Jazz
Report and Interview by Alan Smith, NME, August 1962
Acker's Happy With His Vocal Success ...
Nat King Cole: Great Jazzman To Great Businessman
Interview by David Griffiths, Record Mirror, July 1963
SOFT LIGHTS, a smoke-hazed atmosphere, gentleness, smooth (and, if you're a susceptible girl, spine-tingling) singing. ...
Quincy Jones: One Of The Greatest!
Interview by David Griffiths, Record Mirror, October 1963
SITTING IN a deserted recording studio at Philips, listening to the playback of a just-completed session by the Johnny Dankworth Orchestra, Quincy Jones – trumpeter, ...
Nina Simone: The Troubadour, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Ann Moses, Rhythm 'n' News, October 1965
Nina Knocks Out With 'Pastel Blues' ...
Tony Bennett: 'Paul McCartney Has a Spirit That Moves Me'
Interview by David Griffiths, Record Mirror, April 1968
THOUGH THE MUSICAL approach of Tony Bennett – and the bands he works with, such as Buddy Rich – is not usually treated with adulation ...
Sun Ra and his Solar Arkestra: The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra. Vol. 1. (Fontana)
Review by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, January 1970
'Heliocentric'; 'Outer Nothingness'; 'Other Worlds'; 'The Cosmos'; 'Of Heavenly Things'; 'Nebulae'; 'Dancing In The Sun'. ...
Miles Davis: What Made Miles Davis Go Pop?
Interview by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, June 1970
Richard Williams talks to bassist Dave Holland in New York ...
Miles Davis: Rock Is A White Man's Word, Says Miles
Report and Interview by Al Aronowitz, Melody Maker, October 1970
NEW YORK. — Junior Mance was working the bandstand at New York's Top of the Gate and you had to put your ear to Miles ...
Nina Simone: Carnegie Hall, New York NY
Live Review by Mike Jahn, New York Times, May 1971
Throng Welcomes Nina Simone, Back After Long Absence ...
Sun Ra And His Myth-Science Arkestra
Profile and Interview by John Sinclair, Creem, November 1972
If you find earth bor-ingJust the same old same thing –If you find earth bor-ingJust the same old same thing – Come on, sign up ...
Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, March 1973
GROVER WASHINGTON Jr. became one of Kudu's brightest lights by a complete one in a million accident. "I was called in to do a background ...
Interview by David Rensin, Rolling Stone, January 1974
LOS ANGELES – "I never felt my music was ever really wanted by the Mahavishnu Orchestra," complained drummer Billy Cobham. "I tried having them use ...
Pasadena Roof Orchestra, The: The Pasadena Roof Orchestra: Up On The Roof
Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, January 1975
MAYBE it's a sign of the times, as the Seventies increasingly take on the atmosphere of gloom and uncertainty that pervaded the late twenties and ...
John McLaughlin, Mahavishnu Orchestra: Mahavishnu John McLaughlin
Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, February 1975
MAHAVISHNU JOHN MCLAUGHLIN has taken the guitar further in the last two years of his career than most players hope to in a lifetime. His ...
Grover Washington Jr: Grover Washington: Mister Magic
Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, April 1975
IN JAZZ circles, Grover Washington Jr. is even unique because though he has been commercially successful in a big way, he still appeals to the ...
Brecker Brothers, The: The Brecker Brothers
Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, July 1975
NOW THAT the colour barriers have been well and truly broken down within our music, odds are that at any given moment, you'll find two ...
Brecker Brothers, The: The Brecker Brothers: Everythin's All White
Profile by Roger St. Pierre, NME, August 1975
...
Frank Sinatra: The Reprise Years
Review by Fred Dellar, NME, September 1975
YEARS IS JUST one enormous sampler really – a fifty-track, four album, boxed set containing cuts from nearly every album Sinatra's made for Reprise since ...
