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Lena Horne: Nice Work If You Can Get It; And Gipson's Got It!

Interview by J.T. Gipson, The California Eagle, 8 July 1948

IT MAY interest my readers, (particularly the cute little kiddies) to know that I once interviewed Lena Horne in the nude. ...

Nat King Cole: Gip Interviews King Cole in Columbus, O., and California

Report and Interview by J.T. Gipson, The California Eagle, 22 July 1948

I FIRST MET Nat Cole, leader of the world famous King Cole trio, at 2 ayem in the morning standing bareheaded in front of the ...

Hoagy Carmichael: The 'Old Music Master' says "I've no patience at all with the Narrow Jazz Boys"

Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 14 August 1948

A first-hand character impression of HOAGY CARMICHAEL ...

Little Miss Cornshucks: Gipson Interviews Little Miss Cornshucks at Last Word Club

Report and Interview by J.T. Gipson, The California Eagle, 2 September 1948

EVER SO OFTEN an act comes along that merits our warmest praise; this week the nitelife spotlight points with pride on an energetic little lass ...

Billie Holiday: "They won't let me work in New York, so I'm settling in London"

Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 28 February 1959

Billie Holiday was in London this week for a TV date. She returned to the States on Wednesday ...

Billie Holiday: She was original, honest — unique says Max Jones

Obituary by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 8 August 1959

WHAT A sad, bad year it has been for jazz. The deaths of Baby Dodds, Lester Young and Sidney Bechet have been followed with tragic ...

Charles Mingus: Charlie Mingus Jazz Workshop: East Coasting (12in. Parlophone PMCI092)***

Review by uncredited writer, Disc, 30 January 1960

Mingus is blazing, bitter — and outstanding ...

Bobby Darin: This Is Darin (London)

Review by uncredited writer, Disc, 26 March 1960

DARIN DOES IT AGAIN ...

Clinton Ford, The Temperance Seven: Temperance Seven, Clinton Ford: Old-Fashioned Approach

Interview by Ian Dove, Record Mirror, 29 April 1961

The Temperance Seven At No. 1; Clinton Ford A Hit On Easy Beat ...

Acker Bilk: You don't have to be poor to be good — says Acker Bilk

Interview by Maureen Cleave, The Evening Standard, 7 October 1961

CHRIS BARBER put 'Petite Fleur' into the hit parade three years ago and, in a sense, started the trad jazz boom. Mr. Barber still looks ...

Dave Brubeck Quartet: Royal Festival Hall, London

Live Review by June Harris, Disc, 25 November 1961

Brubeck is on a waltz kick now ...

Dave Brubeck: I Don't Want to Go Commercial says DAVE BRUBECK

Interview by June Harris, Disc, 25 November 1961

HAS DAVE Brubeck, who arrived in Britain for a concert tour last Friday, created a precedent with 'Take Five' that will lead to a more ...

Quincy Jones: "Bandleading... enough to make grey hair grow on my eyeballs... but I'm not quitting jazz"

Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 10 February 1962

QUINCY JONES — in London for a flying visit — grabs a word with MAX JONES ...

Ella Fitzgerald, Eartha Kitt: Alan Smith Welcomes — Ella and Eartha

Report and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 16 February 1962

WELCOME BACK, Ella! Yes, the world's "First Lady of Jazz," Ella Fitzgerald, will also be in this country at the weekend, commencing her tour with ...

Ella Fitzgerald: Royal Festival Hall, London

Live Review by June Harris, Disc, 24 February 1962

SLIMMER ELLA IS AT HER BEST ...

Aretha Franklin: Aretha (UK Fontana TFL 5173)

Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 3 March 1962

'Won't be Long'; 'Over The Rainbow'; 'Love Is The Only Thing'; 'Sweet Lover'; 'All Night Long'; 'Who Needs You?'; 'Right Now'; 'Maybe I'm A Fool'; ...

Bobby Darin: Take It Easier, Mr. Darin

Profile by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 28 July 1962

IT WENT on, and on, and on, and on... for months Rumour, counter-rumour, denial, counter-denial... and finally the bouncy young man, who just can't help ...

Kenny Ball, Acker Bilk: Acker Bilk; Kenny Ball: Alan Smith Goes Sailing With Two Of Britain's Top Disc Stars

Report and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 24 August 1962

Acker's Happy With His Vocal Success ...

Charles Mingus: Charlie Mingus: Jazz Man Is Changing His Beat

Report and Interview by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 27 August 1962

Charlie Mingus at Work on Story of His Hard Times Bassist Is Planning to Leave U.S. and Write Symphony ...

Nat King Cole, George Shearing: George Shearing is very happy about Nat Cole's hit

Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 5 October 1962

WHEN 'Ramblin' Rose' leapt high into the NME Charts last week, nobody was happier than George Shearing, in London for the start of his tour. ...

Acker Bilk Picks 'Desert Island Discs' — And Talks About Others He Wanted

Report and Interview by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 16 November 1962

MR. ACKER BILK found himself on a desert island this week — recording his part as a castaway on the BBC's long-running Desert Island Discs ...

Acker Bilk, Beryl Bryden, The Temperance Seven: Acker Bilk, Beryl Bryden: Hammersmith Gaumont, London

Live Review by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 16 November 1962

ROCK INSTRUMENTS INVADE TRAD ...

Dave Brubeck, Ronnie Scott: Near-in Brubeck

Live Review by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 30 November 1962

IT WAS a new Dave Brubeck on tour in Britain this time. ...

Nat King Cole: Not Even Nat Cole Can Afford To Be Without A Hit

Interview by June Harris, Disc, 15 December 1962

AFTER 25 years in show business, with TV, radio and cabaret success his for the asking, you might think that Nat King Cole would count ...

Mel Tormé: Now Mel Gets With The Beat!

Profile by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 4 January 1963

HALF-WAY through 1961 Melvin Howard Tormé was moaning that "there were no songs being written that were worth singing. ...

Duke Ellington, Odetta: Ian Dove Gives a Big NME Welcome to Ellington and Odetta

Profile by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 11 January 1963

COME SLUMP or boom, war or peace, fad or fashion, Duke Ellington has gone on leading a big band. For 37 years, to be precise! ...

Kenny Ball, Acker Bilk: Bilk Courts 'Twins': Ball Sticks to Band

Interview by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 1 February 1963

Ian Dove talks to two trad giants and finds different outlooks ...

Count Basie, Frank Sinatra: Frank Sinatra and Count Basie: Sinatra-Basie: An Historical Musical First (Reprise)

Review by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 16 February 1963

Sinatra-Basie in Depth: Peter Jones highlights a Great New Album from Sinatra and The Count ...

Ella Fitzgerald: Finsbury Park Astoria, London

Live Review by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 1 March 1963

Ella Throws 'Loop De Loop' Away ...

Kenny Ball, The Kingston Trio: Kenny Ball talks about the Kingston Trio

Profile and Interview by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 12 April 1963

JAZZMAN KENNY Ball is happy about appearing with America's top folk group, the Kingston Trio... a group he saw on his recent American tour. ...

Sammy Davis Jr.: Palladium, London

Live Review by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 20 April 1963

SAM'S A WHAM! ...

Gerry Mulligan: Royal Festival Hall, London

Live Review by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 26 April 1963

Melodic Mulligan ...

Kenny Ball, Heinz: Kenny Ball and Heinz on the Film Set

Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 21 June 1963

ONE HOUR'S worth of story, 20 minutes of music (including Kenny Ball's new hit 'Rondo') is the way they've planned Britain's latest pop film, Live ...

Oscar Brown Jr.: A Very Cheerful Man Is Oscar Cicero Brown

Interview by Maureen Cleave, The Evening Standard, 29 June 1963

OSCAR BROWN JR. is an extremely cheerful person. From his riotously checked shirt to his shoes with funny little thongs at the side, he exudes ...

Nat King Cole: Welcome Back to Nat 'King' Cole

Profile by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 5 July 1963

INCREDIBLE — but in December, 1940, in a Hollywood recording studio, Nat "King" Cole made the first of many hit discs, 'Sweet Lorraine'. It is ...

Nat King Cole: Great Jazzman To Great Businessman

Interview by David Griffiths, Record Mirror, 20 July 1963

SOFT LIGHTS, a smoke-hazed atmosphere, gentleness, smooth (and, if you're a susceptible girl, spine-tingling) singing. ...

Sarah Vaughan: Madame Butterfly

Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 21 September 1963

MAX JONES talks to a new-look SARAH VAUGHAN ...

Jimmy Smith: Hobo Flats (Verve VLP9039)

Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 12 October 1963

Big band backing lifts organ tracks ...

Quincy Jones, Sarah Vaughan: Music In The Making: Quincy Jones — Sarah Makes It All Worth While

Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 12 October 1963

Quincy Jones, who spent last week in London enjoying the sights and sounds by day and night, is one of music's all-rounders. Bandleader, composer, arranger, publisher, ...

Quincy Jones: One Of The Greatest!

Interview by David Griffiths, Record Mirror, 26 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, ...

Duke Ellington: "They're trying to make me a piano player. I'll have to start practising..."

Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 1 February 1964

MELODY MAKER'S MAX JONES PHONES DUKE ELLINGTON IN THE STATES ON THE EVE OF HIS BRITISH TOUR. ...

Sammy Davis Jr.: 'Me and the Beatles'

Interview by David Griffiths, Record Mirror, 28 March 1964

SAMMY DAVIS TALKS TO DAVID GRIFFITHS ...

Jimmy Witherspoon: All About Spoon — And How He Got Another Chance

Interview by Maureen Cleave, The Evening Standard, 27 June 1964

JIMMY WITHERSPOON is a gigantic man of 41 with great bristling eyebrows and moustaches and a large winning smile. Intimates and admirers call him Spoon. ...

Cannonball Adderley Aims Sax at Record Market

Report and Interview by uncredited writer, Billboard, 24 October 1964

HOLLYWOOD — Julian (Cannonball) Adderley, a new jazz pactee with Capitol, is mapping plans to become a busy recording cat. The influential saxophonist feels his ...

Ben Webster: Talking of love...

Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 2 January 1965

EVERYBODY TALKS about Ben Webster's big sound, but I don't remember about when, where and why he began to cultivate it. Between sets at Scott's, ...

Nat King Cole: The Lesson I Learned When They Told Me The Truth

Interview by Ivor Davis, Daily Express, 12 February 1965

TALKING FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE HIS GRAVE ILLNESS TO IVOR DAVIS, HOLLYWOOD, THURSDAY. ...

Nat King Cole: Unforgettable

Obituary by Ivor Davis, Daily Express, 16 February 1965

Nat King Cole dies and an era comes to an end ...

Bing Crosby: Yes Bing!

Report and Interview by Ivor Davis, Daily Express, 24 July 1965

IVOR DAVIS, BOULDER, COLORADO. FRIDAY. With fishing, horse racing, work, and a family there's plenty in life to keep a man busy ...

Cannonball Adderley Quintet: Jazz Workshop, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 12 August 1965

THE ADDERLEY Brothers, Nat and Cannonball, returned Tuesday night to the scene of their earliest triumphs, and it sounds like the Jazz Workshop has a ...

Chris Barber: Now They Can Tell The Difference

Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 11 September 1965

CHRIS BARBER, who has been leading bands off and on for sixteen years, still approaches the business with youthful enthusiasm. In spite of beat booms, ...

John Coltrane, Elvin Jones, McCoy Tyner: The John Coltrane Quartet: Jazz Workshop, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 15 September 1965

Coltrane, Jones Explode Together ...

Ramsey Lewis Trio: Basin Street West, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, San Francisco Chronicle, 21 October 1965

'In-Crowd' Leader Arrives ...

Nina Simone: The Troubadour, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Ann Moses, Rhythm 'n' News, 22 October 1965

Nina Knocks Out With 'Pastel Blues' ...

Ramsey Lewis: 'In Crowd' Left Out

Report and Interview by uncredited writer, KRLA Beat, 6 November 1965

THERE WAS a slight disagreement between the Ramsey Lewis Trio and the producer of Ninth Street West and Hollywood A-Go-Go last week. ...

Albert Ayler, Ornette Coleman, Dizzy Gillespie: Dizzy Gillespie: in from the storm

Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 4 December 1965

DIZZY GILLESPIE was in benevolent mood when he met the press at his Mayfair hotel. Smiling amiably between mouthfuls of Worthington, he gave the impression ...

Les McCann: Jazz Workshop, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 12 January 1966

Jazz Pianist Les McCann: Moving Ballads — By a Blues Man ...

