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Downbeat

Downbeat

Downbeat is an American monthly magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond".

39 articles

List of articles in the library

By date | By artist | Most recently added

Don Cherry: Complete Communion (Blue Note 4226)

Review by William Russo, Downbeat, 28 July 1966

Personnel: Cherry, cornet; Leandro (Gato) Barbieri, tenor saxophone; Henry Grimes, bass; Edward Blackwell, drums. ...

Sun Ra: Fate In A Pleasant Mood (Saturn); The Magic City (Saturn); The Heliocentric Worlds Of Sun Ra II (ESP Disk)

Review by William Russo, Downbeat, 6 October 1966

Rating for all: ★★½ ...

John Coltrane: Meditations (Impulse 9110) *

Review by William Russo, Downbeat, 1 December 1966

Personnel: Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, tenor saxophones; McCoy Tyner, piano; Jimmy Garrison, bass; Elvin Jones, Rashied All, drums. ...

Earth, Wind & Fire, Ramsey Lewis: Earth, Wind & Fire: Sonic Elements

Report and Interview by Vernon Gibbs, Downbeat, 19 June 1975

PHILADELPHIA IS a violent town. In the hotel where Earth, Wind and Fire are staying, an enraged woman (who has been given a passkey by ...

The Brecker Brothers: Brecker Brothers: The Studio And Its Discontents

Interview by Steve Bloom, Downbeat, 21 June 1979

It would be nice if we're going to do this to say some shit. I don't know what, but I'd really like for once to ...

Melissa Manchester, Tower of Power: Tower Of Power: Pro Blowing Section

Interview by Michael Goldberg, Downbeat, February 1980

THE BASIC tracks were cut in Atlanta, Georgia. The strings were arranged and overdubbed by Gene Page, and Melissa Manchester put down the lead vocal ...

Earl Klugh: P... Lucking Out In The Material World

Interview by Steve Bloom, Downbeat, March 1980

THE TERM "Second Generation Fusion," recently coined by this publication as a handle for certain younger, so-called "jazz" musicians, is nebulous at best. Some included ...

Defunkt, James White and The Blacks: Defunkt: Jazz-Punk-Funk

Interview by Steve Bloom, Downbeat, June 1981

THE PURPLE tights and checkered t-shirt crowd knows for sure. They meet to the beat every night in sundry rock clubs, discharging a generationful of ...

Al Jarreau: Breaking Away

Interview by Steve Bloom, Downbeat, February 1982

The sound is metallic and airy and generally reminiscent of a flute, but there is no flute. The next sound thumps and bomps like a ...

The Clash: Revolutionary Rock

Profile and Interview by Michael Goldberg, Downbeat, December 1982

IT'S AN ugly voice. Gruff, guttural, uncouth, barbaric at times. Joe Strummer can't sing, not like an Al Jarreau or a Joni Mitchell, anyway. Lyrics ...

Robert Fripp, The Police, Andy Summers: Andy Summers Unmasked

Interview by Michael Goldberg, Downbeat, July 1983

HIS IMAGE is pure pop. Shaggy blond hair (dyed) in a modified Beatles cut. Mod clothes that might have come from England's trendy King's Road: ...

The Blasters

Interview by Bill Bentley, Downbeat, June 1984

They've got the Louisiana boogie and the Delta blues, country swing and rockabilly too, jazz, country western and Chicago blues, it's the greatest music that ...

Milton Nascimento

Interview by Carol Cooper, Downbeat, September 1984

For over a decade one of the most popular post-bossa Brazilian singer/composers, Nascimento finally arrives in the U.S. to demonstrate his particular brand of politically ...

Richard Thompson: Rockin' Guitar In The Celt Tradition

Interview by Gene Santoro, Downbeat, February 1985

IT'S NOT that he's unknown, exactly. Time magazine featured him and then-wife Linda in its August 30, 1982 issue, saying that his music "has the ...

Los Lobos: Hour Of The Wolves

Interview by Gene Santoro, Downbeat, April 1985

FROM THE beginning, the real "news" about rock & roll has been the way it's ransacked, revitalized, and rearranged the musical styles that gave birth ...

Linda Ronstadt: An Intimate Conversation with Linda Ronstadt

Interview by Steve Bloom, Downbeat, July 1985

LINDA RONSTADT is into French poodles these days. Basking in the glow of two consecutive platinum albums — filled with orchestrated arrangements of what she ...

Ry Cooder: Blues & Roots

Interview by Gene Santoro, Downbeat, August 1986

LATELY A lot of folks have been going back to school again studying the roots of the music they're making so they can grow their ...

Spyro Gyra: The Spyro Gyra Interview

Interview by Gene Santoro, Downbeat, September 1986

ALMOST A dozen years ago, a small sign appeared outside a Buffalo club announcing, "Tuesday Night — Jazz Jam." In effect, it was also announcing ...

Adrian Belew, David Bowie, King Crimson, Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, Frank Zappa: Adrian Belew: Twang Bar King

Interview by Gene Santoro, Downbeat, December 1986

IN THE decade since he first burst into the big-time music world, guitarist Adrian Belew has persistently challenged and reshaped the boundaries of his instrument. ...

