Jazz
At the time of these sessions the musicians themselves were celebrating the relatively recent advent of the long-playing record.
Perhaps “Izipho Zam (My Gifts)” might have become as well known as Pharoah Sanders’s “Karma” — if Impulse! rather than the tiny cooperative label Strata-East had recorded it.
These Stata-East recordings are the result of a special moment in the history of jazz, when some musicians brilliantly took charge of their own careers. Luckily for us, the music is still strikingly fresh and contemporary.
I must confess to hearing some of the Buenos Aires recordings on bootleg LPs, though their sound quality pales in comparison to this Resonance release.
“Blue Bossa in the Bronx” brings us into a jazz club on a good night. It’s unlike any other Kenny Dorham session, which makes it valuable indeed.
There are unplanned moments in this three LP collection, times when the musicians seem to be waiting to hear what is going to happen next. Something exciting usually does come out of their interactions.
Three powerful albums showcase the imaginative visions of Arturo O’Farrill, The John Santos Sextet & Friends, and Rachel Therrien’s Latin Jazz Project.
Everyone who loves jazz, or makes a living somewhere in its world, owes a debt to many of the hard-working and under-paid writers of the Jazz Journalists Association (JJA).
What is most striking here is Paul Bley’s patience as a pianist, his practice of playing a chord or even a couple of notes and letting them hang in the air as if he were an outside observer, listening to their gradual fading.
Arts Remembrance: Francis Davis, 1946-2025
There are few critics as worth re-reading as the late Francis Davis, whose writings are filled with musical and cultural insight, erudition, literary grace, and, most valued now, humor.
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