Frank Sinatra: A Man And His Music (Reprise R 1016); My Kind Of Broadway (Reprise R 1015)

Review by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 15 January 1966

3 from Frank ...

Mahavishnu Orchestra, Sonny Rollins: Rick Laird: Musicians Over Here Sound As If They're Stuck

Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 15 January 1966

LONDON — LATEST in a long line of British jazz musicians to trek to the United States is twenty-four-year-old Rick Laird, resident bassist at London's ...

John Coltrane, Milford Graves, Thelonious Monk, Archie Shepp: The New Jazz Gets With It (That Means With Contemporary Art)

Comment by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 22 January 1966

  SO YOU say you're a jazz fan and you've never heard of Roswell Rudd, Pharaoh Sanders, Sun Ra, or Archie Shepp? You're in the vast ...

Roswell Rudd, Archie Shepp: The Archie Shepp-Roswell Rudd Quartet: Both/And Club, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 27 January 1966

Exciting New Wave Jazz From N.Y. Blows Into Town ...

Mose Allison: A Chunk Of Indian Music In 'I Got Rhythm' Isn't A Jazz Influence

Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 29 January 1966

LONDON — MOSE ALLISON, Mississippi piano player now ending a two-week cabaret season at Annie's Room in London, is not quite the figure you expect ...

Dizzy Gillespie, James Moody: Dizzy Gillespie: Basin Street West, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 4 March 1966

Dizzy Strikes Mood Change ...

Ramsey Lewis — Prediction '66

Interview by David Griffiths, Record Mirror, 12 March 1966

WHEN A pop artiste has that certain Something to make him into a hitmaker then the most vital ingredient in his success or failure is ...

Horace Silver: Jazz Workshop, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 30 March 1966

Silver Keeps His Memorable Style ...

The Rolling Stones, Spontaneous Music Ensemble: Oldham: Stones man digs into avant garde

Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 23 April 1966

ROLLING STONES manager Andrew Oldham has moved into the jazz scene — the British avant garde jazz scene to boot! He plans to release an ...

Georgie Fame with the Harry South Orchestra: Marquee Club, London

Live Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 30 April 1966

Fame and South — what a marvellous swinging mixture ...

Bill Evans: Both/And, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, May 1966

A Masterful Jazzman ...

Ornette Coleman: At the Golden Circle, parts 1 & 2 (Blue Note 4224-5); Chicago — The Blues Today! parts 1-3 (Vanguard 79216-7-8)

Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 7 May 1966

It's Coleman At His Best ...

Miles Davis Quintet: Memorial Auditorium, Stanford University, Stanford CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 23 May 1966

The Best, by Miles Davis ...

Chet Baker: The Chet Baker Quintet: Smokin' (Prestige 7449)

Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 4 June 1966

Baker Rides High On Flugelhorn ...

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. ...

The Byrds, John Coltrane, Yusef Lateef, Ravi Shankar, Archie Shepp: Tempo: Coltrane, Shankar and All That Rock & Roll

Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, August 1966

IN OUR FEATURE on the Byrds (in the July issue) they credited several sources of unconventional music as influences. They were quite specific about Indian ...

Joe Henderson, Bobby Hutcherson, Elvin Jones: Joe Henderson-Elvin Jones Quartet: Both/And, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 25 August 1966

Both/And: New Jazz Fireworks ...

Horace Silver: Ronnie Scott's club, London

Live Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 24 September 1966

Extension of the earlier quintet ...

The Modern Jazz Quartet, Swingle Singers, Les: Modern Jazz Quartet: Sitting Tight On The Format

Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 24 September 1966

JOHN LEWIS, amiable but reticent leader of the Modern Jazz Quartet, is that rare bird in jazz, a musician who doesn't like talking about himself. ...

Ramsey Lewis, The Monkees: The Monkees: The Monkees (Colpix COM/S-101); Ramsey Lewis: Wade in the Water (Cadet LP/S-774),Swingin' (Cadet LP/S-771)

Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 25 September 1966

Monkees Ape Their Betters ...

Horace Silver: Just Quit While You're Ahead

Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 1 October 1966

ALREADY, AND in spite of the excessively rough luck of having his place of employment burned down on the opening night of his first British ...

Dave Brubeck Quartet: Walnut Creel Library, Walnut Creek CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 4 October 1966

Rich New Concepts In Brubeck's Jazz ...

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 ...

Lambert, Hendricks & Ross: Lambert, Hendricks and Ross: Fully paid up in the hod carrier's union

Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 15 October 1966

DAVE LAMBERT, 49-year-old jazz singer, composer and vocal arranger who was killed by a passing truck on the Connecticut Turnpike last week, was regarded as ...

Big Joe Williams, Chuck Berry, Duke Ellington, James Brown, John Lee Hooker, Lightnin' Hopkins, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, Sonny Rollins: Tempo: R&B and Jazz Album Reviews

Review by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, November 1966

FOR SOME reason, recordings of live rock and roll shows are selling very well. You can hardly hear the music above the enthusiastic audience response ...

Charlie Byrd, Charles Mingus, The Modern Jazz Quartet: Albums from Charles Mingus, the MJQ and Charlie Byrd

Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 12 November 1966

Mingus, MJQ And Yule Classic ...

Rahsaan Roland Kirk: Roland Kirk: Doesn't Fit Into The Avant Garde

Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 12 November 1966

JAZZ snobs have been hit hard by the arrival of Roland Kirk the Magnificent. Roland's music lurches crazily, but creatively from the humorous to the ...

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. ...

Billie Holiday: Billie Holiday (World Record Club TS30)

Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 31 December 1966

THERE ARE FEW singers in and around jazz who continue to excite our wonder long after their death. Bessie Smith is one, and Mildred Bailey ...

Duke Ellington: Concert Of Sacred Music (RCA)

Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 31 December 1966

Hot jazz and religion in a ducal mixture ...

Duke Ellington: Guildhall, Portsmouth

Live Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 11 February 1967

DUKE ALWAYS HAS A TRICK UP HIS SLEEVE ...

Mose Allison: Down Home Piano (Transatlantic PR7423)

Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 11 February 1967

MOSE ALLISON and his work are both pretty well known by now to jazz and blues lovers over here. This album, to set down first ...

Nat King Cole: You're Listening To The Nat King Cole Trio (Music For Pleasure)

Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 11 February 1967

WE ALL SUFFER from blind spots, I guess, so I'll confess one of mine at once and admit that I'm almost totally proof against the ...

Duke Ellington: Suites in a Hotel Suite

Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 18 February 1967

DUKE ELLINGTON is a musician who composes tirelessly in his own way and in his own time — which means according to the circumstances he ...

Spontaneous Music Ensemble: John Stevens: A Sadder But Wiser Avant Gardist

Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 18 February 1967

JOHN STEVENS has come back a sadder but wiser man from the so-called "avant garde scene" in Copenhagen. Stevens, drummer-organiser of the Spontaneous Music Ensemble, ...

Buffalo Springfield, The Byrds, The Doors, Hugh Masekela, Peter, Paul & Mary: Peter, Paul & Mary, the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield: Valley Music Centre, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Tracy Thomas, New Musical Express, 4 March 1967

P, P & M protest ...

Sun Ra, and Interview: Collision of the Suns

Interview by John Sinclair, The Warren-Forest Sun, 1 April 1967

THE INTERVIEW with SUN RA, the master musician & prophet, was originally taped & edited by John Sinclair in December 1966 for GUERRILLA. The interview ...

Sun Ra: Interview: Sun Ra Part 2

Interview by John Sinclair, The Warren-Forest Sun, 14 April 1967

I KNOW I got something to help people but — I don't know what to do about it. I can put it over in music, ...

Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams: Miles Davis: Davis Has His Best Jazz Unit

Profile by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 18 April 1967

THE MILES Davis Quintet which enters its last week at the Both/And tonight is an exhilarating and important jazz ensemble. ...

Ornette Coleman: Pauley Ballroom, University of California, Berkeley CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 29 May 1967

Coleman Gets a Poor Hearing ...

Mel Tormé: Talk of the Town, London

Live Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 10 June 1967

CRISP, CRACKLING, sharp, superb, swinging, casual, brilliant, completely at ease, masterly, humorous, likeable — I could run out of superlatives for Mel Tormé, who opened ...

Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, the New Salvation Army Banned: Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 13 July 1967

The Biggest Show in Town ...

Yusef Lateef: Ronnie Scott's, London

Live Review by Mick Farren, International Times, 28 July 1967

YUSEF LATEEF is at present playing a season at Ronnie Scotts backed by the Stan Tracey Trio. I have always thought of Lateef as one ...

Dave Brubeck: Teo Macero: 'It May Be What Jazz Needs, The Psychedelic Touch'

Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 9 September 1967

TEO MACERO, American Columbia A&R man, arranger, and composer of experimental music, is becoming a regular visitor to Britain. Last week he was with us ...

Betty Carter, Jimmy Smith: Jimmy Smith: the Jazz Workshop; Betty Carter: Both/And, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 25 October 1967

Jimmy Smith Draws Crowd At Workshop ...

"Brother" Jack McDuff: Silk and Soul (Transatlantic PR 7404)

Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 11 November 1967

BENNY GOLSON arranged some of the eight tracks on Brother Jack McDuff's SILK AND SOUL (Transatlantic PR 7404) for organ and big band, complete with ...

John Coltrane: Amen

Obituary by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, December 1967

WHEN JOHN Coltrane died on Monday, July 17th, the world of progressive music lost one of its leading jazz figures, and Impulse Records lost its ...

Roy Ayers, Herbie Mann, Sonny Sharrock, Miroslav Vitous: Herbie Mann: Both/And, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 13 December 1967

Exciting Quintet in Town ...

Duke Ellington: When Duke Shared the Bill with the Cheeky Chappie

Retrospective by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 23 December 1967

THE JAZZ ARCHIVES: ELLINGTON AT THE PALLADIUM BY MAX JONES ...

Mose Allison: Tempo: Mose Allison

Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, January 1968

"BLUES IS A very limited thing to play. I have to keep adding things to it to keep it interesting. I keep striving for higher ...

Jimmy McGriff: McGriff An Organ Player For All Ears

Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 27 January 1968

WILD — THAT was the reaction to U.S. organ star Jimmy McGriff when he played his first-ever appearances in London this week. ...

Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich: The Case For Drums

Comment by Chris Welch, Music Maker, February 1968

CHRIS WELCH, who found worldwide fame as a drummer on the South London wedding circuit, defends the most maligned section of the pop and jazz ...

Humphrey Lyttelton: Humph, 20 years after

Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 3 February 1968

"NO, IT can't be true," people can often be heard muttering when their eyes fall on a picture of the mature Shirley Temple or Jackie ...

Nancy Wilson: Nancy, Bread and Butter Singer

Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 9 March 1968

IT SEEMS as though Nancy Wilson is always making flying visits to this country in order to appear in television programmes. Once she came here ...

Nina Simone: Troubadour, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 14 March 1968

ONE OF Nina Simone's songs contains the line "He'll find her waiting like a lonesome queen." Though she is accompanied by a quartet and though ...

Rahsaan Roland Kirk: Roland Kirk: Jazz Workshop, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 3 April 1968

Kirk Brightens New Workshop ...

Tony Bennett: 'Paul McCartney Has a Spirit That Moves Me'

Interview by David Griffiths, Record Mirror, 6 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 ...

Lambert, Hendricks & Ross: Hendricks and Ross now Seek Fame...

Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 13 April 1968

JON HENDRICKS, indelibly associated with the Lambert, Hendricks and Ross trio and the creation of a new form of jazz singing, has been experimenting with ...

Louis Armstrong: Tell Them Satchmo Is Feeling Great, Looking Pretty And Blowin' Great!

Profile and Interview by Alan Walsh, Melody Maker, 13 April 1968

LOUIS ARMSTRONG, ON HIS PERSONAL HOTLINE FROM MIAMI BEACH, TALKS TO ALAN WALSH ...

It's a Beautiful Day, Cecil Taylor, The Yardbirds: The Yardbirds, Cecil Taylor, It's a Beautiful Day: Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 24 May 1968

A Wide Range of New Sounds at the Fillmore ...

Louis Armstrong: The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong, Part 1

Report and Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 29 June 1968

MAX JONES reports from Batley ...

Louis Armstrong: The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong, Part 2

Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 6 July 1968

"I'VE BEEN trying to follow you for 20 years," a trumpet player was saying to Louis Armstrong in Batley the other day. Louis raised his ...

Louis Armstrong: The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong, Part 3

Report and Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 13 July 1968

SATCH SAYS THANKS FOR THE THRILL ...

Freddie Hubbard Jazz Quintet: Both/And, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 4 August 1968

Hubbard Jazz Quintet — The Best Anywhere ...