Adrian Belew, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Ornette Coleman, Bill Frisell, Jim Hall, Jimi Hendrix, Pat Metheny: Bill Frisell: Blindfold test

Interview by Gene Santoro, Downbeat, April 1987

BILL FRISELL'S eerily haunting voice on guitar has combined with his acute sensitivity and thorough training to make him one of the most in-demand of ...

Los Lobos: By The Light Of The Moon (Warner Bros 1-25523)

Review by Gene Santoro, Downbeat, April 1987

BY NOW it should be pretty damn clear to anybody with ears that these guys are no novelty act ready to fade back into the ...

Prince: Sign 'O' The Times (Paisley Park 25577-1)

Review by Gene Santoro, Downbeat, July 1987

DESPITE ALL the hyped-up mystery and intrigue that the media machine swirls around him, like smoke around a Gene Kelly dance routine, the fact is ...

U2: The Joshua Tree (Island 90581-1)

Review by Gene Santoro, Downbeat, August 1987

YOU CAN'T say they don't tell you what they feel. And in fact, what they've been feeling over the last couple of years has become ...

Carlos Alomar, David Bowie: Carlos Alomar

Interview by Gene Santoro, Downbeat, November 1987

WE'RE SITTING in Bogie's, a neighborhood bar in Chelsea not far from Carlos Alomar's loft. The bartender is putting together a Long Island iced tea ...

Living Colour: Blindfold Test: Vernon Reid

Interview by Gene Santoro, Downbeat, December 1987

VERNON REID first hit the scene in Ronald Shannon Jackson's swaggering harmolodic adventure, the Decoding Society, where his role rapidly expanded as he evolved different ...

John Zorn: Quick-Change Artist Makes Good

Interview by Gene Santoro, Downbeat, April 1988

"WHAT'S COMING out of this scene down here is definitely hybrid music: it's the result of people growing up through the '60s and '70s, listening ...

Keith Richards: Talk Is Cheap (Virgin 1-90973)

Review by Gene Santoro, Downbeat, January 1989

IN A WEIRD but fulfilling way this is just about the record everyone — every diehard Stones freak, that is — hoped Keith Richards would ...

Danny Gatton: Of Cars, Bars and Vintage Guitars

Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Downbeat, April 1991

IMAGINE THAT you're an English roots-rock guitarist — say, Dave Edmunds or Billy Bremner — and you've spent your whole life trying to look and ...

Art Blakey, Ornette Coleman, Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard: Freddie Hubbard: From The University Of A&M (Art & Miles, Of Course)

Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Downbeat, October 1991

WHEN A 20-year-old Freddie Hubbard moved from Indianapolis to New York in 1958, every young trumpeter was being compared to Miles Davis, who was then ...

Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown: But Don't Fence Me In

Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Downbeat, April 1992

WHEN CLARENCE "Gatemouth" Brown visited Washington, D.C., recently, the 67-year-old Texan presided over his eight-piece band like a professor leading a survey course in American ...

Freddie Hubbard: When Your Chops Are Shot

Interview by Fred Shuster, Downbeat, October 1995

TRUMPET GREAT Freddie Hubbard greets a visitor to his cozy split-level Hollywood Hills home with a friendly handshake that belies the worry in his eyes. ...

Love: Caught in the Act: Love Reprises Forever Changes

Live Review by Kirk Silsbee, Downbeat, September 2003

Love: Royce Hall, UCLA, Los Angeles ...

James Brown: Caught in The Act: James Brown's Soul on Top

Live Review by Kirk Silsbee, Downbeat, December 2006

WHEN SOUL shouter James Brown released his big band album – Soul on Top – in 1970, it was received as neither fish nor fowl ...

The Bad Plus: Artfully drawn characters

Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Downbeat, January 2013

The Bad Plus is often described as a jazz-rock trio, but their recent studio album, Made Possible (eOne), is the first to use electric instruments. ...

Bert Berns: Here Comes The Night: The Dark Soul of Bert Berns and the Dirty Business of Rhythm & Blues by Joel Selvin

Book Review by Kirk Silsbee, Downbeat, July 2014

AMERICAN POP MUSIC from the no-man's-land after The Day The Music Died (Buddy Holly's fatal 1959 plane crash) and before the arrival of the Beatles ...

David Sanborn: Sanborn Reimagines Night Music for the 21st Century

Report and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Downbeat, 9 November 2018

WHEN DAVID SANBORN talks to people during tours, they often bring up Night Music (aka Sunday Night), the late-night TV show the alto saxophonist hosted from 1988 to ...

John Medeski: Mad Skillet (Indirecto)

Review by J.D. Considine, Downbeat, March 2019

For John Medeski's Mad Skillet, it's all about the bass — or in this case, the sousaphone. Because in Medeski's New Orleans funk band, it's ...

Charlie Parker: The Sound and Myth of Charlie Parker at 100

Report and Interview by J.D. Considine, Downbeat, 10 January 2020

TO SAY THAT Charlie "Yardbird" Parker was one of the greatest jazz musicians who ever lived is a bit like saying the Mona Lisa is ...

Christian McBride & Inside Straight: Live At The Village Vanguard (Mack Avenue)

Review by J.D. Considine, Downbeat, January 2022

AT THE END of a brightly swinging run through 'Fair Hope Theme,' bassist and bandleader Christian McBride tells the Village Vanguard audience, "This band was ...

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