Ramsey Lewis: Don't It Feel Good
Profile and Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, November 1975
WITH THE ever growing interest in jazz, it's interesting to note that in most instances, the names who are bringing about the revival are relatively ...
Weather Report: New Victoria, London
Live Review by Ian MacDonald, NME, December 1975
TO MYSTERIOSO OR not to mysterioso – that was the question facing Weather Report last Thursday at nine p.m. ...
Weather Report: Wayne Shorter Cuts It
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, December 1975
WAYNE Shorter used to be introduced by Art Blakey in the 1950s like this: "This is Wayne Shorter, ladies and genulmen... ‘cos he’s shorter than ...
Al Jarreau: It's a bit early for New Year predictions, but here's one: Al Jarreau
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, December 1975
TO EVERYONE who's raved over Al Jarreau's Warner Bros album, We Got By, the identity of the man has remained an enigma that demanded solution. ...
Pasadena Roof Orchestra, The: The Pasadena Roof Orchestra: Pasadena Uber Alles!
Report and Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, December 1975
"ALL OVER Germany the people are freaking out...it's their cool English sense of humour...they have to beat off the groupies with sticks." ...
Hugh Masekela: Africa's Ambassador To The USA
Interview by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, March 1976
Our diplomatic correspondent in Los Angeles talks to Hugh Masekela, one of Africa's favourite sons. ...
Nancy Wilson: Nancy A Woman Of Today
Interview by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, June 1976
Talented. Aware. A warm and sincere human being. That's Nancy Wilson. She's achieved a great deal already but aims to fulfill many more dreams, both ...
Tom Waits: Warm Beer, Cold Women
Interview by Mick Brown, Sounds, June 1976
TOM WAITS rocks backwards and forwards in his chair, pulls at a cigarette, draws deep, then turns his face out of the smoke, back into ...
Herbie Hancock: 'Ancock An' The 'Ead 'Unters
Profile and Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, August 1976
That's a fearful band name for someone as peaceful as Herbie Hancock to front. But, it's a name that clicks with the Soul-loving public when ...
Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band
Profile and Interview by Davitt Sigerson, Black Music, January 1977
Davitt Sigerson Probes Into The Mind Of Stony Browder Jr. ...
John Coltrane:The Other Village Vanguard Tapes
Review by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, April 1977
The combination of affection, respect and awe in which his fans held the late John Coltrane is given to few people in any walk of ...
Review by Paul Rambali, NME, May 1977
WHEN THIS was recorded in June 1976 as part of the Newport jazz festival, it came from an evening grandly titled a 'retrospective of the ...
Al Jarreau: Look To The Rainbow — Live
Review by Paul Rambali, NME, June 1977
OF THE twelve songs here, four are from his first two albums, two are throwaway versions of show-tunes and the remaining six are new material. ...
Bobbi Humphrey: Bobbi Means Business
Interview by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, December 1977
Ms. Humphrey knows that talent isn't always enough to achieve success. Thus, she's formed her own management company and now stands or falls on her ...
Herb Alpert, Hugh Masekela: Herb Alpert and Hugh Masekela: Herb and Hugh Fusion
Report and Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, March 1978
Herb Alpert and Hugh Masekela explain their Tijuana Meets Africa project ...
Blackbyrds, The: You can't put a price on education, say the Blackbyrds…
Profile and Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, March 1978
The guys have always restricted their working schedule in order to further their education. This has cost them a lot of dollars but they figure ...
Anthony Braxton: Living In The Dynamic Operating Arena
Profile and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, August 1978
IT HAS TO be said that playing an Anthony Braxton album is the quickest way I can think of to clear a rock fan's room. ...
Review by Paul Morley, NME, November 1978
IT'S GOOD to hear that Oregon's music remains pure and fresh despite the possible clumsy patronage of a large label. Using a number of combinations ...
Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, December 1978
Eddie Henderson: I didn't get where I am today by not being danceable... ...
