Archive for the ‘Jazz’ Category
Right, it’s Thursday, which means it’s time for your regular dose of pop/rock masquerading as jazz, or possibly the other way around. This week, ladies and gentlemen, I give you The Bad Plus, doing, um, Nirvana. TBP have carved something of a niche in the surely-they-wouldn’t-do-that category, when it comes to jazz covers of pop Click here to continue…
There’s not a lot of Charlie Parker film footage out there. Luckily, much of what there is has now been stuck up on You Tube. Even if you don’t especially like jazz, see if you can sit through the following 90 second clip. You get to see what all the fuss is about. You also Click here to continue…
The amazon fairy visited last week, bringing with him (among many other goodies) Keith Jarrett’s latest release, a compelling 3 disc recording of two recent concerts in Paris and London. A full review will appear in due course. But Jarrett isn’t the only one who can, as he modestly puts it, “build a universe” at Click here to continue…
Regular readers will know of my fondness for muppet videos. So, after this recent celebration of Dizzy Gillespie’s birthday, posting this was an obvious one. Damn, those muppets were funky.
Following on from my post about Gretchen Parlato last week, I’ve decided to instigate a new regular feature on this blog for your listening pleasure, dear reader: the jazz/pop cover of the week. Snappy title, no? As I wrote in my review of Parlato’s latest recording, it’s been a long tradition of jazz musicians to Click here to continue…
Gretchen Parlato is a young jazz singer who has charmed much of the jazz world with her new release, In a Dream. It’s a clever, soulful record, full of interesting tunes and top notch playing and singing. I admit that I did not immediately warm to Parlato’s voice. It’s clean and unfussy – almost to Click here to continue…
There’s been much chatter in the jazz blogosphere of late about why young people (apparently) don’t go to see live jazz any more. One of the more interesting consequences of all the hand-wringing is an interesting project by Patrick Jarenwattananon, who is the editor of NPR’s jazz blog, A Blog Supreme. He has asked all Click here to continue…
I’ve always had a bit of a problem with Cassandra Wilson. She possesses a unique and compelling voice, an alluring and smoky contralto, and she’s easily the coolest jazz singer out there, by a mile. So what’s the problem? Well, for years Wilson has been determinedly following her own path, exploring different musical avenues that Click here to continue…
In an effort to keep myself honest, I am going to try and record for posterity (or whatever the bloggy equivalent of posterity is) every CD I purchase from now on. I am sure that my wife must look at all the entries for “amazon.com” on our credit card statement and wonder what on earth Click here to continue…
Nice surprise waiting for me at home yesterday afternoon – a copy of Jazz Times was delivered in the mail, with none other than my man Joe Lovano on the cover. The magazine had ceased production earlier this year and at the time there was much mourning and chin-scratching in the jazz blogosphere about the Click here to continue…