Ornette Coleman: Hearst Greek Theatre, Berkeley CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 13 August 1968

Like a Scene Out of a Surrealist Film ...

O.C. Smith: The Revolution, London

Live Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 17 August 1968

And he triumphs, despite all, at the Revolution ...

Georgie Fame: Pop Singer With A Jazz Orientation

Interview by Tony Leigh, KRLA Beat, 11 September 1968

GEORGIE FAME is not very well known in America — his appeal has been sporadic at best. In 1964, with the British wave his recording ...

Rahsaan Roland Kirk: Roland Kirk's Expanding World

Profile and Interview by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 12 September 1968

MUCH OF Roland Kirk's life has been a dogmatic and frustrating crusade to make his listeners realize that the reason he plays two or three ...

Buddy Rich, Vanilla Fudge: The Buddy Rich Big Band, Vanilla Fudge: Felt Forum, New York NY

Live Review by Ian Dove, Billboard, 5 October 1968

Rich Band Goes Over Rich — Fudge Have Zesty Flavor ...

Della Reese and her Mean Uncle

Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 26 October 1968

DELLA REESE, halfway through her stint as special guest artist on the Tom Jones tour, rested in London on Monday and looked forward to a ...

Horace Silver, Joe Simon, The Stars of Faith, Muddy Waters: Muddy Waters, Horace Silver, Joe Simon, Stars of Faith: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Alan Walsh, Melody Maker, 2 November 1968

Swinging down the aisles ...

Horace Silver: Eyes for the Writing Scene

Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 23 November 1968

"I'D like to mention a new direction in my career." This was Horace Silver, talking at a Blue Note reception given for him at Ronnie ...

James Brown, Count Basie, Ramsey Lewis: James Brown, the Count Basie Orchestra, Ramsey Lewis Trio: Madison Square Garden, New York NY

Live Review by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 23 November 1968

James Brown Scores Knockout With Soul Music at the Garden ...

Nina Simone: Nina Hits With Hair

Profile by Alan Walsh, Melody Maker, 23 November 1968

NINA SIMONE provokes mixed reactions from the music critics of the world. Some hail her as a giant of the blues, while others, though grudgingly ...

Sun Ra & the Myth-Science Solar Arkestra: Community Theater, Berkeley CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 12 December 1968

Lift Missing in Space Music ...

George Duke, The Third Wave: The Third Wave, George Duke: Trident, Sausalito CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 12 December 1968

5 Little Girls And Mr. Duke ...

Billy Cobham, Horace Silver: Billy Cobham: The Pulse Behind the Horace Silver 5

Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 14 December 1968

IT'S BEEN a very good year for drummers. ...

Gabór Szábo: Village Vanguard, New York NY

Live Review by Ian Dove, Billboard, 21 December 1968

Szábo: Subtle on Strings ...

Jimmy Smith: If I Was To Take My Choice Between Strings And My Wife I'd Take The Strings. They Don't Fight Me Back.

Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 21 December 1968

ORGANIST JIMMY SMITH TELLS MAX JONES ABOUT HIS FIRST LOVE ...

Ben Webster: Reminiscing with Big Ben

Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 28 December 1968

"DID YOU ever hear about my film? It's a half-hour thing made by Johan van der Keuken for Dutch TV last year. It would be ...

Sarah Vaughan: Venetian Room, Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 17 January 1969

Sarah Vaughan Still in Style ...

Nina Simone: 'Nuff Said (RCA Victor)

Review by uncredited writer, Melody Maker, 8 February 1969

PROOF TO SILENCE THE CYNICS ...

The Fourth Way, Charles Lloyd, Gabór Szábo: Charles Lloyd, Gabor Szabo, the Fourth Way: Community Theater, Berkeley CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 10 February 1969

Long Shot Tops Jazz Stars ...

Jimmy Witherspoon: A New Look For Spoon And Back To Authentic Blues

Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 12 April 1969

IT WAS clear at first glance, when Jimmy Witherspoon and his wife walked into the MM offices last week, that I was confronted by a new-look Spoon. ...

Creedence Clearwater Revival, Don Ellis, The Sir Douglas Quintet: Creedence Clearwater Revival, Sir Douglas Quintet: Santa Monica Civic Auditorium; Don Ellis: Pilgrimage Theater, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 22 April 1969

In Southland Concerts, Creedence and Ellis Perform ...

Herbie Hancock: the Both/And, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 1 May 1969

Hancock Probing New Areas ...

Erroll Garner: Mr Garner and his New Brass Bed

Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 17 May 1969

ERROLL GARNER arrived in London on Tuesday, last week, but not to appear in public. ...

Bill Evans: The Bill Evans Trio: the Jazz Workshop, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 27 June 1969

Jazz Pianist Mystery ...

Vic Damone: Million-selling Vic Damone ('I had too much faith in people') Aims Himself at the Charts...

Interview by David Griffiths, Record Mirror, 5 July 1969

MORE THAN twenty years ago, when he was 19, Vic Damone was one of the top hitmakers. He had four or five massive sellers in ...

Tony Bennett: Mr. D's, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 19 July 1969

Tony's Lasting Spell ...

Billie Holiday: Lady Day — the True Sound of Soul

Memoir by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 2 August 1969

MAX JONES writes on the tenth anniversary of Billie Holiday's death ...

Duke Ellington Orchestra: Rainbow Grill, New York NY

Live Review by Ian Dove, Billboard, 9 August 1969

Quality, Taste & Warmth Mark Duke's Performance ...

Nina Simone: God Bless The Child

Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, September 1969

NINA SIMONE was born Eunice Waymon in Tryon, North Carolina, the sixth of eight children. Her mother worked as a housekeeper and her father was ...

Sonny Rollins: Jazz Workshop, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 5 September 1969

Chance to Hear Great Jazz Sax ...

The Modern Jazz Quartet, Sly & the Family Stone, Tony Williams: Sly & the Family Stone, Tony Williams Lifetime, Modern Jazz Quartet et al: 12th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival, County Fairgrounds, Monterey CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 20 September 1969

Sound Troubles: Monterey Opens Weirdly ...

Sarah Vaughan: Why Miss Vaughan Isn't Recording...

Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 1 November 1969

IF SARAH Vaughan never sang another heavenly high note she'd have earned her place, and a top place, among the immortals of jazz singing. ...

Isaac Hayes, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Led Zeppelin: Led Zeppelin, Wolfgang, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Isaac Hayes: Winterland, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 7 November 1969

Led Zeppelin Has a Rare Magic ...

Bill Coleman, Jay McShann, Charlie Shavers: Bill Coleman, Charlie Shavers, Jay McShann: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 8 November 1969

IT LOOKED on paper like an epic evening of swinging middle-road jazz on Tuesday. It wasn't bad, either, but it wasn't quite the berries that ...

Thelonious Monk, Cecil Taylor: Cecil Taylor, Thelonious Monk: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 8 November 1969

CECIL TAYLOR'S appearance on Friday was reminiscent of nothing as much as Ornette Coleman's Croydon concert four years ago. ...

Cecil Taylor: For Cecil Taylor, It's Just Beginning...

Interview by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 8 November 1969

EMERGING FROM the stage door of the Odeon, Hammersmith after his triumphal Jazz Expo concert on Friday night, the diminutive figure of pianist Cecil Taylor ...

LeRoi Jones: Black Music (MacGibbon and Kee 36 shillings).

Book Review by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 8 November 1969

IN HIS writings for Downbeat and Kulchur magazines, LeRoi Jones — poet, playwright, essayist, critic and revolutionary — provided many of the first signposts to ...

Lionel Hampton: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 8 November 1969

NOW WE know what has been missing from jazz for the last 14 years — Lionel Hampton! It was a good time and great jazz ...

Isaac Hayes, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Led Zeppelin: Led Zeppelin, Isaac Hayes, Rahsaan Roland Kirk: Winterland, San Francisco CA

Live Review by uncredited writer, The Berkeley Barb, 14 November 1969

WINTERLAND BUMMER ...

Lionel Hampton: If anybody asks, tell them — Lionel is ready!

Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 15 November 1969

LIONEL HAMPTON'S late-night appearance at Jazz Expo in London the other week caused disputation, to put it rather mildly. Some people found him exciting. Others ...

Karen Dalton, Delaney & Bonnie, Lightnin' Hopkins, Lighthouse, The Modern Jazz Quartet: Albums from Lighthouse, Delaney & Bonnie, Karen Dalton, Lightnin' Hopkins, The Modern Jazz Quartet

Review by Wayne Robins, The Berkeley Barb, 5 December 1969

FROM THIS week's flood of albums come a few disappointing second LP's by some promising performers, a pleasant surprise from a talented newcomer, an outstanding ...

Allman Brothers Band, The Band, Miles Davis, The Tony Williams Lifetime: Mass Music: The Band, Allman Brothers, Tony Williams and Miles Davis

Review by Miller Francis Jr., The Great Speckled Bird, 8 December 1969

EACH OF the record albums discussed here could be termed a masterpiece worthy of a full-length "rave." But the Review format can often be nothing ...

Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Nucleus: Ronnie Scott's Club, London

Live Review by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 10 January 1970

Rahsaan Roland Kirk at London's Ronnie Scott's Club ...

Sun Ra and his Solar Arkestra: The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra. Vol. 1. (Fontana)

Review by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 10 January 1970

'Heliocentric'; 'Outer Nothingness'; 'Other Worlds'; 'The Cosmos'; 'Of Heavenly Things'; 'Nebulae'; 'Dancing In The Sun'. ...

Jimmy Smith: Jazz Workshop, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 23 January 1970

Jazz Organist in Fine Fettle ...

Derek Bailey, Tony Oxley, Evan Parker: Derek Bailey's Music Improvisation Company: Purcell Room, London

Live Review by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 7 February 1970

YOU MAY not always be able to wait for a composer to write the music you want to play, to paraphrase the ads for the ...

John Surman: Purcell Room, London

Live Review by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 7 February 1970

PART OF the joy of hearing "live" jazz is in the listener's knowledge that the music he has heard will never be played in the ...

Tony Oxley: Forget the thick drummer myth

Interview by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 7 March 1970

TONY OXLEY, top British drummer according to last week's MM Readers' Poll, is a pretty fair example of just how far jazz has moved in ...

Han Bennink, John Stevens: It All Began With Chick Webb

Report by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 14 March 1970

SINCE THE days when Chick Webb arrived at a gig armed with gongs, tubular bells, Chinese temple blocks, and an African sunset painted on the ...

Miles Davis, Steve Miller, Neil Young: Neil Young, Steve Miller, Miles Davis: Fillmore East, New York NY

Live Review by Ian Dove, Billboard, 21 March 1970

THE INTEREST in Miles Davis' East Village debut lay in the fact that for the past year he has supposedly been moving towards contemporary rock ...

Sun Ra And The Arkestra: Sound Of Joy (Delmark DS-414)

Review by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 21 March 1970

'El Is A Sound Of Joy'; 'Overtones Of China'; 'Two Tones'; 'Paradise'; 'Planet Earth'; 'Ankh'; 'Saturn'; 'Reflections In Blue'; 'El Viktor'. ...

Bill Evans, Bobby Hutcherson: Both/And, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 25 March 1970

Sailing Along With Jazzman ...

Pharoah Sanders: Pharaoh Sanders: Both/And Club, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 17 April 1970

Pharaoh Sanders Projects Freedom ...

Cannonball Adderley, Miles Davis, Roberta Flack, Charles Mingus: Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, Cannonball Adderley Quintet, Roberta Flack: UC Jazz Festival, Hearst Greek Theater, Berkeley CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 25 April 1970

Miles Davis Stirs Up New Sounds ...

Miles Davis: Both/And, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 6 May 1970

Miles Undeniably Great ...

Frank Sinatra: Watertown (Reprise 1031 American copy)

Review by Lon Goddard, Record Mirror, 9 May 1970

Bloodshot emotion and cool nonchalance ...

Miles Davis: What Made Miles Davis Go Pop?

Interview by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 13 June 1970

Richard Williams talks to bassist Dave Holland in New York. ...

Lonnie Johnson — Bluesman Who Played Jazz

Obituary by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 27 June 1970

LONNIE JOHNSON, who died last week, was a rarity in the blues field — a man who, though a folk artist in certain respects, played ...

Miles Davis: Bitches Brew (CBS 66236)

Review by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 27 June 1970

Bitches Brew an aural acid trip from Miles ...

Sonny Sharrock: Like No Other Guitarist Ever Born

Interview by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 27 June 1970

WARREN "Sonny" Sharrock created one of 1969's most extraordinary musical moments, during a track called 'Chain Of Fools' on Herbie Mann's big-selling Memphis Underground album. ...

