JAZZBO NOTES HIGHLY RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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80/81 is the first record that hinted that Pat Metheny might be more than just a smooth jazz punk that composed insultingly poppy ditties like Phase Dance and Jaco.
Here, he’s surrounded with jazz heavyweights like saxophonists Michael Brecker and Dewey Redman, bassist Charlie Haden, and Jack DeJohnette on drums. Metheny […]

JAZZBONOTES RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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It’s funny that no matter what band Charles Mingus happens to be fielding, matter what the year, the music has a similar feel. A large part of that of course is that the tunes and arrangements are written by Mingus, and the rhythm section of Mingus’ muscular bass and Dannie Richmond’s shape-shifting […]

JAZZBO NOTES HIGHLY RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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By the time Beyond The Sound Barrier was released, Wayne Shorter’s fans knew what to expect from his quartet, which included pianist Danilo Perez, bassist John Patitucci, and Brian Blade on drums. All the pussies who couldn’t handle the cerebral deconstruction of tunes that weren’t all that simple to begin […]

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 […]

JAZZBO NOTES ESSENTIAL RECORDING
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If there was ever truth in advertising, this is it. Out There is pretty bizarre, but in a good way.
First off, there’s the instrumentation. Dolphy is basically using a chordless jazz trio, augmented with Ron Carter on cello. Roy Haynes plays the drums with a special delicacy designed to showcase the […]

CLASSICS I HATE
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I hate to say this, but Mingus At Antibes is only for Mingus fanatics who really, really like Better Get Hit In Your Soul.
In a way, it’s hard to blame Mingus. In 1960, he had just invented the combination of gospel shouting and free jazz, set to a driving 6/8 beat. It’s […]

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When you laugh in delight or tear up because you’re so moved half a dozen times during a concert, you know you’ve witnessed something special.
That’s the kind of experience you’re in for if you manage to catch The Five Peace Band in action.
At Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley, California on March 21, 2009, The Five […]

JAZZBO NOTE RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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Let me start by stating the obvious: Screaming Headless Torsos is not for everyone. It’s a combination of flaming lead guitar, funk, metal, rap, and yodeling. Yes, yodeling.
I’m not going to lie to you. Dean Bowman, the nut who’s on vocals, can be downright irritating. I would have been happier if […]

JAZZBO NOTES HIGHLY RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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I suppose it was inevitable. Richie Beirach has been utilizing ideas from classical music in jazz his whole career. It was only a matter of time until he got around to improvising on classical music compositions.
As Beirach points out in the liner notes, that isn’t as […]