Compiling a list of the greatest works of the last ten years is an inherently difficult proposition. The first complication lies in the fact that so many of my musical memories from the last decade are tied to recordings released prior to the period. Some of my best memories include the Charlie Parker song from 1950 that played at my wedding, the New Year’s Eve I first stumbled … [Read more...]
Stream the ECM Records 50th Anniversary Concert
ECM Records will be capping its 50 year anniversary celebration tonight with an epic concert live from Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. Featuring a who’s who of modern jazz cognoscente including Joe Lovano, Craig Taborn, Vijay Iyer, Ravi Coltrane, Bill Frisell, Mark Turner, Larry Grenadier, Ethan Iverson, Fabian Almazan, Dezron Douglas, Shai Maestro, Ziv Ravitz, Nasheet … [Read more...]
DeJohnette, Grenadier, Medeski, & Scofield – ‘Hudson’
Jack DeJohnette, Larry Grenadier, John Medeski, and John Scofield share not only extremely high-level improvisational ability, but also the Hudson River Valley as a home. Good news for us, as they've joined up to put together a new album, Hudson, that will be released in June. The first track, "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" is now available to stream at their bandcamp site. … [Read more...]
Black Narcissus: A Critical Analysis of Covers
Joe Henderson's 1969 album Power to the People featured a fantastic band: Herbie Hancock on keys, Ron Carter on bass, and Jack DeJohnette on drums (Mike Lawrence also joins on trumpet for several tunes, but sat out for "Black Narcissus"). They opened the album on a mellow note with "Black Narcissus". It's a catchy melody from Henderson's sax that floats nicely on Hancock's … [Read more...]