Albert Ayler, Ornette Coleman: Albert Ayler: Music is the Healing Force of the Universe (Impulse); Ornette Coleman: Friends and Neighbors (Flying Dutchman)

Review by Richard C. Walls, Creem, July 1970

HERE ARE two new albums by two of the most prominent innovators in music — one album a boring mystery, the other a satisfying continuation ...

Miles Davis: Bitches Brew (Columbia GP 26)

Review by Richard C. Walls, Creem, August 1970

THIS MUSIC seems to inspire a reluctance to talk about it. To talk about it in any specific terms — all the reviews I've read ...

Mose Allison, Chet Baker, Ramsey Lewis: Ramsey Lewis: Basin Street; Chet Baker: El Matador; Mose Allison: Jazz Workshop, all San Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 17 September 1970

Cool Times On Broadway ...

Miles Davis: Rock Is A White Man's Word, Says Miles

Report and Interview by Al Aronowitz, Melody Maker, 17 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 ...

Sun Ra: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London

Live Review by Richard Williams, The Times, 11 November 1970

THE VISUAL element of jazz has always been notoriously conservative, ever since Chick Webb stopped painting jungle sunsets on his bass drum. At the Queen ...

Albert Ayler Dead

Report by uncredited writer, Melody Maker, 12 December 1970

ALBERT AYLER, the revolutionary jazz tenor saxophonist, is dead at the age of 34. ...

Albert Ayler: Beyond This World

Obituary by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 12 December 1970

Richard Williams pays tribute to Albert Ayler ...

Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock: Follow Pianist Herbie Hancock On a Trip into the World of Jazz

Interview by Mike Gormley, Detroit Free Press, 19 December 1970

Meet Miles Davis, Ramsey Lewis And Oscar Peterson To Learn About the Kinds of Music That Are Sneaking into Rock ...

Big Bill Broonzy, Cab Calloway, Dizzy Gillespie, Little Miss Cornshucks, Charlie Parker: Ahmet Ertegün (1971) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by Charlie Gillett, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 1971

This is a transcript of Charlie's audio interview with Ahmet. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...

Miles Davis: Jack Johnson (Columbia S30455)

Review by Dave Marsh, Creem, 1971

MILES' NEW popularity is a puzzle to me. While his previous three records — the almost-perfect In a Silent Way, and the renowned (if, in ...

Thelonious Monk: Mandrake's, Berkeley CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 21 January 1971

Thelonious Monk Plays A Cozy Club ...

Charles Lloyd: Why Lloyd Wants To Play With The Stones

Interview by Jacoba Atlas, Melody Maker, 23 January 1971

CHARLES LLOYD doesn't want to be known as the first jazzman to play the rock halls, Fillmore and Avalon. He says that categorization is demeaning, ...

Alice Coltrane: Ptah The El Daoud (Impulse AS9196)

Review by Dave Marsh, Creem, March 1971

I MIGHT WELL purchase this album before any other recorded in the past year. Alice Coltrane has developed and matured her music into a statement ...

Rahsaan Roland Kirk & the Vibration Society: Rahsaan Rahsaan (Atlantic)

Review by Colman Andrews, Phonograph Record, March 1971

RAHSAAN ROLAND Kirk is an irrepressible wit, musically and verbally; he's also a fine, funky philosopher, an exhilarating entertainer, and one of the best damn ...

Alice Coltrane: Ptah, The El Daoud (Impulse AS-9196 — import)

Review by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 13 March 1971

Mrs Coltrane (piano, harp). Joe Henderson, Pharoah Sanders (tenors, alto flutes), Ron Carter (bass), Ben Riley (drums) New York, 26/1/70. ...

Alan Price, Georgie Fame: Price and Fame: The Name Game

Interview by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 10 April 1971

THERE I WAS sitting interviewing Messrs Fame and Price — or should it be Price and Fame — when this lady walks into the room. ...

Nina Simone: Carnegie Hall, New York NY

Live Review by Mike Jahn, The New York Times, 11 May 1971

Throng Welcomes Nina Simone, Back After Long Absence ...

Nina Simone: Carnegie Hall, New York NY

Live Review by Vicki Wickham, Melody Maker, 22 May 1971

Nina the leader ...

Roberta Flack, The Last Poets, Leon Thomas: Roberta Flack, the Last Poets and Leon Thomas: New Breed Comin' Up

Profile and Interview by uncredited writer, Hit Parader, July 1971

There's a new, young breed of black singers coming up — a breed that is aware of the roots but doesn't get into the funky-jive-fingerpop-boogaloo ...

Louis Armstrong: Armstrong The Man...

Memoir by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 17 July 1971

THE ARMSTRONG STORY has been generously documented, on records and in print, and I'm doing my bit in the latter category. But I won't say ...

Alice Coltrane, John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders: Alice Coltrane: Journey In Satchidananda (Impulse AS-9203)

Review by Nick Tosches, Rolling Stone, 2 September 1971

THIRTY-THREE year-old Alice Coltrane met her late husband in 1963. They were married shortly thereafter and, in late 1966, she replaced McCoy Tyner on the ...

Stan Getz: Ronnie Scott's, London

Live Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 18 September 1971

THERE CAN'T be anything disastrous in the state of jazz while Stan Getz can still be heard in Soho spinning fine-steel threads of melody from ...

Hugh Masekela: the Union of South Africa

Profile and Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 8 October 1971

HUGH MASAKELA is best known in this country for his UNI instrumental hit, 'Grazin' In The Grass', which later provided the Friends of Distinction with ...

Nesuhi Ertegun: The World Is His Manor

Profile and Interview by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 19 October 1971

GEOFFREY CANNON talks to "the most powerful man in the record business outside America" ...

Dexter Gordon, Ben Webster: A Lonely Trumpet Wail in Denmark

Report by Robert Greenfield, Rolling Stone, 9 December 1971

COPENHAGEN — The old black man was sitting in The Montmartre, bobbing his head to the music, snapping his fingers and diggin' on the sounds, ...

Herbie Hancock: Both/And Club, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 19 February 1972

Hancock Carves Out New Sounds ...

Steve Lacy: Moon (BYG Actual 52)

Review by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 4 March 1972

Lacy (soprano), Italo Toni (trombone), Claudio Volente (Clarinet), Irene Aebi (cello), Marcello Melis (bass), Jacques Thollot (drums), Rome, September 1969 ...

Sun Ra & His Solar-Myth Arkestra: The Solar-Myth Approach, Volume 1 (BYG Actuel 40); The Solar-Myth Approach, Volume 2 (BYG Actuel 41)

Review by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 4 March 1972

Ra's solar myth ...

Bill Evans: Music Makers: Bill Evans

Interview by Michael Oberman, Evening Star, The (Washington DC), 18 March 1972

FOR THE third time, the Grammy award for the best jazz album of the year was presented to pianist Bill Evans. ...

Charles Mingus: Charlie Mingus: Let My Children Hear Music (Columbia); The Candid Recordings (Barnaby/Candid)

Review by Dan Nooger, Rock, June 1972

One of the finest bassists and composers of the 20th century ...

Esther Phillips, Part Two

Profile by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, 28 July 1972

IN LATE 1965, came the American release of her second Atlantic album, simply called Esther, with arrangements by veterans Oliver Nelson and Ray Ellis as ...

Wilf Carter (Montana Slim), Lightnin' Hopkins, Hank Snow, Lester Young: Rocking Chair

Column by Michael Lydon, Fusion, September 1972

JUNE TODAY, not busting out in Boston where the sky is as grey as the pigeons, but here. My trip has continued from Bloomington across ...

Archie Shepp

Profile by Nick Tosches, Creem, November 1972

ARCHIE SHEPP was born in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, in 1937. He grew up in the Philadelphia ghetto and later attended Goddard College in Vermont, where ...

Miles Davis

Profile by Colman Andrews, Creem, November 1972

MILES IS AN absolute mother-fucker of a musician. He's just simply one of the most vitally important makers of music that stalks the earth today, ...

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 ...

Billie Holiday, Diana Ross: Lady Sings The Blues (Motown/Paramount Pictures)

Film/DVD/TV Review by Dave Marsh, Creem, December 1972

I had to be darkened down so the show could go on in dynamic-assed Detroit. It's like they say, there's no damn business like show business. ...

Bill Evans: Living Time With Evans

Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 9 December 1972

NONE OF THE other diners appeared to recognise the pianist, but to anyone with jazz inklings he was unmistakable. The long, thick hair, cut page-boy ...

Chuck Mangione

Interview by Rob Bowman, Beetle, 31 December 1972

CHUCK MANGIONE, in case anyone doesn't know, is a brilliant jazz flugel-horn and piano player. When he isn't touring with his quartet (which includes the ...

Bill Bruford, King Crimson: Under the Influence — This Week: Bill Bruford of King Crimson

Interview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 27 January 1973

JOHN McLAUGHLIN: 'Pete The Poet'. From Extrapolation. Fantastic — well, that whole album is. Very fast, tight bop playing and some great drums from Tony ...

Pharoah Sanders: Live At The East (Impulse AS 9227)

Review by Dan Nooger, Crawdaddy!, February 1973

PHAROAH SANDERS' Live At The East is a mellow contrast to the furious power of his previous album, Black Unity, which used a large horn ...

Billy Paul: The Jazz Soul of Billy Paul

Interview by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 10 February 1973

IT'S ODD to hear a black singer from North Philadelphia, who topped the US soul and pop charts a few weeks ago, admit that it ...

Miles Davis: On The Corner (CBS)

Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 17 February 1973

I WAS LYING around listening to Miles Smiles the other day, thinking about how it's a great record. And then I remembered the 30-odd other ...

Miles Davis: On the Corner (Columbia)

Review by Colman Andrews, Creem, March 1973

IT'S SHORT, punchy, beefy music, taut, untattered (tight) and tautological. Tautological? Yes, because it's internally consistent. It's true to its school. Quel school? Well... ...

Diana Ross: Lady Sings The Blues (Tamla Motown TMSP 1131)

Review by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 24 March 1973

Diana hits the big one ...

Grover Washington Jr.

Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 13 April 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 ...

Esther Phillips: Ronnie Scott's Club, London

Live Review by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, 8 June 1973

NO MATTER which aspect of the music appeals to you everyone has one or two artists who they hold up with great reverence against the ...

Mahavishnu Orchestra, John McLaughlin: The Captain Kirk in John McLaughlin

Overview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 7 July 1973

PART 1: IAN MacDONALD CHARTS THE RISE AND RISE OF THE COLOSSUS OF ELECTRIC GUITAR ...

Chet Baker: The Man Who Came Back From The Dead

Report and Interview by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 21 July 1973

The Return of Chet Baker ...

Roberta Flack, Freddie Hubbard, War, Jimmy Witherspoon: War, Roberta Flack, Freddie Hubbard, Jimmy Witherspoon: Shea Stadium, New York NY

Live Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 21 July 1973

War declared at Shea Stadium. ...

Gil Evans: The Vision of Evans

Report and Interview by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 28 July 1973

NO, SAID Gil Evans, he didn't really want to be interviewed. Not until his new album was ready. But why not come round anyway, just ...

Alice Coltrane: Performance by Coltrane promises outstanding jazz

Profile by Dave DiMartino, Michigan State News, 27 September 1973

THIS SUNDAY night promises to be an occasion that campus music lovers will never forget, as the brilliant Alice Coltrane opens up the series of ...

Ben Webster: Big Ben: Max Jones remembers Ben Webster, who died last week

Obituary by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 29 September 1973

SHORTLY AFTER Johnny Hodges died in 1970, Ben Webster said to me that so many of the great saxophone names had passed. He recited them: ...

Randy Weston Finds Himself in Africa

Press Release by Vernon Gibbs, Polydor, November 1973

RANDY WESTON sits in the middle of the hustling, super city of New York, the spiritual capital of the country that 22 million Afro-Americans consider ...

Duke Ellington: Westminster Abbey, London

Live Review by Steve Turner, New Musical Express, 3 November 1973

IF DUKE ELLINGTON was responsible for the banal lyrics accompanying his new composition Sacred Concert which was premiered at Westminster Abbey last week he should ...

Sarah Vaughan: Searching For That Natural Soul Sound

Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 17 November 1973

MARSHALL FISHER, Sarah Vaughan's husband and personal manager, indicated that if I were to call round at the Mayfair Hotel an hour or so before ...

