I was saddened to read the news (via UBM) that jazz musician Johnny Griffin passed away three weeks ago. The reason for the emotion was that it has been only a few months since I had seen him celebrate his 80th birthday with a concert at Ronnie Scott’s. As an Anglophile, I had long heard [...]
The noise that is jazz
As of this past week, The Atlantic allows free access to its online archives, which means that I can finally direct you to Carl Engel’s 1922 article “Jazz: A Musical Discussion.” Before I give you my favorite quote, let me set the stage. Jazz had only started in the late 19th century. It was really [...]
Christ the Redeemer – jazz style
Duke Pearson was a pianist who later became known for composing, arranging and producing. He toured with singer Nancy Wilson in South America in 1961. While on that trip, he saw the famous towering statue of Christ at Corcovado in Rio de Janeiro. As he later wrote, “That sight led me to write ["Cristo Redentor"] [...]
Bass… How low can you go?
Following up on yesterday’s entry, here are two approaches to utilizing a muscular bass sound. Christian McBride is one of the most noted acoustic jazz bassists today. I suppose his sound can be compared to Oscar Pettiford or Ray Brown. McBride is friendly with members of the hip-hop group The Roots, having attended Philadelphia’s High [...]
Talkin’ all that jazz…
Over the years, there’s been this uneasy tension between jazz and rhythmic forms of popular music. When jazz went through its depression in the Seventies, I believe that there was a longing to capture the audience back that the rock world had stolen away. In the Eighties, Public Enemy’s Media Assassin Harry Allen made the [...]