Al Jarreau: Days Of Future Past
Interview by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, January 1979
Since the release of his debut album three years ago, Al Jarreau has firmly established himself as a creative talent of the first order. He ...
Charlie Mingus: Charles Mingus's Sound of Love
Obituary by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, January 1979
Charles Mingus died in Mexico on January 5, of amytrophic lateral sclerosis, a condition also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. He had been in Mexico ...
Georgie Fame: Right Now! (Pye)
Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, March 1979
"WELL, WELL, well, hello there, it's been a long, long time." Doesn't that introduction to 'Funny How Time Slips Away' take you back? I address ...
Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, April 1979
IN THREE short years, Natalie Cole has risen to the point where today she is a household name. In the past few months, Natalie has ...
Eddie Henderson: Doctor At The Crossroads
Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, June 1979
With the music world making so many demands on his time, Eddie feels he may have to phase out his medical practice completely... ...
Crusaders, The, Randy Crawford: The Crusaders' Stix Hooper
Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, June 1979
B&S catches up with the Crusaders who have campaigned for jazz all over the world and whose new album is centred around 'street life'... ...
Crusaders, The: The Crusaders: It's A Street Life In The Crusaders
Profile and Interview by Max Bell, NME, September 1979
IT'S THE MID-1950s in Houston, Texas, east of Galveston Bay and west of the River Colorado, and some of the local folks are having themselves ...
James Blood Ulmer: Tales Of Captain Black (Artists House)
Review by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 1980
IT WON'T be long, I guess, before someone describes James "Blood" Ulmer as "the new Hendrix", so you might as well be forewarned. ...
James Chance: Save The Last Chance For Me!
Interview by Ian Penman, NME, June 1981
Sax and drugs and contorted soul – Ian Penman meets his hero in another instalment of conversations with James Chance. London 1981. ...
James Blood Ulmer: Blood in the Grooves
Interview by Andy Schwartz, New York Rocker, October 1981
1. A LOT OF different people are going to like Free-Lancing, the new album by James Blood Ulmer. ...
James Blood Ulmer: Jazz Gets a Blood Transfusion: James Blood Ulmer
Interview by Richard Cook, NME, November 1981
JAMES BLOOD ULMER seemed faintly bemused by it all. Sat square in his little hotel chair like some Great Panjandrum surprised by a person of ...
Frank Sinatra: She Shot Me Down (Reprise)
Review by Jeffrey Morgan, Creem, April 1982
IF, AS THE THEORY GOES, there's a little bit of Van Halen in everyone come Saturday night, then you can safely bet your last dollar ...
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, July 1982
Mark Cooper throws a few questions at the brand new Pigbag ...
Ornette Coleman: On Human Feeling
Interview by Vivien Goldman, NME, July 1982
Ornette Coleman's harmolodics brought about the musical change of the century. After his New York comeback last year, the legendary tenor man talked to Vivien ...
Profile and Interview by Andy Gill, NME, August 1982
Last week the legendary SUN RA, who claims to come from the planet Saturn, beamed down to earth to play two sell-out concerts at London's ...
Wynton Marsalis: Darting Into the Stratosphere
Interview by Richard Cook, NME, August 1982
Teenage trumpet major WYNTON MARSALIS lights up another admirer ...
Interview by Steve Roeser, Rock's Backpages Audio, 1983
The hard-swinging vibraphonist takes us back to the '30s LA club scene, taking up vibes, joining Benny Goodman and discovering Dinah Washington.
File format: mp3; file size: 29mb, interview length: 31' 39" sound quality: ***
George Benson: Kingsize Benson
Profile and Interview by Richard Cook, NME, July 1983
So just how did this work a day guitarist called GEORGE BENSON sidestep the critical vitriol of the jazz and soul purists to become one ...
Herbie Hancock: Beverly Theater, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, January 1984
HERBIE HANCOCK still refuses to put all of his eggs in one basket. The veteran keyboard player blithely continues to release both funk-oriented material geared ...