Grover Washington Jr: Grover's Bringing Jazz Back to the Charts

Interview by Tony Cummings, Black Music, December 1973

"IT ALL HAPPENED so fast. One day people weren't listening to jazz — they'd look at an album and say 'This is jazz, this is ...

Reverend Gary Davis, Stefan Grossman, Scott Joplin, David Laibman, Joshua Rifkin: Rag, Mama, Rag

Overview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 5 January 1974

IT IS 1974. A young man in patched blue jeans walks to the front of the folk club, a guitar in his hand. He sits ...

Billy Cobham, Mahavishnu Orchestra: On Leave From Mahavishnu, Drummer Billy Cobham Gets His Chance: Solo

Interview by David Rensin, Rolling Stone, 31 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 ...

Manu Dibango: Manu: Breaking Out of Africa

Profile and Interview by Rob Partridge, Melody Maker, 2 March 1974

Manu Dibango, No. 1 in Africa, has finally broken through in America. Robert Partridge met him in Paris... ...

Ella Fitzgerald: Ronnie Scott's, London

Live Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 6 April 1974

'THERE'LL NEVER Be Another A You' sang the star and a ripple of appreciation warmed to her. By the end of her set, the ripple ...

The Pointer Sisters: That's A Plenty (Blue Thumb)

Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 13 April 1974

Pointers victory! ...

Graham Bond: Pioneer and catalyst

Obituary by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 18 May 1974

Chris Welch pays tribute to Graham Bond, who died last week ...

Scott Joplin: The Great Pianoforte In The Sky     

Retrospective by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 25 May 1974

IT WAS ALMOST as hard as getting to Dylan – but, eventually aided by an agent called Godwin, who knew everybody worth knowing, I was ...

Herbie Hancock, The Headhunters: Rollin' & Tumblin': Head Hunting with Herbie Hancock

Interview by Vernon Gibbs, Crawdaddy!, June 1974

After years of high-quality struggle, one black jazzman has finally hit it big. Were the compromises worth it? ...

Duke Ellington: Jazz's First Great Virtuoso

Obituary by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 1 June 1974

OFTEN, DURING my years of writing on the MM, I have used a phrase such as "there'll always be an Ellington" or "there's always been an ...

Roy Ayers

Interview by John Swenson, Zoo World, 6 June 1974

VIBRAPHONE VIRTUOSO Roy Ayers slouches in a scoop chair in a loose fitting tweed coat, talking with great animation about his latest album, Virgo Red. He smiles ...

Pharoah Sanders has been here and gone

Retrospective by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 22 June 1974

BRIAN CASE delves back into the jumping New York scene of the '60s, to a time when avant garde musicians like Ornette Coleman, Archie Shepp, ...

Miles Davis: Big Fun (Columbia)

Review by Vernon Gibbs, Phonograph Record, July 1974

SO MANY expletives have been deleted in praise of this honorable sage, that I feel it necessary to set the record straight. Miles Davis is ...

Gladys Knight, O'Jays: Soul Man: "Cholly" Atkins

Profile and Interview by Vernon Gibbs, Crawdaddy!, July 1974

THE MAN who taught the Temptations their strut, the Pips their dip, the Miracles their whip... takes it all in stride. ...

Albert Ayler: The Holy Ghost

Retrospective by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 6 July 1974

Gothic horror, funeral processions, The Exorcist ten years early on a crazed tenor. The critics loathed it. Audiences stayed away in droves. ALBERT AYLER. Have ...

Mose Allison

Interview by Chrissie Hynde, New Musical Express, 6 July 1974

The cool gentleman above is MOSE ALLISON. Among others, he penned 'Young Man Blues', 'Live The Life I Love', and 'Parchman Farm'. Randy Newman's spiritual ...

Gil Evans, Jimi Hendrix: Gil Evans: Jazzing Up Jimi

Interview by Ian Dove, Rolling Stone, 18 July 1974

Evans gave Hendrix's music an orchestral workout. ...

Freddie Hubbard, Stanley Turrentine: Freddie Hubbard and Stanley Turrentine: In Concert (CTI 6044)

Review by Vernon Gibbs, Phonograph Record, August 1974

THERE IS something I don't like about Side One of this album and it's hard to say what it is. One thing I do know ...

Mickey Baker: l00 Club, London

Live Review by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 10 August 1974

THE EPITHET "Living blues legend" has been much overworked. but in Mickey Baker's case it doesn't even begin to be adequate. He's that, and so ...

Kool and the Gang, Nancy Wilson: Nancy Wilson, Kool and The Gang: The Apollo Theater, New York NY

Live Review by Vernon Gibbs, Phonograph Record, September 1974

"SING BLACK!," one dissenter shouted at Nancy Wilson who was the headliner at an Apollo show which included the comedy of Dick Gregory and was ...

Miles Davis: Young Man with a Horn

Retrospective by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 14 September 1974

THE EARLY YEARS OF MILES DAVIS: on the bandstand with Bird where changes came fast and tricky... to keep fools away. ...

Miles Davis: Not Waving But Drowning?

Retrospective by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 28 September 1974

Miles Dewey Davis, Part Two...in which the temperamental Frank Sinatra of jazz swings a pugnacious blow at the faithful by blowing a little jazz-rock ...

Duke Ellington: Harry Carney, an appreciation: A great sax man

Obituary by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 12 October 1974

JAZZ SAXOPHONIST Harry Carney died at age 64 a few days ago in New York City. ...

Mose Allison, Syreeta: Bottom Line, New York NY

Live Review by Ian Dove, Rolling Stone, 24 October 1974

SYREETA WRIGHT'S exhortations were built around Stevie Wonder, whose name was mentioned often and with reverence throughout the performance. Syreeta left no doubt that she ...

Herbie Hancock Sells In

Profile by Colman Andrews, Phonograph Record, November 1974

ALL OF A sudden you wake up one morning and find that Herbie Hancock has three albums on the charts. Herbie Hancock, one-time enfant terrible ...

Sun Ra: Space Is The Place (Dir. John Coney)

Film/DVD/TV Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 14 November 1974

A timeless — also plotless — film of Sun Ra ...

Herbie Hancock: "I've already broken down a lot of barriers. Now I'm stamping them into the ground..."

Profile and Interview by Tony Cummings, Black Music, January 1975

Herbie Hancock — voted top jazz artist of 1974 by Black Music readers — talks to Tony Cummings ...

The Pasadena Roof Orchestra: Up On The Roof

Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 4 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 ...

Art Ensemble of Chicago: The Art Ensemble of Chicago: Like Hi Man, I's Yo New Neighbour

Report and Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 11 January 1975

Yep, it's a tough town and the music fits like a glove. BRIAN CASE meets The Art Ensemble of Chicago on their home patch. ...

Peggy Lee: Let's Love (Atlantic)

Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 18 January 1975

"The landing lights of the jetliners flickered in the night sky. The smell of hashish wafted across from the hippy section." ...

John Coltrane: The Trane now waiting on p.30...

Retrospective by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 25 January 1975

...was no cheap day-excursion, bub. This guy went all the way — heap far out, kemo-sabe. JOHN COLTRANE, him make mighty spirit music. BRIAN CASE, ...

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 ...

Carla Bley, Michael Mantler: Michael Mantler: No Answer; Carla Bley: Tropic Appetites (Watt)

Review by Richard C. Walls, Creem, February 1975

THE TAYLOR-Burton of the avant-garde music set have formed their own record label and on their first two offerings we find Mike taking on that ...

Mahavishnu Orchestra, John McLaughlin: John McLaughlin: Phew! — This is a Jolly Interesting Article!

Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 1 February 1975

— And BOY! has it got a lot in it! First, there's the full gen on Miles Davis, plus all the top-secret stuff about In ...

Chick Corea, Return to Forever: Chick Corea: Playing the Harmonics of a Hotel Ass Cushion

Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 8 February 1975

...among other harmonics of course. The piano man describes the development of his new outlook to BRIAN CASE ...

Louis Jordan: A First Class Original

Obituary by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 15 February 1975

MAX JONES pays tribute to a fine blues singer/alto player ...

Dollar Brand/Abdullah Ibrahim: Dollar Brand: Improvisations on Life

Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 29 March 1975

DOLLAR BRAND don't take music lightly. No sir! So fasten your seat-belts please for a guided tour of Allah, the meaning of life, Africa, the ...

Alphonse Mouzon: Meet the Seaside Landlady's Nightmare

Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 12 April 1975

Your delicate NME representative cowers under his seat in the hotel lounge while Alphonse Mouzon ('my real name's Manny Finkelbaum') lives up to his heavy rep as ...

Carla Bley: Arrangements for the Death Dance

Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 26 April 1975

The socio-musical thoughts of Carla Bley ...

Cecil Taylor: Five Spot, New York, NY

Live Review by Lita Eliscu, Phonograph Record, May 1975

QUINTESSENTIAL JAZZ club, even has patina of history: the perfect place for Cecil Taylor to express his music after a long hiatus. The small stage ...

Gary Burton, Keith Jarrett: Keith Jarrett, Gary Burton: Royce Hall, UCLA, Los Angeles, California

Live Review by Colman Andrews, Phonograph Record, May 1975

ONE OF A series of recent jazz concerts at UCLA was to have featured Keith Jarrett on solo piano followed by the Gato Barbieri group. ...

Ella Fitzgerald: Queen of Song

Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 3 May 1975

Ella Fitzgerald — who has just completed a week at London's Ronnie Scott club — talks to MAX JONES ...

Ronnie Scott: The East End whizz kid who copped the bop

Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 17 May 1975

FEATURING THE RONNIE SCOTT STORY, IN GLORIOUS BRIANCASERAMA ...

Cecil Taylor: Ladies and gentlemen, please adjust your re-entry goggles

Profile and Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 7 June 1975

...CECIL TAYLOR has left the Stanford-Binet scale and is still climbing fast. The treble clusters are zipping into the stratosphere. The memory banks have blown. ...

Frank Sinatra: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 7 June 1975

Forever doobeedoobee beedoobeedoo ...

Frank Sinatra: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 7 June 1975

Charming Frank ...

John Coltrane, Elvin Jones, Sonny Rollins: Elvin Jones: This Is The Surgeon Who Pared The Flab

Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 21 June 1975

His name? ELVIN JONES — the man who dissected drum technique, put it together with new muscles, and has been demonstrating the product at Ronnie ...

The Brecker Brothers

Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 8 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 ...

Perspectives on Ralph J. Gleason

Memoir by Al Aronowitz, Rolling Stone, 17 July 1975

RALPH GLEASON got hooked on music when he was a high school kid in Chappaqua, New York, back in the early '30s. You gotta dig ...

Billy Cobham: When This Man Plays Drums, He Thinks Of A Box Trying To Roll

Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 26 July 1975

BRIAN CASE interviews BILLY COBHAM, the Buddy Rich of the seventies. ...

Cannonball Adderley: Cannonball — Sax Supremo

Obituary by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 16 August 1975

Chris Welch remembers Julian Adderley, who died on Friday ...

Cecil Taylor: A Piano is an Orchestra

Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 16 August 1975

...says CECIL TAYLOR, a controversial figure ever since he erupted at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1957 with his quartet, but even those who dislike ...

The Brecker Brothers: Everythin's All White

Profile by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 23 August 1975

...

Frank Sinatra: The Reprise Years

Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 13 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 ...

Quincy Jones: Mellow Genius

Profile and Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 16 September 1975

AFTER TWENTY years of giving others success, Quincy Jones is only now finally getting his just deserts — borne out by the rapid rise up ...

Art Blakey: "All This Rock Noise. It's Gotta Go. It's Not True."

Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 8 November 1975

Sez who? Sez ART BLAKEY. Art's got an opinion on most subjects. So d'you wanna hear a discourse on world problems? Drummers who use huge ...

Count Basie, Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan: Frank Sinatra, Count Basie, Sarah Vaughan: Palladium, London

Live Review by Philip Norman, The Times, 15 November 1975

THE EMERGENCE of Frank Sinatra from retirement has become as regular a ceremony as when Lloyd George or Churchill used to be wheeled out on ...

Ramsey Lewis: Don't It Feel Good

Profile and Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 25 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 ...

Victoria Spivey: Queen of the Blues

Profile and Interview by Richard Harrington, Unicorn Times, December 1975

HALFWAY INTO her 70th year, Victoria Spivey is a queen with a diminishing court. She is perhaps the last of the great women blues singers, ...

Wayne Shorter, Weather Report: Wayne Shorter: The Sunny Weatherman

Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 6 December 1975

TO SAY that Wayne Shorter looked happy would be the understatement of the year. ...

Weather Report: New Victoria, London

Live Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 6 December 1975

TO MYSTERIOSO OR not to mysterioso – that was the question facing Weather Report last Thursday at nine p.m. ...

