Vocalist Anaïs Reno and Mark Masters and his big band supply compelling homages to the brilliance of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn.
Duke Ellington
Jazz Commentary: Russell’s “Hustle,” The Duke of Ellington, and Me
What exactly did the Duke’s music symbolize to Russell’s shifty characters, two upwardly mobile lowlifes more anxious to fleece the world than fall in love?
Book Review: “Rabbit’s Blues” — The Reserved Tenderness of Johnny Hodges
Johnny Hodges was originally a Cambridge/Boston guy, and one of the most interesting sections of Con Chapman biography is his knowledgeable description of the local jazz scene in the 1910’s and ’20s.
Music Commentary Series: Jazz and the Piano Concerto — The Zebra in the Room
Much more work could be done fertilizing the fields of cross-cultural music, sowing seeds collected from the great touchstones of American culture – innovation, integration, risk, reward.
Fuse Music Commentary Series: Jazz and the Piano Concerto –Revisiting the Jazz Side
What I’ve learned from three years of research and listening is that the piano concerto is an ideal vehicle with which individual composers can experiment
Music Commentary: The Problem of the Jazz Piano Concerto – Side A
When the jazz composer is the soloist, which is usually the case, he or she ironically revives one of the most venerable traditions in classical music.
Jazz Commentary Drill Down: Duke Ellington’s “New World A-Coming”
Steve Elman is currently surveying works that illuminate the tradition of the jazz-influenced piano concerto. His series began with an examination of Chick Corea’s current recording, The Continents. In part two, he takes a look at eight works by jazz composers that precede the release of Corea’s work. This post is a detailed examination of […]
Coming Attractions: Jazz Week Special Edition
By J. R. Carroll Coming Attractions in Jazz for April 2010 unfortunately was washed away by the Waters of March (“It’s the mud, it’s the mud”), but we couldn’t let this year’s Jazz Week slip by without highlighting a few of the numerous events taking place in the Boston metro area from Friday, April 23, […]