JAZZBO NOTES HIGHLY RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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I have a confession to make. I’ve been sleeping on Kenny Garrett. I first heard him in concert with the Five Peace Band back in March, and I was suitably impressed. He managed to hold his own with monsters like John McLaughlin, Chick Corea, Vinnie Coliauta, and Christian McBride.
Naturally, when […]

JAZZBO NOTES RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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Occasionally, a date is so perfectly executed that it’s almost immaterial that there’s very little that’s challenging going on in the music.
Kenny Burrell’s Midnight Blue is a case in point. Most of the material is blues-oriented, which is no knock in and of itself, but Burrell approaches it in such an […]

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 […]

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 […]

JAZZBONOTES RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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Those of you who are regular readers of this website probably know that I am usually not a big fan of jazz singers. There is a certain minimum level of competence I demand. Just so you know what I’m talking about, here’s a rundown:

Tone - This isn’t entirely fair, I know. Singers […]

JAZZBO NOTES RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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Cool Blues is one of the better Jimmy Smith outings for three reasons:
#1 It’s not just the Jimmy Smith show
Smith’s bandmates, alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson, guitarist Eddie McFadden, and tenor man Tina Brooks, are having a good night.
Musicians are like anyone else. Some days, they struggle to make it […]

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 […]

JAZZBO NOTES HIGHLY RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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One of the best concerts I ever heard was Lonnie Smith at the now defunct 1369 Club in Cambridge Massachussetts in the early 80s. I remember him burning down the house playing cheesy tunes like Three Blind Mice with a pickup band of a drummer and a guitarist. I walked […]

JAZZBO NOTES HIGHLY RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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Actually, this reissue by Rhino records includes not only The Rise and Fall of the Third Stream but also Zawinul’s release Money In The Pocket.
As you would expect from the title, The Rise and Fall of the Third Stream is an attempt to fuse ideas from classical music with jazz, […]

JAZZBO NOTES RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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When Charles Mingus recorded Changes Two in 1975 (reissued on the Rhino label), his kind of music was considered completely irrelevant. That made him extremely angry, which I completely understand. Only fifteen years before, he was on the cutting edge of jazz, incorporating post bop, free jazz, gospel, and even the […]