Hal Willner, Thelonious Monk: Interpretations Of Monk By Jazz, Rock Musicians
Report and Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, January 1984
WHAT DO FELLINI soundtrack composer Nino Rota and the late jazz great Thelonious Monk have in common? ...
Obituary by Richard Cook, NME, May 1984
Richard Cook pays tribute to the man whose Kansas City swing band conquered the world – a jazz aristocrat for 50 years. ...
Interview by Jack Barron, Sounds, July 1984
"THIS IS really embarrassing, we've come thousands of miles and now this happens," sighed Hugh Masekela looking at the vast blue tent-balloon Espace Balard venue ...
Dirty Dozen Brass Band, The: The Dirty Dozen Brass Band: Energetic Updating Of Brass-Band Sound
Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, September 1984
NEW ORLEANS — This city is a hotbed of jazz tradition, but the Dirty Dozen Brass Band has come up with a new twist on ...
Frank Sinatra: Songs For Young Lovers and other Capitol reissues
Review by Richard Cook, NME, September 1984
BECAUSE SINATRA has lasted so long, has outlived his own legend – to the point where he can make a record with Quincy Jones and ...
James Blood Ulmer: The 'Harmolodics' Of James Ulmer
Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, May 1985
NEUTRAL GROUND doesn't seem to exist when it comes to James (Blood) Ulmer's music. ...
John Coltrane, Miles Davis: Miles Davis: You’re Under Arrest (CBS)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, NME, June 1985
THIS YEAR, Miles Davis is 59 years old. However, if it’s round numbers that appeal to you, it’s worth mentioning that 1985 marks the 40th ...
Miles Davis: Miles Runs The Voodoo Down
Interview by Richard Cook, NME, July 1985
The man with the horn, MILES DAVIS, whose silvery trumpet lines have embellished jazz for 40 years, is back in action with a new band ...
Duke Ellington: Duke 56/62 Volume One ; Duke 56/62 Volume Two ; Featuring Paul Gonsalves and more
Review by Richard Cook, NME, July 1985
...
Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy: Lester Bowie: Miles Davis Meets Donald Duck
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, NME, November 1986
LESTER BOWIE'S white lab coat and mischievous trumpet have fronted The Art Ensemble Of Chicago's ironic jazz, From The Roots To The Source's revivalist gospel ...
Charlie Haden Recalls Lessons Of Cuba Visit
Report and Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, March 1987
CUBA IS A RARE tour stopover for any American, artist, but Charlie Haden’s appearance in Havana last month fulfilled a dream the eminent bassist had ...
Ornette Coleman: Music Dreams Are Made Of: Ornette Coleman at Town Hall, New York
Live Review by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, July 1987
NEW YORK – Funny, the pent-up anticipation that usually wells up before a concert didn't hit me until a half hour before Ornette Coleman took ...
Cecil Taylor: Pianist Cecil Taylor Makes Poetry Of His Jazz
Profile and Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, October 1987
"GREAT MUSICIANS are more than musicians – they are poets and spiritual forces," said pianist Cecil Taylor. "It is the sensitivity and the concept of ...
Tony Bennett: Rebirth of the Cool
Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Spin, February 1988
TONY BENNETT is cool. I have felt this way since the early '60s. Sinatra was hip, but Tony was cool. He was a swinger singer. ...
Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson: Eddie 'Cleanhead' Vinson: Folks Called Him Mr. Cleanhead
Obituary by Kirk Silsbee, LA Reader, September 1988
TWO YEARS ago Eddie Vinson took part in a sax summit show at the Music Machine in West Los Angeles. In the artist's lounge before ...
Art Ensemble of Chicago: Ancient to the Future
Profile by John Sinclair, Detroit Metro Times, October 1988
A SMALL ARMY of instruments is what you see first – an entire stage full of saxophones, drums, gongs, percussion implements of every description, bicycle ...