Al Jarreau: It's a bit early for New Year predictions, but here's one: Al Jarreau

Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 13 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. ...

The Pasadena Roof Orchestra: Pasadena Uber Alles!

Report and Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 13 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." ...

Weather Report: Wayne Shorter Cuts It

Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 13 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 ...

Art Blakey, Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter, Weather Report: Wayne Shorter: From Mr. Weird to the Hollywood Hills

Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 13 December 1975

Here's WAYNE SHORTER taking care of business. TCB. And what business — taking in the days with Maynard, the Messengers, and Miles right through to today's WEATHER ...

Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Lionel Hampton, Artie Shaw: It Don't Mean a Thing if it ain't got that Swing!

Retrospective by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 17 January 1976

'SWING IS HERE' was the title of a 1936 recording by Gene Krupa and his All-Stars featuring the molten trumpet of Roy "Little Jazz" Eldridge. ...

Charlie Mingus: Charles Mingus: Beneath The Underdog (Penguin paperback 75p)

Book Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 24 January 1976

Mingus hits out ...

Gil Scott-Heron (1976) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by Cliff White, Rock's Backpages transcripts, February 1976

This is a transcript of Cliff's audio interview with Gil. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...

John Martyn, Danny Thompson: Danny Thompson: Man of Many Parts

Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 21 February 1976

THE NEWS that Danny Thompson is getting back into jazz will please the many who have missed the big, fat tone of his bass during ...

Julie Tippetts, Isaac Guillory: Kings College, London

Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 6 March 1976

"I'M NERVOUS." ...

Hugh Masekela: Africa's Ambassador To The USA

Interview by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, 9 March 1976

Our diplomatic correspondent in Los Angeles talks to Hugh Masekela, one of Africa's favourite sons. ...

The Pasadena Roof Orchestra: Pasadena Roof Orchestra — Live

Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 20 March 1976

ONE OF MY happiest nights in years was spent in a dark, sweltering and cramped club in Hamburg towards the end of 1975. It was ...

Tony Bennett: Return of the singer's singer

Interview by Ivor Davis, Daily Express, 21 April 1976

Ivor Davis finding what put Tony Bennett into that elusive big league ...

Horace Silver: Phil T. McNasty, Hippy Dippy outa Detroit, and other characters

Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 1 May 1976

HORACE LOOKED like a greyhound in a basket. Knees pulled up to his chin, high shoulders canted up under the lobes of his ears, hands ...

Sonny Rollins: Outlook Sonny

Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 29 May 1976

SONNY ROLLINS. Mister Big. BRIAN CASE'S main man on a bad line. Case fumbles the introductory bouquet... emerges with a satisfied smile. ...

Tom Waits: Warm Beer, Cold Women

Interview by Mick Brown, Sounds, 12 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 ...

Nancy Wilson: Nancy A Woman Of Today...

Interview by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, 15 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 ...

Robert Wyatt: The Wild Spume of His Hair Broke Over My Bowsprit

Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 26 June 1976

...and I felt the tape line tauten on my cassette recorder as ROBERT WYATT plunged forward into the waves. ...

Mel Tormé: Velvet Peasouper Blankets West End

Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 24 July 1976

MEL TORMÉ talks LIKE THIS. He has VERY STRONG OPINIONS and also DOESN'T LIKE cigarette SMOKE. ...

Albert King Delineates the Blues...

Interview by Lita Eliscu, Phonograph Record, August 1976

Lita Eliscu Listens! ...

Keith Jarrett: America's #1 Keyboard Star

Overview by Colman Andrews, Phonograph Record, August 1976

KEITH JARRETT is the first genuine keyboard star of the seventies. Zawinul, Herbie Hancock, and Chick Corea are stars of a sort, and can certainly ...

Cannonball Adderley, Count Basie, Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, Sun Ra: OK, smarty, so how do y'shift the whole world off its axis?

Report by Brian Case, New Musical Express, August 1976

Simple. SUN RA knew that one way back. Every musician on the planet just gotta play a C7th — all at the same time. While ...

Herbie Hancock, The Headhunters: Herbie Hancock: 'Ancock An' The 'Ead 'Unters

Profile and Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 24 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 ...

George Benson: Mr Bad Makes Good

Interview by Robin Katz, Sounds, 4 September 1976

VETERAN JAZZ guitarist George 'Bad' Benson recently went to school to pick up his young son. Upon arrival, a group of eager young schoolkids clustered ...

Sun Ra

Guide by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 4 September 1976

WHEN IT comes to buying records, what's a bargain? Probably the best value I ever had was paying a princely 75 pence for a mint ...

Cab Calloway: Of Minnie the Moocher and a Cab with ciass

Profile and Interview by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 6 September 1976

CAB CALLOWAY, sharp, nimble, full of stories and laughs, moved through the noontime crowd at the Washington Square Bar and Grill and onto the sundrenched ...

John Handy: Jazzman's new direction

Profile by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 15 September 1976

"HARD WORK," that's what John Handy and his band chanted... Handy blew on the alto sax, the audience at Keystone Korner clapped along in a ...

Leon Thomas: Baker's Keyboard Lounge, Detroit MI

Live Review by Frank Bach, The Ann Arbor Sun, 17 September 1976

VOCALIST LEON Thomas has seen work with everybody from Count Basie to Pharoah Sanders in the last twenty years and is probably one of the most innovative singers alive today. As ...

Asleep at the Wheel, Doug Sahm, Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys: Doug Sahm, Asleep At the Wheel, Bob Wills: I Hear Miles and Miles of Texas

Overview by Joe Sasfy, Unicorn Times, October 1976

THE CHILDE Harold could have billed it as a mini-folk festival. Mini 'cause only two acts appeared, Doug Sahm and his Texas Tornadoes on a ...

Don Cherry, Richard Davis, Billy Taylor: Jazz In The Seventies

Report and Interview by Lita Eliscu, Phonograph Record, November 1976

OVER THE last few years, iazz has re-achieved, to use an inelegant word, the enthusiastic encouragement of a new and important audience: people with money ...

Sonny Rollins, McCoy Tyner, Muddy Waters: Muddy Waters, McCoy Tyner, Sonny Rollins: New Victoria Theatre, London

Live Review by Brian Case, Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 6 November 1976

GETTIN' BACK TO IT: MUDDY WATERS, McCOY TYNER & SONNY ROLLINS brought Newport to London's New Victoria Theatre on Saturday. CSM & BRIAN CASE went ...

Betty Carter: Ronnie Scott's, London

Live Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 20 November 1976

A NEW EXPERIENCE awaits the visitors to Ronnie Scott's in London, this week or next, in the extrovert person of Betty Carter, a wholly original ...

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. ...

Erroll Garner: Musical Magician

Obituary by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 15 January 1977

WRITERS SOMETIMES referred to him as the "Wizard of the Ivories," which is to be expected, and at least one of his EP records bore ...

Rahsaan Roland Kirk: Kirk's Works

Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 15 January 1977

In spite of a stroke, multi-instrumentalist RAHSAAN ROLAND KIRK is still hangin' in there, copying carpets and capturing the sound of the sun. ...

"Brother" Jack McDuff, Jimmy McGriff, 'Big' John Patton, Jimmy Smith: Record Shops and Hammond B3s

Memoir by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 5 February 1977

RICHARD WILLIAMS Writing every week in the MM ...

George Benson, The Blackbyrds, Donald Byrd, Norman Connors, Hank Crawford, The Crusaders, Miles Davis, Lou Donaldson, Herbie Hancock, Eddie Harris, Ahmad Jamal, Earl Klugh, Ramsey Lewis, Wes Montgomery, Jimmy Smith, Stuff, Stanley Turrentine, Miroslav Vitous, Grover Washington Jr, Weather Report, Reuben Wilson: Blow for Love and Money: Crossover Jazz in the Seventies

Overview by Davitt Sigerson, Black Music, March 1977

In the first part of a detailed investigation Davitt Sigerson chronicles how "jazz" found its way back to the commercial big league. ...

Les McCann: Musical philosophy and stimulation for the walking dead...

Interview by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, 15 March 1977

Les McCann feels strongly about the apathy and inadequacy that engulfs people today. His River High, River Low album pinpoints a lot of human problems, ...

Roy Ayers, Gato Barbieri, Brothers Johnson, Norman Connors, Eumir Deodato, John Handy, Michael Henderson, Bob James, Quincy Jones, Ronnie Laws, Herbie Mann, Harvey Mason, Lee Ritenour, Lalo Schifrin, Lonnie Liston Smith, Gabor Szabo, Grover Washington Jr, Wah-Wah Watson: Blow for Love and Money part 2: Since The Explosion

Overview by Davitt Sigerson, Black Music, April 1977

In part two of his analysis of crossover jazz, Davitt Sigerson looks at developments during the last three years. ...

John Coltrane:The Other Village Vanguard Tapes

Review by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 9 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 ...

Valerie Wilmer: "Art is a luxury. Music is a functional thing."

Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 7 May 1977

Photographer-writer VALERIE WILMER opts for unlearning and the sovereignty of the heart ...

George Benson: Benson Hedges His Bets...

Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 28 May 1977

When 'jazz guitar' rises on the Dow-Jones Index you know there's been a crossover. GEORGE BENSON made the switch from beret to broader base but ...

Herbie Hancock: V.S.O.P.

Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 28 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, New Musical Express, 18 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. ...

Herbie Hancock's V.S.O.P.: Greek Theatre, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Colman Andrews, Phonograph Record, August 1977

"V.S.O.P." — Herbie Hancock's Reunion ...

Marlena Shaw : Marlena Shaw: Sweet Beginnings

Interview by John Abbey, David Nathan, Blues & Soul, 2 August 1977

Re-united with producer Bert deCoteaux at Columbia, Ms. Shaw has really started to blossom. David Nathan and John Abbey gather th' fax from th' lady… ...

Bing Crosby: A legend takes up where he left off

Interview by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 11 August 1977

IT USED to be said that Bing Crosby's was the best-known voice in the world, and that his films and wartime appearances in the 1940s ...

Art Ensemble of Chicago, Roscoe Mitchell: Roscoe Mitchell: Union Tower Room, Michigan State University, East Lansing MI; Art Ensemble of Chicago: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor MI

Live Review by Dave DiMartino, Michigan State News, 15 November 1977

Roscoe Mitchell returns ...

Stan Getz: You Getz what you deservz

Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 26 November 1977

...Says Stan the Tenorman, with no time for hard luck stories and strong opinions on everything. He talks to BRIAN CASE ...

Rahsaan Roland Kirk

Obituary by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 6 December 1977

BLIND JAZZ multi-instrumentalist Rahsaan Roland Kirk died of a stroke early Monday morning after finishing a performance at an Indianapolis club. He was 41. ...

Rahsaan Roland Kirk: Requiem For Rahsaan

Obituary by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 17 December 1977

THE DEATH of Rahsaan Roland Kirk at the age of 41, shortly after playing two concerts with his group, The Vibration Society, at Indiana University ...

Bobbi Humphrey: Bobbi Means Business

Interview by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, 20 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 ...

Carla Bley: The Carla Bley Band: Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti MI

Live Review by Dave DiMartino, Michigan State News, 16 January 1978

Bley makes American debut ...

Roy Ayers, Idris Muhammad: Avery Fisher Hall, New York NY

Live Review by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, 17 January 1978

Ayers/Muhammad: funk in the snow ...

Blues Incorporated, Graham Bond, Colosseum, Cyril Davies, Dick Heckstall-Smith, Alexis Korner, John Mayall: Dick Heckstall-Smith: He Didn't Make A Million...

Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 28 January 1978

Although he paid a lot of dues — with Korner, Bond, Mayall, Colosseum and a handful of Rolling Stones — veteran R 'n' B tenorman ...

Art Pepper, Before And After Life

Profile and Interview by Roy Carr, Brian Case, New Musical Express, 11 February 1978

And still going strong. The alto legend is working again after beating heroin addiction and 12 years in jail. ...

The Blackbyrds: 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 ...

Miles Davis, Gil Evans: Gil Evans: Sketches of Gil

Interview by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 4 March 1978

At the end of his first-ever British tour, Gil Evans, jazz arranger extraordinary and mentor of Miles Davis, talks to Richard Williams ...

Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock: Carnegie Hall, New York NY

Live Review by John Swenson, Rolling Stone, 23 March 1978

Corea and Hancock go full circle ...

Herb Alpert, Hugh Masekela: Herb Alpert and Hugh Masekela: Herb and Hugh Fusion

Report and Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 28 March 1978

Herb Alpert and Hugh Masekela explain their Tijuana Meets Africa project ...

