Posted in Jazz Notes on Oct 27th, 2008
A few months ago Mosaic Records confirmed a forthcoming Ahmad Jamal box-set, covering the pianist’s trio recordings from the late 1950s and early 1960s, currently projected for a March or April 2009 release. Some more details have emerged now on the box’s contents (supposedly 9 CDs). It will contain the following Argo and Chess-label albums:
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Posted in Shows on Oct 13th, 2008
As a musician and a man, Thelonious Monk must have provided easy inspiration for the title-namer of his 1956 Riverside album, The Unique Thelonious Monk. His singular sound on the piano, his inability to perform in New York City for several years (due to NYC’s cabaret laws), and his unorthodox compositions that sounded like urban spirituals filtered through stride and bop, nodding at some strange deity of cool, all contributed to a relatively low profile until the late 1950s, when his star suddenly began to ascend into a wider popular culture. Monk’s style was so strong that it’s not surprising that he rarely performed as a sideman…
Posted in Books, Jazz Notes on Aug 3rd, 2008
Richard Twardzik, the rather haunted-looking pianist who was a mainstay of the Boston jazz scene in the early 1950s, recorded only once as a leader before dying at the age of 24 during a European tour with Chet Baker. His quirky, fluid style, influenced by Bud Powell and Art Tatum and sprinkled with touches of dissonance and classical music, has led some to compare him to fellow 1950s iconoclasts Thelonious Monk and Herbie Nichols. Now Bouncin’ With Bartok, a long-awaited study of pianist’s life and recordings written by Jack Chambers…
Posted in Shows, WFIU Jazz Shows & Specials on Jul 14th, 2008
In 1961 pianist Horace Tapscott turned down a chance to have a high-profile career with the Lionel Hampton band and spent the next several decades in Los Angeles, leading several community-jazz bands and doing his best to extend the mentoring and teaching tradition that he had experienced growing up during the glory days of L.A.’s Central Avenue era. The underground jazz scene that he helped to create and sustain–a vibrant, multi-arts mix…
Posted in Jazz Notes on Jun 28th, 2008
Jazz pianist Ronnie Mathews has passed away at the age of 72 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Matthews had been the subject of an all-star benefit and tribute just last week at Sweet Rhythm in New York City. If you’ve spent any time listening to 1960s, 70s and 80s hardbop, there’s a good chance that you’ve heard Ronnie Matthews on the keyboards at some point–Dexter Gordon’s live 1976 opus Homecoming, for example, or…
Posted in Jazz Notes on May 22nd, 2008
Pianist Billy Taylor’s website has posted audio of a half-hour set at Boston’s Storyville club in 1951, featuring Charles Mingus on bass and Marquis Foster on drums, with Nat Hentoff doing between-song stage announcements. The sound is crystal-clear by 1951 radio-broadcast standards, with…
Posted in Jazz Notes on May 14th, 2008
Organissimo poster Bluerein reports that Mosaic Records will issue an Oscar Peterson Verve trio set later this year. The set will contain Peterson’s trio recordings made between 1951 and 1953 with Barney Kessel on guitar–no word yet on how many CDs it will contain. Other forthcoming sets this year…
Posted in Shows on Mar 17th, 2008
In 1945 pianist, composer and arranger Mary Lou Williams debuted her first extended work, The Zodiac Suite, with musical movements for each sign of the zodiac. Williams was 35 years old, already a veteran of the swing era; she was playing regularly at New York City’s Café Society, hosting a weekly radio program, and had begun…
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