Danny Thompson: Romance From A Bit Of A Raver
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, Sunday Correspondent, October 1989
Breaking the rules comes easily to double-bass player Danny Thompson, says Mark Cooper ...
Chet Baker: Chet Baker Sings and Plays From the Film ‘Let's Get Lost’
Review by Tom Graves, Rock and Roll Disc, November 1989
I AM NO JAZZ CRITIC, and there are several Rock & Roll Disc writers far more qualified to write about Chet Baker than I. But ...
Art Ensemble of Chicago: The Art Ensemble Of Chicago
Report and Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, March 1990
"OUR MUSIC IS primarily intended to stimulate thought, to get people to make new rationales," said Art Ensemble of Chicago trumpeter Lester Bowie. "We're expanding ...
Last Exit: Johnny D's Uptown Lounge, Sommerville MA
Live Review by Ted Drozdowski, Musician, April 1990
Love at First Sight ...
Sonny Sharrock: A Musician With Lightning In His Hands
Profile and Interview by Mark Dery, New York Times, May 1991
Sonny Sharrock knew his route would be rocky. ...
Miles Davis: Miles Dewey Davis III (1926-1991)
Obituary by Fred Dellar, NME, October 1991
"Jazz is ignored because the white man likes to win everything. White people like to see other white people win – and they can't win ...
Nina Simone: Here Comes Trouble
Interview by Lloyd Bradley, Q, November 1991
"BE PUNCTUAL," they implored. "Be punctual, and everything should be all right." Ask about Nina Simone at her publisher's offices and you'll soon be appraised ...
Kenny G: No Accounting For Taste
Interview by Lloyd Bradley, Q, May 1993
AS PART of last year's campaign, Bill Clinton appeared on MTV's Rock The Vote, taking questions from a studio full of young electors. ...
Profile and Interview by Jason Cohen, Creem, June 1993
SEATTLE'S MOST incendiary and intriguing electric guitarist has nothing to do with that city's rock scene. ...
Parliament, Funkadelic: The Jazzy Funkateers: Life after James Brown and P-Funk
Report and Interview by Hank Bordowitz, American Visions, Winter 1993
AS THE SEVEN musicians on the stage at Tramps in New York launch into a instrumental version of 'Cold Sweat', six hundred voices in the ...
Frank Sinatra/Don Rickles: Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, NY
Live Review by Richard Gehr, Spin, January 1994
"HE TOUCHES his dick more than Robin Williams does," mocked my wife as a tuxedoed Don Rickles lumbered around the square, center-court stage like a ...
Retrospective by Richard Cook, MOJO, April 1995
Four decades on from the premature death of Charlie Parker in March 1955 the world remains split between the dazzled – including fans as disparate ...
Frank Sinatra: Stan Britt: Sinatra – A Celebration
Book Review by Chris Ingham, Jazz on CD, February 1996
ON FINISHING Kitty Kelley's depressing, unrelentingly seamy His Way, you were so stuffed full of (alleged) details concerning the less admirable aspects of Sinatra's remarkable ...
Jimmy Witherspoon: 'Ain't Nobody's Business': The No Rollin' Blues of Jimmy Witherspoon
Retrospective and Interview by Steve Roeser, Goldmine, May 1996
"I'D RATHER open up a show than to close it," Jimmy Witherspoon said emphatically. "'Cause I know whoever follows me is gonna have to sing." ...
Gil Evans, Miles Davis: Miles Davis and Gil Evans: The Complete Columbia Studio Recordings
Review by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, October 1996
THEIR CURIOUS YET inspired partnership resulted in music of rare beauty. Ben Edmonds salutes a landmark box set that fully captures the genius of Miles ...
Branford Marsalis, Ellis Marsalis: April In Paris With Branford And Ellis
Report and Interview by Chris Ingham, unpublished, April 1997
NOTE: Commissioned by Nick Coleman at The Independent, this interview remained unpublished due to Branford and Ellis canceling their live appearances. ...