Chet Baker: You Can't Go Home Again (Horizon)

Review by Richard C. Walls, Creem, April 1978

IN 1953 CHET Baker was jazz's fair haired boy, young white West Coast lyrical soft trumpet player and, with Gerry Mulligan's pianoless quartet, as famous ...

Joe Sample: Rainbow Seeker (ABC Import)

Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 1 April 1978

SEARCH AND DEPLOY ...

Dexter Gordon: The Exile's Return

Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 27 May 1978

Fashion and fate have dealt a few blows — but now DEXTER GORDON is cutting in, recapturing America and standing CBS on its head. The ...

Mel Tormé: Tormé writes about a singer, but not himself

Interview by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 16 June 1978

YOUR ONLY contact with Mel Tormé has been while he was performing (singing, playing piano or drums, joking). So you've really only gotten a sample ...

Howard Johnson, Taj Mahal: Howard Johnson: He's Got His HoJo Working..

Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 17 June 1978

HOWARD JOHNSON has played with everybody — from Mingus and Taj Mahal to Lennon and The Band. And he won't hear a word against his ...

Willie Nelson: Stardust (Columbia JC 55505)

Review by Ariel Swartley, Rolling Stone, 29 June 1978

WHEN COUNTRY singers go back to their roots, the album's usually called Amazing Grace, but Willie Nelsons never been known for his orthodoxy. Instead of ...

Anthony Braxton: Living In The Dynamic Operating Arena

Profile and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 26 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. ...

Freddie Hubbard: Chokin' On The Eezi Spred...

Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 26 August 1978

FREDDIE HUBBARD tried a slice garnished a la Creed Taylor but the taste proved unsatisfactory. Here's how. ...

Art Blakey, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Lester Young: Blue Note Records: Young, gifted... and Blue

Discography by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 2 September 1978

Chris Welch examines the legacy of Blue Note, the pioneering label currently being re-promoted ...

Frank Sinatra: Royal Festival Hall, London

Live Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 16 September 1978

"SINATRA IS Sinatra, and this is perfect," someone once wrote about one of his movies. That sentence would, I imagine, sum up the feelings of ...

Weather Report: Mr. Gone

Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 21 October 1978

WEATHER REPORT are suffering an identity crisis which has completely mitigated the potential of Mr. Gone. Their unwillingness to pursue the avenues of progression opened ...

Oregon: Out Of The Woods

Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 18 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 ...

Albert Ayler: The Village Concerts (Impulse IA-9336/2, two LPs, US import.)

Review by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 9 December 1978

The beauty of Ayler ...

Eddie Henderson

Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 19 December 1978

Eddie Henderson: I didn't get where I am today by not being danceable... ...

Charles Mingus, Joni Mitchell: Charles Mingus, Jazz Pioneer, Dead

Obituary by Wayne Robins, Newsday, 9 January 1979

CHARLES MINGUS, the innovative jazz composer, band leader and bassist, died Friday night in Cuernavaca, Mexico. He was 56. ...

Charlie Mingus: Charles Mingus's Sound of Love

Obituary by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 20 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 ...

Charles Mingus: Charlie Mingus: April 22, 1922 — Jan 5, 1979

Obituary by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 20 January 1979

SOME TIME back a 'friend' borrowed a large number of my jazz albums — and sold them. All I can say is that the rip-off ...

Roy Ayers: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Davitt Sigerson, Melody Maker, 10 February 1979

THE WITTY, sham-fundamentalist introductions of trumpeter John Mosley were not the only examples of crowd manipulation at Roy Ayers' packed Hammersmith appearance. Despite no sets ...

Art Ensemble of Chicago: Lester Bowie: Gittin' to Know Y'all

Interview by Brian Case, Melody Maker, 24 February 1979

LESTER BOWIE plays trumpet the way Leo Watson scats. His music is a funfair hall of mirrors with as many straight lines as a switchback ...

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 ...

Art Ensemble of Chicago: The Roundhouse, London

Live Review by Brian Case, Melody Maker, 31 March 1979

PROBABLY THE only unanswered question by now for most of their followers on this side of The Big Moist, is how they look when they ...

Art Ensemble of Chicago: The Art Ensemble of Chicago: The Roundhouse, London

Live Review by Brian Case, Melody Maker, 31 March 1979

PROBABLY THE only unanswered question by now for most of their followers on this side of The Big Moist, is how they look when they ...

Chet Baker: The Price Of A Golden Horn

Interview by Brian Case, Melody Maker, 14 April 1979

If they gave rebates on overpaid dues, Chet Baker could buy Monte Carlo. BRIAN CASE found the Cool Generation's tragic hero still fighting off the ...

Natalie Cole: The Natalie Cole interview

Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 24 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 "Cleanhead" Vinson: 100 Club, London

Live Review by Brian Case, Melody Maker, 16 June 1979

CLEANHEAD MAY have lost his hair, but whisps of Charlie's Wig cluster about his alto. In fact, everything about his performance preserves the flavour of ...

Charles Mingus, Joni Mitchell: Joni Mitchell: Mingus

Review by Rosalind Russell, Record Mirror, 30 June 1979

IF YOU WERE to point an accusing finger at me and say I'd no qualifications to review a jazz album, I'd agree with you in ...

Lena Horne: One Way to Raise a Roof

Interview by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 21 July 1979

Mick Brown meets the new-fangled Lena Horne ...

Charles Mingus, Joni Mitchell: Joni Mitchell: Mingus (Asylum)

Review by Ariel Swartley, Rolling Stone, 6 September 1979

The babe in bopperland and the great jazz composer ...

Don Cherry: Black Gypsy, Folk Dreams

Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 22 September 1979

Probably the only person who isn't surprised to find Don Cherry playing on the Slits' tour is Cherry himself. Since his apprenticeship with free-jazz guru ...

Sun Ra: Squat Theatre, New York NY

Live Review by Davitt Sigerson, Melody Maker, 22 September 1979

Panto time with Sun Ra ...

The Crusaders: It's A Street Life In The Crusaders

Profile and Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 22 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 ...

Nina Simone: Lady Trashes The Blues

Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 29 September 1979

Nina Simone's concerts are almost as nerve-racking as her turbulent personal life, which makes it easy to see her as a weird, tragic mixture of Billie Holiday and Judy Garland. KARL ...

Don Cherry, Creation Rebel, The Slits: The Slits, Don Cherry & Happy House, Prince Hammer & Creation Rebel: New Theatre, Oxford

Live Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 29 September 1979

THE LAST time I talked about the Slits was centred around a disorientating weekend in Liverpool at the beginning of this year — a shaky ...

Walter/Wendy Carlos, Chicory Tip, The Chipmunks, Devo, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Fad Gadget, The Human League, Jean Michel Jarre, M, Giorgio Moroder, Gary Numan, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, Todd Rundgren, Donna Summer, Telex, Tonto's Expanding Head Band, The Tubes, Frank Zappa: The Concise NME Guide To Electronic Music & Synthesised Sound PART TWO — Synthesisers

Overview by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 12 January 1980

POMP THE trouble with synthesisers is actually playing them, accepting their status as sound-generators and starting from scratch. Mechanical keyboards were included in early synth ...

James Blood Ulmer: Tales Of Captain Black (Artists House)

Review by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 26 January 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. ...

The Flying Lizards: The Flying Lizards (Virgin)

Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 2 February 1980

CHEWING ON a typically hilarious John Cage memoir, digesting the Formalist perfection, the Formalist splendour, I realise that absolutely nothing is demonstrated beyond the demonstration ...

Defunkt: Trax, New York

Live Review by Roy Trakin, Melody Maker, 9 February 1980

EVEN THE decidedly old-wave, uptown industry water-hole Trax has caught the Funk Flu that's hit this borough like an epidemic. People are dancing to progressive, ...

Babs Gonzales: Gone — Babs Gonzales

Obituary by Brian Case, Melody Maker, 9 February 1980

BABS GONZALES, who died of cancer on January 23, was one of those frantic Forties bebop hipsters who seem to broom but fractionally ahead of ...

The Lounge Lizards: Orchestrating the Apocalypse

Interview by Mary Harron, Melody Maker, 23 February 1980

With the Ayatollah snapping at America's ankles and the World tottering on the brink, the Lounge Lizards reckon they've found the palliative: 'fake jazz'. MARY ...

Dollar Brand/Abdullah Ibrahim: Dollar Brand: Camden Town Hall, London

Live Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 15 March 1980

A LITTLE South African night music; Dollar Brand — or Abdullah Ibrahim as he now prefers — and two 50 minute sets of solo piano, ...

Don Cherry, Ornette Coleman: Old and New Dreams: Schoenberg Hall, UCLA, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 18 March 1980

JAZZ: OLD AND NEW DREAMS AT UCLA ...

Ornette Coleman: Homage To Ornette Coleman

Profile by Don Snowden, L.A. Weekly, 20 March 1980

TEN YEARS ago my curiosity was piqued by some favorable jazz reviews in Rolling Stone. (This, of course, was an era when RS recommendations meant ...

Arthur Blythe: In The Tradition (Columbia)

Review by Richard C. Walls, Creem, April 1980

WITH HIS Columbia debut last year (Lenox Avenue Breakdown), alto saxist Arthur Blythe achieved, after a protracted apprenticeship on the L.A. and N.Y. scenes, a ...

8-Eyed Spy, Albert Ayler, James Chance & the Contortions, Miles Davis: Free Jazz/Punk Rock

Essay by Lester Bangs, Musician, April 1980

IN A New York City nightclub, a skinny little Caucasian whose waterfall hairstyle and set of snout and lips make him look like a sullen ...

Miles Davis, Jack DeJohnette: Jack DeJohnette: More Than One Way

Interview by Don Snowden, L.A. Weekly, 1 May 1980

"PEOPLE ARE beginning to take notice that I'm not just a drummer who plays piano or a piano player who plays drums," says Jack DeJohnette. ...

Art Pepper: Ronnie Scott's, London

Live Review by Richard Williams, The Times, 19 June 1980

The jazzman personified ...

Tom Browne: Love Approach (Arista/GRP 5008)

Review by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 12 August 1980

'Funkin' For Jamaica (N.Y.)'; 'Her Silent Smile'; 'Forever More'; 'Dreams Of Loving You'; 'Nocturne'; 'Martha'; 'Moon Rise'; 'Weak In The Knees' ...

Max Roach: Evolutionary Forces

Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 23 August 1980

A prime mover in the Bebop era, Max Roach knows all about revolution. He tells KARL DALLAS that revolution without foundation is doomed, and warns ...

Art Ensemble of Chicago: The Art Ensemble of Chicago: Dressing Up To Play

Interview by Brian Case, Melody Maker, 30 August 1980

The Art Ensemble's percussionist, Famoudou Don Moye, levels, bevels and revels in costume. BRIAN CASE sits and watches ...

George Melly: The Venue, London

Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 3 October 1980

ONE CAN think of few people other than George Melly who could spend the early part of an evening speaking eloquently on a television literary ...

Derek Bailey, Evan Parker: Derek Bailey and Evan Parker: Playhouse, Century City CA

Live Review by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 18 October 1980

GUITARIST DEREK Bailey and saxophonist Evan Parker's sold-out performance at the Century City Playhouse Wednesday night drew a diverse crowd that included jazzman Vinny Golia ...

Ornette Coleman, James "Blood" Ulmer: James Blood Ulmer and Ornette Coleman: The Adventures of Captain Blood

Interview by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 25 October 1980

"Being poor is not because money doesn’t exist and being rich doesn’t mean you know everything. But in America, art has more to do with ...

Sun Ra Returns From Hyperspace

Profile and Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 4 April 1981

SUN RA doesn't take a back seat to anyone when it comes to transforming a live performance into a musical and visual spectacle. ...

Defunkt: Debunking the Funk

Interview by Paolo Hewitt, Melody Maker, 13 June 1981

BOWIE (JOE) beats the Apple and subverts Paulo Hewitt ...

Mike Westbrook: Present use of the past tense

Profile and Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 13 June 1981

IT WAS AN appropriate setting to meet Mike Westbrook, perhaps the most decidedly English of all jazzmen: an English garden. ...

Defunkt: The Venue, London

Live Review by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, 20 June 1981

PRESENTING upwardly mobile uptown jazz/funk from New York, Defunkt are a sharp six-piece fronted by the ever-cool Joe Bowie, who plays trombone, conducts the band ...

James Chance: Save The Last Chance For Me!

Interview by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 20 June 1981

Sax and drugs and contorted soul – Ian Penman meets his hero in another instalment of conversations with James Chance. London 1981. ...

