JAZZBO NOTES ESSENTIAL RECORDING
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Mr. Jones is yet another phenomenal Elvin Jones Blue Note recording.
Elvin called Dave Liebman’s New Breed “a cross between Duke Jordan and Monk.” I don’t hear that myself, but it’s a nicely twisted, dissonant theme, with Liebman and Steve Grossman twining around each other on the head, sometimes in very close […]

JAZZBO NOTES ESSENTIAL RECORDING
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Talk about a crime! Merry-Go-Round is a spectacular recording, with a cast of characters that would make any true jazz fan’s mouth water: Chick Corea and Jan Hammer on keys; Steve Grossman, Joe Farrell and Dave Liebman on reeds; Don Alias on percussion; Elvin Jones on drums; rounded out with Gene […]

JAZZBO NOTES ESSENTIAL RECORDING
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I Sing The Body Electric was the last hurrah for the founding edition of Weather Report before Joe Zawinul started to emphasize R&B rhythms and simpler structures, but what a way to go out!
Zawinul and company are painting on a much larger canvas than on their debut recording. The opener, Unknown […]

JAZZBO NOTES ESSENTIAL RECORDING
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Infinite Search (AKA Mountain In The Clouds) may not be one of the most influential fusion albums ever made, but it is one of the best.
It says something about the strength of Vitous’ vision that his is the dominant voice in a band that consists of guitarist […]

JAZZBO NOTES ESSENTIAL RECORDING
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One of the problems with Monk is the difficulty of finding musicians who were sympathetic to his music. Fortunately, on Monk’s Music, Thelonious is playing with a kindred spirit, Art Blakey, who was keyed into the Monkian universe.
It’s not that Ray Copeland (trumpet), Gigi Gryce (alto sax), and Coleman Hawkins (tenor […]

JAZZBO NOTES ESSENTIAL RECORDING
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Filles De Kilimanjaro represents one of many transition points for Miles Davis. It marks the end of the 2nd great quintet with Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams, Ron Carter, and Herbie Hancock. It was the last date before the epochal In A Silent Way.
Miles had just married Betty Mabry, a young […]

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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 NOTES ESSENTIAL RECORDING
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Most of the time, I don’t much like compilations. Usually, if a performer is worth plunking down money to listen to, it’s more enlightening and entertaining to listen to key recordings rather than rely on someone else’s judgement of what is essential and what isn’t.
But occasionally, there are performers I like, […]

JAZZBO NOTES ESSENTIAL RECORDING
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I’m going to make a sweeping generalization. Jim McNeely is the best big band composer and orchestra working today. I first became aware of Jim McNeely’s big band writing on the phenomenal East Coast Blow Out, which featured the WDR big band, with John Scofield as the principal soloist. On that […]

JAZZBO NOTES ESSENTIAL RECORDING
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For me, it’s was kind of a struggle to figure out which Thelonious Monk CDs to buy when I was building my jazz collection. It’s a given that Monk is one of the architects of modern jazz, an original, and completely indispensable. However, he tends to repeat himself, and in his […]