Charlie Mingus: Charles Mingus: A Musical Misfit In Black And White
Retrospective by James Maycock, Independent, The, November 1997
A traumatic childhood and a dramatic life characterised the career of the bassist Charles Mingus. James Maycock looks at a documentary on a 'phenomenal musician ...
Jaco Pastorius, Weather Report: Jaco Pastorius
Retrospective by Charles Shaar Murray, Independent, The, 1998
AS JOHN LENNON proclaimed in the 1970 Rolling Stone interview which effectively announced his final break with the Beatles, "Genius is pain". What he neglected ...
Miles Davis: The Miles Davis Quintet 1965-1968: The Complete Columbia Studio Recordings
Retrospective by James Maycock, Independent, The, March 1998
"YOU GET THE RIGHT GUYS to play the right things at the right time and you got a motherfucker!" recalled Miles Davis in his inimitable ...
Producer in Paradise: Joel Dorn Revisits a Golden Age of Jazz
Report and Interview by Ted Drozdowski, Boston Phoenix, April 1998
JOEL DORN describes himself as "a stand-up guy. I grew up on the street corners and in the playgrounds, and I was raised to believe ...
Chet Baker: 10th Anniversary Of Chet Baker’s Death
Retrospective by James Maycock, Independent, The, May 1998
"WHAT’S YOUR favourite type of high?" inquires Bruce Weber towards the end of his film Let’s Get Lost. Chet Baker’s answer is unsettling. ...
Miles Davis Quintet 1965-68: Complete Columbia Studio Recordings (Sony/Columbia)
Review by Chris Ingham, Uncut, July 1998
6 CD set of innovative, hugely influential jazz group covering ESP, Miles Smiles, Sorcerer, Nefertiti, Water Babies, Miles In The Sky and Filles De Kilimanjaro ...
Frank Sinatra: The Best of Frank Sinatra: A Home Taping Special
Guide by Chris Ingham, MOJO, 1999
BECAUSE OF THE near-flawless nature of a handful of albums (Wee Small Hours, Songs For Swingin' Lovers, A Swingin' Affair, Only The Lonely), it would ...
Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, 1999
SO EFFICIENT, SO all-pervasive has been Canadian pianist-singer Diana Krall's rise in the jazz world (and beyond, in sales terms), an American jazz magazine offered ...
Herbie Hancock: The Complete Blue Note '60s Sessions
Review by Richard Cook, MOJO, January 1999
THESE DAYS he's an avatar of jazz-funk, but Hancock's salad days offered a lot more than apprentice-work. Only 24 when he composed and recorded the ...
Miles Davis, Billie Holiday: Billie 4 Miles: A Kind Of Blue Love
Essay by James Maycock, Guardian, The, February 1999
MILES DAVIS CONFESSED twice in his candid autobiography he fancied Billie Holiday. "She had such a sensuous mouth," he remarked, "I thought she was ...
Cassandra Wilson: Fellow Traveller
Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, April 1999
Chris Ingham: What was the selection process for your Miles Davis tribute album Travelling Miles? ...
Retrospective by James Maycock, Independent, The, July 1999
IN PARIS, A COUPLE of weeks before his death on 15th March, 1959, Lester Young spoke about his friend, Billie Holiday. "She’s still my ...
Newport Notes: How the Jazz and Folk Festivals made history
Retrospective and Interview by Ted Drozdowski, Boston Phoenix, August 1999
"WELL, THIS IS real bullshit!" yelled Eddie Condon. ...
Duke Ellington: The Unknown Ellington
Comment by Brian Torff, Green Mountain Jazz Messenger, Fall 1999
THIS BEING the anniversary year of Duke Ellington's 100th birthday, there are so many tribute concerts to the master composer that he seems more alive ...
Miles Davis: The Hat Makes the Man
Book Excerpt by Nick Tosches, The Nick Tosches Reader, 2000
THE WORD ITSELF is deadening: art, a devalued dollar of a word, no longer backed by meaning, as drained of worth as the politician's viability, ...
