I especially liked the group he had in the 70's with Steve Gilmore on bass and Bill Goodwin on drums. I think the album that introduced him to me was called "Live at the Showboat." Another was "Musique du Bois" with Jaki Byard, Richard Davis, and Alan Dawson. But I haven't gotten...

That's a great clip. Those Jazz Casual shows are invaluable.

Jim Hall in the 60's was just wonderful. With Farmer and Desmond, but also with Sonny Rollins. Here's another Jazz Casual where Hall is perfectly situated in the eye of the storm.

Todd Williams, tenor & soprano sax; Marcus Roberts, piano; Reginald Veal, bass; Herlin Riley, Jr., drums. I've been listening to "Lift Up Your Heads," a new release on CD Baby by saxophonist Todd Williams. Remember him? On tenor, soprano and clarinet, Williams was a mainstay of Wynton ...

I've been listening to the Complete Live Recordings of the Art Farmer & Jim Hall Quartet, recorded in New York and London in Dec. 1963 and June 1964 respectively. Steve Swallow on the stand-up bass and Walter Perkins (NY) or Pete LaRoca (London) on drums. What a great group. Farmer's Jazztet wit...

Did you go? How was it?

Live in Santa Cruz! Benny Green, piano; David Wong, bass; Kenny Washington, drums Bill Charlap Trio at the Duc des Lombards, Paris, July 16, 2015 Bill Charlap, piano; Peter Washington, bass; Kenny Washington, drums *** Benny Green is a keeper of the flame of the hard bop tradition. I've enjoyed his ...

I got my April stash of jazz, slightly different than what I had planned in the original post: Matana Roberts, Coin Coin Chapter One George Colligan & Theoretical Planets, Risky Notions Lewis Nash, Stompin’ at the Savoy Frank Basile, Modern Inventions Steve Wilson & Wilsonian’s Grain, Live i...

I've recently been discovering the great baritone crooner of the 1940's and beyond, Billy Eckstine. Eckstine was famous for having the first big band studded with bebop stars (although Earl Hines gives competition for that claim). I got a cheapo compilation of 4 CDs covering 7 original LPs, all from...

I've been a subscriber to the music download store eMusic since 2003. In those early days, they offered unlimited downloads for a monthly fee of 9.99 (dollars or euros). That model wasn't working out for them, so they changed it to 40 downloads per month. Eventually they raised the fee. However, ear...

And stlll no one has replied to my question: is the teabagger the person slamming or the person being slammed? Or both?

Well, "greatest," who knows... Corea is certainly a great, great player. The trio album with Christian McBride and Brian Blade that won a Grammy is wonderful. So many of the major players of the 50's and 60's came through Miles. Red Garland, Wynton Kelly, Bill Evans, Hancock, Corea, Jarret...

I've been listening to a couple of very nice recordings: "Intents and Purposes" by the Rez Abbasi Acoustic Quartet, and "No Way Out" by Giovanni Mirabassi. "Intents and Purposes" features "acoustic interpretations of jazz-rock classics": familiar tunes by Weat...

The older I get, the more I appreciate clarity and economy of means in music, in the jazz rhythm section in particular. A blistering, busy solo by a master drummer still does it for me, but in general I'm more impressed when the ideas are expressed with more focused and streamlined playing. Same goe...

Ethan Iverson's Do the Math blog has a good piece on Frankie Dunlop and John Ore, who were with Monk in the early 60's. The blog links to an interview with Dunlop that another blog, Cruise Ship Drummer , got from a 1985 Modern Drummer magazine interview (whew). Anyway, I was struck by the following ...

Good luck with 2015, everybody!

Supermarket shoppers: do not leave your jumbo overloaded cart in the middle of the aisle blocking others while you ponder which of the 50 varieties of breakfast cereal to buy. Also, shoppers: when you meet a pal, do not stop with your carts to chat at length right in an intersection of aisles so tha...

I've seen two movies recently: "Coming Home," directed by Zhang Yimou and starring Gong Li. A story detailing the unfortunate psychological aftermath of the Cultural Revolution for one hapless family. Well acted but lacking nuance, IMHO. "A Most Violent Year," directed by J.C. Ch...

OK, here's mine. It's always a draft, as I'm sure there are things I've loved but can't remember right now. I'm not a list-maker by nature, and I'm not systematic about my enthusiasms (except for brief periods of obsession), and above all there is just so much I haven't heard yet. But these are some...

For the past 30 years, give or take a year or two, we've spent Thanksgiving at the home of an American foodie friend who cooks for 15 or 20. I'm her sous-chef. But this year she had to cancel, so I'll be making the Thanksgiving meal for six. Simplicity itself: a roast turkey with bread/sage/onion/mu...

And a happy Thanksgiving to you, Ron!

We expats are having just another working day, but I'll be cooking my turkey on Saturday!

This trumpeter just won the 2014 Thelonious Monk competition. The band and its music demonstrate that the much-decried "Young Lions" thing in the 1980's was not a passing trend. This could have been played at any time in the past 60 years. So, exasperatingly old-fashioned or reassuringly t...

I'll be seeing this quartet on Friday. Looking forward to it! Turner also sounds great on Tom Harrell's recent "Trip," a piano-less quartet recording with Ugonna Okegwo and Adam Cruz. Those who are put off by Turner's cerebral aspects should give this a lesson, he plays more traditionally....

Back in the early 90's, pianist Frank Kimbrough and saxophonist Michael Blake were among the founding members of New York's Jazz Composers Collective. The Collective was active until 2005, organizing concerts and promoting the performance of original jazz compositions. (The other founders were bassi...

Mark Turner Quartet, Lathe of Heaven (ECM) Mark Turner, tenor sax; Avishai Cohen, trumpet; Ben Street, bass; Marcus Gilmore, drums. This is the first recording by Mark Turner's quartet, a group that has been performing for several years. It was worth waiting for. It certainly won't be to everyone's ...

I have yet to hear from anyone who's actually heard the record (not surprising since it won't be released until tomorrow). Early reviewers have reported that it does sound as note-for-note identical to the original as the band could manage. And apparently they are excellent copycats. Some of the com...