by Nick DeRiso Drummers, even the rare ones who find fame, are enablers. They spend the bulk of their time refocusing the spotlight on others. It’s no different on Nommo, the sterling new quartet release by Turkish-born Ferit Odman. He assembled a thoughtful group of notables for sessions held in Brooklyn, N.Y., and then smartly allowed each of them to [...]
by Pico Jazz saxophone and flute giant James Moody has been around seemingly forever and never slowed down, but yesterday pancreatic cancer finally ended a long and distinguished career at the age of 85. He was a key member of Dizzy Gillespie bands going back to the 1940s (Diz once remarked, “Playing with James Moody is like playing with a [...]
by Nick DeRiso There is an uncommon nostalgia associated with this concert recording, and not just because of the lost history shared amongst these aging former Cuban stars. Alas, Buena Vista Social Club at Carnegie Hall wasn’t released until after many of the original group had already passed. Yet, it still plays like a kinetic burst of light, with these [...]
by Pico Danilo Pérez is a name that’s come up often in this space whenever I’m boasting about what big names such-and-such artist has performed and/or recorded with. So, on the occasion of Pérez’s latest CD Providencia, perhaps it’s time to devote a little space to the guy who has helped along the careers of so many other young talents. [...]
by Pico Like the proverbial fine wine, James Moody only gets mellower and better with age. A seasoned saxophone and flute veteran who was in Dizzy Gillespie‘s original big band of the later 1940′s and most famously the author of everyone’s favorite vocalese jazz tune “Moody’s Mood For Love,” (with the lyrics later added by Eddie Jefferson), Moody is one [...]
by Nick DeRiso “The Magic Hour” by Louisiana-born trumpeter Wynton Marsalis was that sweetest of swinging homecomings – like time spent laughing with old friends on a front porch. We have Marsalis returning finally to small-band work – where he once sparked the kind of mainstream interest in a jazz trumpeter enjoyed long ago by the likes of Louis Armstrong [...]
by Nick DeRiso Luis Bonilla’s “I Talking Now” (NJCO/Planet Arts), from the first bristling blast of trombone on the title track, is dashing down a busy city street. It’s difficult to tell, at first, if he’s running away from or toward something. Whatever the apprehensions, you are quickly surrounded by all of the nervy beauty and the exhilarating clatter we’ve [...]
by Nick DeRiso A player of both strength and generosity, Louis Armstrong’s influence — as a soloist, as a pioneer who moved folk music into the realm of artistry, as a personality — remains incalcuable nearly four decades after his death. There are lines you could draw: No Armstrong, no Lester Young. No Lester Young, no Charlie Parker. No Charlie [...]
by Nick DeRiso Julian “Cannonball” Adderley, a spirited, bluesy and always fun performer, seemed to burst out from a series of early live recordings during a period when that was rare. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, there were just too many logistical nightmares, from getting good takes in the smoky, raucous atmosphere of a nightclub, to finding a [...]
NICK DERISO: “The Spirits of Our Ancestors,” pianist Randy Weston’s vibrant exploration of the African roots within jazz, remains a rapturous delight in any language. Legends Dizzy Gillespie, Idris Muhammad, longtime Basie sideman Benny Powell and Pharoah Sanders appear, while groundbreaking trombonist Melba Liston — then working for the first time with Weston since suffering a stroke in the mid-1980s [...]
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