JAZZBO NOTES ESSENTIAL RECORDING
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First off, let’s get one thing out of the way. There’s no denying the historical importance of Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane - At Carnegie Hall. Until now, the only available recordings of Monk’s quartet with Coltrane were three tunes on Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane: Ruby, My Dear; Nutty; […]

JAZZBO NOTES HIGHLY RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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It might be hard to fathom, given vibraphonist Gary Burton’s current status as a conservative, mainstream jazz musician, but when he started his career as a leader, Burton was an iconoclast, and one of the greatest innovators of the 60s. It was Burton that made the first steps towards fusion, […]

WORTH A LISTEN
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Chant represents the logical end point of the duet recordings of saxophonist Dave Liebman and pianist Richie Beirach. Over the course of fifteen years, Liebman and Beirach have been moving closer to concepts of 20th century classical music in their playing and further away from swing.
In Chant, the result is a sort […]

All Jazzbo Notes members are invited to enter the “Hot Club Of San Francisco - Bohemian Maestro: Django Reinhardt And The Impressionists” Giveaway Contest.
On Bohemian Maestro: Django Reinhardt And The Impressionists, the Hot Club Of San Francisco imagines what might have happened if Django Reinhardt had run into French impressionists like Claude Debussy and Francis […]

JAZZBO NOTES HIGHLY RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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I’d love to know what was going through Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen’s head when he decided to call up guitarist John Scofield and saxophonist Dave Liebman for his date Dancing On The Tables, with drummer Billy Hart rounding out the group.
After all, there’s nothing particularly subversive about Pedersen’s tunes. In fact, […]

JAZZBO NOTES RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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Footprints Live!, Wayne Shorter’s first recording in eight years, represents a complete about face from his previous date, High Life. On High Life, for the first time, Shorter moved perilously close to the smooth jazz that his detractors had been accusing him of ever since he left Weather Report. Unless you […]

WORTH A LISTEN
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Symbols Of Light is too intelligent to be summarily dismissed, but it isn’t satisfying either.
That’s kind of a painful verdict to render because I really wanted to like Symbols Of Light. It has many of the qualities I most value in jazz. Symbols Of Light is adventurous and original to a fault. […]

JAZZBO NOTES RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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If there was ever an appropriate title for a CD, it’s Bob Moses’ When Elephants Dream Of Music. The music is often spacey, and yet it has a solid bottom end and an abundance of horns, all which serves to remind us of our ponderous friends in the animal kingdom. Composer/arranger […]

NOT WORTH YOUR TIME
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If Fourmost comes across as a little geriatric, there’s a reason: all of the players are senior citizens.
Alright, I’ll admit that’s not really fair. Many of the classic Blue Note organ dates were full of lazy renditions of tunes like Midnight Special, so Fourmost isn’t all that different in that […]

All Jazzbo Notes members are invited to enter the “Mike Wheeler - Mikey’s Waltz” Giveaway Contest.
Mikey’s Waltz is a straight ahead date featuring the quartet of Mike Wheeler on guitar, Pamela York on piano, David Craig on bass, and drummer Tim Solook.
Mike Wheeler has played or recorded with Clark Terry, Joe Williams, Bill Watrous, Tom […]