Pharaoh Sanders: Pharoah Sanders
Interview by Chris Ingham, unpublished, 2000
THERE IS THE aura of legend surrounding the business of Pharoah Sanders. The fez, the dashiki, the Egyptian Prince goatee and the very name conjures ...
Ronnie Scott: Jazz Club … Nice: Remembering Ronnie Scott
Retrospective and Interview by Joel McIver, unpublished, 2000
The legendary nightclub Ronnie Scott's is celebrating its fourth decade this year. Joel McIver meets manager Peter King - a man who really has seen ...
Charlie Watts: The Beat Goes On: Charlie Watts and the Great Jazz Drummers
Interview by Jon Newey, Jazzwise, July 2000
Rolling Stone Charlie Watts is not a typical jazz drummer. His previous solo albums have touched on the legacy of Charlie Parker and his new ...
Review by Ian MacDonald, Uncut, August 2000
TIME SASHAYS on and Miles Davis, who was still with us only a few blinks of an eye ago is already becoming history. Hence Sony's ...
Overview by Eric Weisbard, Village Voice, October 2000
IN HIS FAMOUS essay "Kafka and his Precursors," Jorge Luis Borges argues that Zeno, Han Yu, and Kierkegaard, though nothing alike, all now seem Kafkaesque. ...
Sonny Rollins: The Freelance Years
Review by Ian MacDonald, Uncut, December 2000
COLTRANE'S GREAT tenor rival gets another boxed-set boost. ...
Bill Evans: The Piano Has Been Thinking
Retrospective by Glenn O'Brien, Gear, 2001
I HAVE FORTY Bill Evans CDs in this room and a copy of Everybody Digs Bill Evans up in the bedroom. Everybody should have Everybody ...
Review by Ian MacDonald, Uncut, May 2001
UNLESS YOU'RE hardline avant-garde (in which case, you'll vote for Cecil Taylor), Bill Evans (1929-1980) is the greatest jazz pianist of the post-bebop era. Classically ...
Miles Davis: The Re-Rebirth Of The Cool: Miles Davis at 75
Review by Joel McIver, Record Collector, Summer 2001
As part of the 75th anniversary celebrations of Miles Davis' birth, a classic reissue programme has begun in earnest. In the mode: Joel McIver. ...
Retrospective by Glenn O'Brien, unpublished, 2002
BACK THERE during the revolution, when we called ourselves freaks proudly, rock was rocking the world. Musicians like Hendrix, Clapton, and Page, and philosophical bands ...
Dee Dee Bridgewater: Sophisticated Lady: This Is Dee Dee Bridgewater
Interview by James Maycock, Pride, 2002
"DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER is very effervescent and very energetic and very optimistic and very positive," I'm informed. "Dee Dee Bridgewater has consumed my life." ...
Diana Krall: In Defence of Diana Krall
Comment by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, March 2002
Diana Krall and Jane Monheit are better than you think. Geoffrey Himes explains why. ...
Report and Interview by Will Hermes, Village Voice, April 2002
LET US NOW praise great Americans: Louis Armstrong, Jerry Garcia, and Grandmaster Flash made their history with equal parts pioneer cojones and improvisatory derring-do. They ...
Obituary by Phast Phreddie Patterson, Rock's Backpages, April 2003
BEBOP SAXOPHONIST Teddy Edwards (78) died of prostate cancer on April 20 in Los Angeles. During the '40s, he was a top draw on ...
Interview by Phil Mershon, Perfect Sound Forever, August 2003
THIS IS A TIME when global corporatism links a grotesque preponderance of its steel-eyed vision to the silly notion that anything produced by, for, or ...
Jaco Pastorius, Weather Report: The World’s Greatest Bass Player?
