jazz Archive
14 Apr 2019
Virginia and the Slims’ Smokin’ Jump Blues
Virginia and the Slims play a unique and often under-appreciated strain of American music. Jump blues and swing is a high energy musical style designed as much for dancing as […]
09 Apr 2019
Album Review: Dennis Coffey — Live at Baker’s
In the course of his career, Dennis Coffey has made a name for himself several times over. The Detroit guitarist was a key session player in that city’s music scene; […]
08 Apr 2019
Reviews of Five New Jazz Titles
Tony Bennett & Diana Krall – Love is Here to Stay Tony Bennett is an American institution (watch for my interview with him, coming soon). At age 92 he’s still […]
30 Mar 2019
Single Review: Y. Dan Rubenstein – “Don’t Break What You Cannot Fix”
An alluring Latin jazz feel provides the foundation of Rubenstein’s “Don’t Break What You Cannot Fix.” intricate guitar lines flit in and out of the arrangement, but as alluring as […]
26 Mar 2019
Hundred-word Reviews, March 2019 Part Two
Yesterday I covered ten albums in 1000 words. Today I’ll do the same. All titles are new or recent releases. Shumaun – One Day Closer to Yesterday I love me […]
08 Mar 2019
Way Out West with Sonny Rollins, Part Four
Continued from Part Three… You were 26 years old when you made Way Out West, but you had recorded nearly a dozen albums by that time. In those days, did […]
07 Mar 2019
Way Out West with Sonny Rollins, Part Three
Continued from Part Two… Lester Koenig’s original liner note essay on the back of the Way Out West record sleeve explains that you had never played or recorded with Shelly […]
06 Mar 2019
Way Out West with Sonny Rollins, Part Two
Continued from Part One… Subsequent CD-era reissues of Way Out West have included various previously-unreleased outtakes from the late-night recording sessions, but for the 2018 vinyl reissue, another unheard recording […]
05 Mar 2019
Way Out West with Sonny Rollins, Part One
With its unusual cover photo and its non-standard trio format, Sonny Rollins’s 1957 album Way Out West stands apart from the jazz releases of its era. Sixty years after its […]
16 Feb 2019
Album Review: STIG — Agreed Upon
Some artists play music that – if one wishes to label it – requires several words to describe. Formed by five students at Boston’s Berklee College of Music, STIG (the […]