Taking the lead on harmonica is tricky. The instrument is prone to a chirpiness that doesn't typically sustain for a whole album. However in the right hands (and with the right lungs), it can be more than a special featured player. Grégoire Maret has often been that special featured player in assorted works, but here on his latest album on Sunnyside, Wanted, his second in front … [Read more...]
Stan Douglas – Luanda-Kinshasa (Video) / Miles Davis ‘On The Corner’
Take it back to the early 1970s. Miles Davis has assembled a band of top-notch musicians to record a funky, in-the-pocket groove while he improvised over the top of it. These sessions would turn into On The Corner after some heavy editing from Miles and Teo Macero, and would be hated by the jazz critics of the time. Decades later, though, those grooves are re-considered with … [Read more...]