Tomorrow, we publish our Best Jazz Albums of 2019 list. But first, we thought it'd be dope to have a look back at this year's top ten most-read blog posts. Let's just say that when Brad Mehldau shares one of your links on social media, shit goes viral... But in all seriousness, 2019 was a pretty outstanding year for jazz music and we're so proud to have been a part of the … [Read more...]
Miles Davis’ ‘Rubberband’ Album Reviewed
Mostly recorded in 1985, at the height of Miles Davis’ most critically maligned era, Rubberband is unlikely to be appreciated by one who generally disfavors the artist’s 1980s oeuvre. However, for a listener open to Davis’ music from that period, there is much to enjoy.Full appreciation partly requires an understanding of the album’s history. At the time of recording, Miles … [Read more...]
Wayne Shorter’s “Fall”: A Critical Analysis of Covers
There is no sign of summer letting up just yet but there seems to be something of “Fall” in the air, with two excellent and very different approaches to this Wayne Shorter tune having been released recently by Jesse Fischer and Gilad Hekselman.“Fall” was done first by the Miles Davis Quintet, with Miles on trumpet, Wayne Shorter on sax, Herbie Hancock on piano, Ron Carter on … [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...]