JAZZBO NOTES RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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During the Brecker Brothers’ first incarnation, the band was all about merging jazz with funk and R&B. With The Return Of The Brecker Brothers, the brothers widened their net to include African pop forms and Brazilian music. If you want to hear what the Brecker Brothers might have sounded like if […]

JAZZBO NOTES RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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Too often on recordings that attempt to fuse Brazilian rhythms with jazz, one or the other element tends to get shortchanged. Either the rhythms are overly simplistic, or the improvisations substitute scale running for substantive improv. To some extent, that’s the case with Samba Jazz In Black And White.
True, reed player […]

JAZZBO NOTES RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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Stefon Harris really set himself up as a target calling this release The Grand Unification Theory. The title implies that Harris’ ambition was to bring all of the strands of jazz together under one roof and tie them together so we can see the connections, much the way that Mingus used […]

WORTH A LISTEN
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Music On The Edge is a bit of a misnomer for this live release from some very talented musicians. That title implies that the music contained therein is uniformly new and innovative.
In some cases, that’s true, like Jim Beard’s arrangement of composer Aaron Copeland’s Fanfare For The Common Man, which has […]

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 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 […]

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 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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As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls is barely jazz. The main influences are pop structures, folk, a hint of bluegrass, and a little Brazilian. So why am I reviewing it?
Well, first of all, it’s a Pat Metheny recording, and through sheer hard work and dedication over the years, Pat […]