WORTH A LISTEN
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I’ve got to be honest — it feels like there’s something missing from the Stone Alliance trio in their live recording Live In Amsterdam, although there’s certainly nothing wrong with the individual members.
Steve Grossman is an almost forgotten sax player, partly because he emigrated to Europe in the late 70s/early 80s. Although […]

JAZZBO NOTES ESSENTIAL RECORDING
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It would have never occurred to me that John Scofield and Pat Metheny had a lot in common, but from the evidence of I Can See Your House From Here, they apparently do.
When I think of Pat Metheny, at least as a guitarist, I think of elegant, […]

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WORTH A LISTEN
I don’t care if Charlie Rouse played with Monk longer than any other saxophonist. He’s weak. There’s a reason why he disappeared after Monk stopped performing.
Truth be told, the only saxophonist that ever played with Monk and did justice to his compositions was Coltrane, during the legendary date […]

JAZZBO NOTES RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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I’ve got to admit, I’m fond of Art Blakey. I like the way he ostentatiously plays constrasting cross rhythms every chance he gets. He’s a highly theatrical showoff, which is not a criticism. Besides, he’s probably the drummer who best understands Thelonious Monk, which definitely earns him brownie points with me.
Aside […]

WORTH A LISTEN
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Yeah, sure these tracks culled from John Scofield’s tenure with the Gramavision label are phenomenal, but then again, the producers of this compilation could have picked ANY 12 tracks from the Gramavision years and the results would have been superior. I have given this compilation a three star rating, not for the […]

JAZZBO NOTES RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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I keep telling anyone who will listen about the time I heard the best Latin jazz and the best trombone player ever on my car radio while I was driving from Boston to Philadelphia. The station was WBAI out of NYC. The year was 1981. It was […]

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WORTH A LISTEN
This live 1968 recording of an organ trio holds interest for several reasons. One is the unique instrumentation of drums, organ and violin. Another is organist Eddy Louiss’ obvious admiration for Larry Young, the advanced post bop organist who played such an important role in the seminal Tony […]

JAZZBO NOTES RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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Omar Sosa has to be one of the most restless pianists in all of jazz. In his early career, he made a point of including every point of the African diaspora in his recordings, sometimes in the same song. But on Mulatos (on Sosa’s own Ota Records label), it seems like […]

WORTH A LISTEN
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Overall, Modern Times is better than mediocre, but not good enough for me to recommend in good conscience. The thing is, though, that it has a couple of exceptional songs on it, which I couldn’t bear not to let you know about.
This is one of those CDs […]

JAZZBO NOTES ESSENTIAL RECORDING
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Moon Germs will knock you on your ass.
First of all, Joe Farrell is one of the most underrated reed players out there. He can play anything, from swing to funk to avant guarde to bebop. On soprano sax, he has a bell-like tone, almost free of […]