Retrospective by Joel McIver, Bass Guitar, October 2003
HEROES COME and heroes go. Most rise to the top and stay there for a while before their star fades; a few endure for a ...
Jimbo Mathus, Squirrel Nut Zippers: Jimbo Mathus Is No Longer a Squirrel Nutter
Profile and Interview by Bill Wasserzieher, Blues Revue, October 2004
"JIMBO MATHUS is a link in what I call the 'crazy Mississippi white boy' chain of music that goes all the way back through Elvis ...
Obituary by Dave Marsh, Harp, May 2005
THE RECORD industry thought it covered its tracks by finally making a huge deal out of Ray Charles, at the first Grammy ceremony after his ...
Essay by David Stubbs, Guardian, The, October 2005
"FUCK THE GHETTO! Look to space!" That, according to Wayne Kramer of MC5, in a nutshell was the message of Sun Ra, as conveyed over ...
Mose Allison: Mose And His Muse
Profile and Interview by j. poet, San Francisco Chronicle, October 2005
MOSE ALLISON can be summed up in two words – Mose Allison. ...
Ornette Coleman, 76, Manhattan
Interview by Jaan Uhelszki, Harp, November 2006
ORNETTE COLEMAN is one of the true immortals. A metaphysician, philosopher and futurist as much as a revolutionary musician, he set melody free from it's ...
John Densmore: Opening New Doors
Live Review by Kirk Silsbee, LA CityBeat, December 2006
SANTA MONICA'S THIRD STREET PROMENADE got an extra measure of holiday cheer last Wednesday evening. Drummer John Densmore's Tribaljazz convened in front of the ...
Interview by Andrew Purcell, Guardian, The, June 2007
THIS AFTERNOON I will meet Ornette Coleman, the world's greatest living jazz musician. Coleman is an iconoclast's iconoclast, Lou Reed's hero, a saxophonist who plays ...
Interview by Andrew Purcell, Rock's Backpages Audio, November 2008
The piano great on the great '63 Miles Davis Quintet, band democracy, Buddhism, commercialism and much more.
File format: mp3; file size: 52.1mb, interview length: 56' 55" sound quality: *****
Herbie Hancock: Herbie Rides Again
Interview by Andrew Purcell, Guardian, The, November 2008
He has enjoyed electro, pop and funk incarnations but, as Herbie Hancock tells Andrew Purcell, it's all about playing one right note ...
Retrospective by Kris Needs, Rock's Backpages, May 2009
'I must play music that is beyond this world' – Albert Ayler ...
Retrospective by Don Snowden, Rock's Backpages, December 2010
AMAZING, ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. At 80 years old, Ornette Coleman is still capable of generating overt displays of outrage without doing anything more than playing his ...
Charlie Haden: Paul Morley On Music: Charlie Haden
Comment by Paul Morley, Observer, The, April 2011
Amazon has made critics of us all. But how does that bode for the professional critic? ...
Lovey's Original Trinidad String Band: Calypso Dawn (Bear Family)
Review by Mike Atherton, Echoes, 2013
THIS IS A REMARKABLE album. It captures the music of a Trinidadian dance band which, while undertaking a tour of the USA, recorded sessions for ...
Laura Nyro, Mark Winkler: Mark Winkler Finds Healing in the Songs of Laura Nyro
Report and Interview by Kirk Silsbee, Jewish Journal, June 2013
ASK JAZZ SINGER and songwriter Mark Winkler which of his parents he favors and he's unequivocal. "Oh, I'm definitely my mother's son," he grins. "My ...
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RBP on Spotify: The genius of Judee Sill
RBP Album Club in Chicago, June 30th: Paul Yamada and Liam (Plush) Hayes celebrate a Curtis Mayfield classic
Essential Listening: Roy Trakin meets the Replacements in '87
Essential Reading: Andrew Smith's history of the first dotcom boom
RBP Album Club, July 11th: Nick Hornby and Nick Coleman celebrate Southside Johnny's debut
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