiting a site like this, I’d want to know about Gradually Going Tornado. The […]

JAZZBO NOTES RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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There are not that many opportunities to hear the great trombonist Raul De Souza in his heyday, and for that reason alone, Colors would be worth owning, but it also happens to be a very good album.
Much of De Souza’s stateside success was due to the intervention of his friends Airto […]

WORTH A LISTEN
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In the past, I’ve felt that Wolfgang Muthspiel was lacking in passion as a guitarist. He certainly has prodigious amounts of technique. On Marc Johnson’s release Magic Labyrinth, Muthspiel surprised me on the tune A Paco, which he wrote. Who knew that Wolfgang Muthspiel had such an appreciation for Paco De Lucia, […]

JAZZBO NOTES HIGHLY RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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When I listen to Illicit these days, I think of it as the album where Tribal Tech first experimented with the free jams which have come to dominate their releases.
But back then, thank goodness, there was alot of variety in Tribal Tech’s approach.
Take the opener, The Wave. Clearly, guitarist Scott […]

WORTH A LISTEN
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The best reason to own Gazeuse! is because it gives us one more chance to hear guitarist Allan Holdsworth as a sideman on someone else’s project. For me, this is the best way to hear Holdsworth because his unique sensibility is highlighted so it can be savored. When the tunes and arrangements […]

JAZZBO NOTES RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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Talk about a prescient title. Time In Place is firmly stuck in the era it was created, the late 80s. That churchy, slightly tinny synthesizer, the B. B. King blues guitar attack, the echoey, slick production sound, it’s all practically a cliche from that era. Then you add the post bop […]

WORTH A LISTEN
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Chick Corea’s career path in the decade between 1965 and 1975 is one of the most fascinating in jazz. As a leader, he started out playing advanced post bop. Then he played with Miles Davis when Miles was transitioning from post bop to fusion. Once Corea left the Davis group, he formed […]

JAZZBO NOTES RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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If you’re looking for highly innovative tunes and charts, Out Of This World isn’t going to do it for you. But if you’re up for solid Latin rhythms and improvising that sticks to your ribs, Out Of This World should be just the ticket.
Much of the date is made up of […]

Starting today, I’m premiering a new ratings category, Worth A Listen.
Sometimes, I won’t be able to recommend a release to the majority of jazz fans for a variety of reasons. Maybe there’s one standout performance on the record, but everybody else is just okay. Maybe there’s one incredible composition, but the rest are just […]

JAZZBO NOTES ESSENTIAL RECORDING
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It’s fashionable to claim that the second lineup of the Mahavishnu Orchestra, consisting of Jean-Luc Ponty (violin), Michael Walden (drums), Ralph Armstrong (bass), Gayle Moran (keyboards), is weaker than the first, which featured Jerry Goodman (violin), Billy Cobham (drums), Jan Hammer (keyboards), and Rick Laird (bass).
It […]