Ornette Coleman: Focus on Sanity

Interview by Brian Case, Melody Maker, 27 June 1981

The legendary innovator ORNETTE COLEMAN at the ballet. Up on his points in bright green tutu is Brian Case. ...

Miles Davis: Kool Jazz Festival, New York

Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 25 July 1981

Miles behind ...

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. ...

Don Cherry: Jazz's Exotic Strains

Report and Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 3 October 1981

Don Cherry and His Magic Musical Memory ...

Miles Davis: The Man With The Horn (Columbia)

Review by Richard C. Walls, Creem, November 1981

MILES FINALLY RELEASES THE PAUSE BUTTON ...

Louis Moholo, Archie Shepp: Archie Shepp, Louis Moholo: Camden Jazz Week, the Roundhouse, London

Live Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 7 November 1981

GET DOWN, SHEPP! ...

Carla Bley Band: Camden Jazz Week, the Roundhouse, London

Live Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 7 November 1981

PERCHED AT the organ and squinting through her big spectacles at the music, Carla Bley faced the horn players in her group like some loopy ...

James Chance & the Contortions, Ornette Coleman, Defunkt, Ronald Shannon Jackson, The Lounge Lizards, James Blood Ulmer: Will Punk Jazz Replace The Sounds Of Funk?

Overview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 15 November 1981

PUNK JAZZ? It's hard to imagine a more unlikely musical combination. Punk rock favors short, fast songs and disparages musical technique in favor of "anyone-can-do-it" ...

James Blood Ulmer: Jazz Gets a Blood Transfusion: James Blood Ulmer

Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 28 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 ...

Billy Eckstine: Hot under the collar

Interview by Brian Case, Melody Maker, 2 January 1982

BILLY ECKSTINE lets the good anecdotes roll. Notebook: Brian Case ...

Bob Stewart: Tuba, or not tuba?

Interview by Brian Case, Melody Maker, 9 January 1982

This could be the age of the tuba players... time for the likes of BOB STEWART. Brian Case is on oom pah. ...

Derek Bailey, Steve Lacy, George Lewis, Misha Mengelberg, Jamie Muir, Evan Parker, John Zorn: Derek Bailey, John Zorn, Evan Parker et al: Company, Round House, London

Live Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 30 January 1982

UNLIMITED COMPANY ...

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 ...

James Blood Ulmer: Free Lancing (Columbia)

Review by Richard C. Walls, Creem, February 1982

ULMER IS A 39-year-old guitarist who's come up thru' blues bands and organ/guitar trios, thru the Del Vikings and Dick Clark's Caravan of Stars, thru ...

Thelonious Monk: Round Midnight: Thelonious Monk 1920-1982

Obituary by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 27 February 1982

AFTER BEING in a coma following a stroke Thelonious Monk died last week, and jazz lost one of the most timeless giants, a pianist and ...

Art Ensemble of Chicago: Roundhouse, London

Live Review by Richard Williams, The Times, 17 March 1982

IT MAY BE impossible for the outsider to decode the arcane rituals which accompany a performance by the Art Ensemble of Chicago, and which the ...

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 ...

Tom Browne: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Richard Williams, The Times, 5 April 1982

TOM BROWN proves on his most recent album, with treatments of two tunes by John Coltrane, that he has the equipment to be an above-average ...

Miles Davis: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 1 May 1982

I HADN'T EXPECTED too much. These are Miles Davis' Twilight years. There are younger and cooler cats to torch the way: Miles took the major ...

Ornette Coleman: Of Human Feelings (Antilles AN 2001)

Review by Brian Case, Melody Maker, 8 May 1982

Sounds in motion ...

Miles Davis: We Want Miles (CBS 88579)

Review by Brian Case, Melody Maker, 22 May 1982

Miles and miles of smiles ...

Art Ensemble Of Chicago: Urban Bushmen (ECM)

Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 29 May 1982

BURNING BUSHMEN ...

Sun Ra: Strange Celestial Road (Y)

Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 29 May 1982

HEAVEN UP HERE ...

Sun Ra: Strange Celestial Road (Y Records Y19)

Review by Brian Case, Melody Maker, 5 June 1982

OFTEN IN Sun Ra performances I've found myself keeping the faith up to the mark with reminders of the bandleader's pioneering work to avoid concentrating ...

Pigbag: Brand New Beanbag

Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 3 July 1982

Mark Cooper throws a few questions at the brand new Pigbag ...

Ornette Coleman: On Human Feeling

Interview by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 10 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 ...

Duke Ellington, Phyllis Hyman: Phyllis Hyman: Duke Ellington Sacred Music Concert, St Paul's Cathedral, London

Live Review by Paul Sexton, Record Mirror, 17 July 1982

IT'S PERHAPS not every day that you go to a gig at St Paul's Cathedral introduced by Rod Steiger and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. It's not ...

Sun Ra: The Venue, London

Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 29 July 1982

FOR HERMAN Blount, life has never been the same since he decided to change his name. A former big-band piano player, Herman metamorphosed into Sun ...

Defunkt: This Defunkt Life

Interview by Lesley White, The Face, August 1982

According to Joe Bowie, only his trombone and his funk-jazz band Defunkt stand between him and the imminent nuclear apocalypse. LESLEY WHITE talks to the ...

Carmel: Storm Warning

Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 7 August 1982

SOMEWHERE BETWEEN discipline and fierce spontaneity lies the storm that is Carmel. ...

Sun Ra: Space Is The Place

Profile and Interview by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 7 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, New Musical Express, 28 August 1982

Teenage trumpet major WYNTON MARSALIS lights up another admirer ...

Dollar Brand/Abdullah Ibrahim: Dollar Brand: Albany, Deptford, London

Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 3 September 1982

IT IS ONE of the most extraordinary aspects of the work of Abdullah Ibrahim, also known as Dollar Brand, that for a South African pianist ...

Frank Sinatra: Universal Amphitheatre, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Don Waller, L.A. Weekly, 30 September 1982

Sinatra at the Amphitheatre: The Voice of America ...

Ronald Shannon Jackson & the Decoding Society: Mandance (Antilles)

Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 2 October 1982

LOOKING FOR CLUES ...

Slim Gaillard: The Canteen, London

Live Review by Richard Williams, The Times, 6 October 1982

SLIM GAILLARD'S season in Covent Garden, and his subsequent appearances around the country, will attract not only those nostalgic lor the 32nd Street era but ...

Ronald Shannon Jackson, Material, Prince, James Blood Ulmer: 1982 Black Music Report

Overview by Paul Yamada, Coolest Retard, March 1983

THE PAST FEW years have brought much that is new or at least different to contemporary black music, and though both white and black tastes ...

Ronald Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society: Roundhouse, London

Live Review by Richard Williams, The Times, 18 March 1983

AS THE ONLY drummer to have appeared on record with Albert Ayler, Cecil Taylor and Ornette Coleman, three of the grand masters of the jazz ...

Gil Evans: Still Smiling After All These Years

Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 26 March 1983

Gil Evans is 71-years-old and a prominent jazz arranger who during his 35 year career has worked with Miles Davis and Hendrix. Richard Cook meets ...

Lonnie Liston Smith: Escape From Limbo...

Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 3 May 1983

It's been almost three years since Lonnie Liston Smith came across with new product. But with his new Dreams Of Tomorrow set he's escaped from ...

Lionel Hampton (1983)

Interview by Steve Roeser, Rock's Backpages audio, July 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: ***

Rickie Lee Jones: American Pirate On The Rocks: Rickie Lee Jones

Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 9 July 1983

On a rare visit from her new home in France, Rickie Lee Jones lays down her cutlass and beret to discuss the songwriter's art, dissect ...

Defunkt: Albany Empire, London

Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 15 July 1983

DEFUNKT ARE in the anomalous position of being an American band playing in a singularly American style who find themselves prophets without honour — or ...

George Benson: Kingsize Benson

Profile and Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 16 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: Herbie Rides Again!

Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 6 August 1983

So how come a 43-year-old muso who's worked with Miles Davis and Wynton Marsalis has only just cut his first scratching record? Doesn't he know ...

Wynton Marsalis Under Fire: "It's Like I'm The Enemy Now"

Interview by Steve Bloom, Record, September 1983

IT TAKES a rare kind of chutzpah to tell Johnny Carson where to go. Wynton Marsalis, Downbeat's "Musician of the Year" in 1982, did just ...

Carmen McRae, George Shearing, Mel Tormé: Mel Tormé, George Shearing, Carmen McRae: Royal Festival Hall, London

Live Review by Richard Williams, The Times, 13 September 1983

IT SEEMS probable that not many of those who gathered last night to hear Mel Tormé and George Shearing at the first of their five ...

Slim Gaillard: 100 Club, London

Live Review by Sheryl Garratt, New Musical Express, 17 September 1983

FOR ABOUT the tenth time that evening, Slim Gaillard spotted a camera pointing in his direction and stopped a song mid-way to pose. "Yes, I'm ...

Manu Dibango, Gasper Lawal: Hammersmith Palais, London

Live Review by Lynden Barber, Melody Maker, 24 September 1983

READING THE music papers in mid-'76, I'd suspected that the touted wave of punk groups resembled nothing so extraordinary as a cross between zealous youth ...

Ronald Shannon Jackson and the Decoding Society

Interview by Don Snowden, L.A. Weekly, 11 November 1983

If you've tapped into the East Coast/international jazz press recently, you've no doubt seen Ronald Shannon Jackson touted as "the future of jazz drumming" and ...

Sun Ra: The Joy of Life

Interview by Lynden Barber, Melody Maker, 19 November 1983

Lynden Barber hero-worships SUN RA ...

Grand Mixer D.ST, Herbie Hancock, Material: Herbie Hancock: Comeback Scratch

Interview by Roy Trakin, Musician, December 1983

"I DIDN'T JUMP on anybody's bandwagon with this record," insists Herbie Hancock, who has climbed aboard more than a few in a career which has ...

Herbie Hancock: Beverly Theater, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 2 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 ...

Bernard Fowler, Grand Mixer D.ST, Herbie Hancock: Herbie Hancock: The Venue, London

Live Review by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 21 January 1984

HOLLERIN' SOME HEAVY URBAN SHIT! ...

Hal Willner, Thelonious Monk: Interpretations Of Monk By Jazz, Rock Musicians

Report and Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 28 January 1984

WHAT DO FELLINI soundtrack composer Nino Rota and the late jazz great Thelonious Monk have in common? ...

Nina Simone: Ronnie Scott's, London

Live Review by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 28 January 1984

NINA SIMONE finishes another song, totters to the front of the stage and stands, fixing the audience with a gaze that's as intent as it ...

Carmel: Smooch Don't Mooch

Interview by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 24 March 1984

Manchester trio Carmel claim the press hyped them into early cult status — as hangers-on in the torch song zone. Meanwhile, they have embarked on ...

Hugh Masekela: Blazing In The Bush

Report and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 31 March 1984

AT A TIME when Western attention is once more turned on the evil and cunning of the South African government, it couldn't be more appropriate ...

The Dirty Dozen Brass Band: New Orleans' Revenge

Profile and Interview by Randall Grass, Musician, April 1984

PROPELLED BY a polyrhythmic shuffle from drums, the hot, festive chorus of horns danced into muggy night air through the open doors of Tipitina's down ...

Art Ensemble of Chicago, Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy: Art Ensemble's Lester Bowie: Rubber-Legged Populist of the Avant-Garde

Interview by Don Snowden, L.A. Weekly, 12 April 1984

THE ART Ensemble of Chicago — Lester Bowie (trumpet), Joseph Jarman and Roscoe Mitchell (reeds), Malachi Favors Maghostut (bass) and Famoudou Don Moye (percussion) — ...

Miles Davis, Marcus Miller, Luther Vandross: Marcus Miller Gets Around

Interview by J.D. Considine, Musician, May 1984

THE FUNKY THROUGH-LINE BEHIND LUTHER VANDROSS & ARETHA; THE JAZZY AGITATOR BEHIND MILES, GROVER & SANBORN ...

Count Basie

Obituary by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 5 May 1984

Richard Cook pays tribute to the man whose Kansas City swing band conquered the world – a jazz aristocrat for 50 years. ...

Carmel: Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London

Live Review by Lynden Barber, Melody Maker, 26 May 1984

CARMEL COLLECTED ...

Hugh Masekela

Interview by Jack Barron, Sounds, 14 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 ...

Working Week: Hot News for Cool Cats!

Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, August 1984

As a new jazz scene begins to blow hot, SIMON BOOTH and LARRY STABBINS get hip with PAOLO HEWITT, rappin' about their new musical adventure ...

Evan Parker: Riverside Studios, London

Live Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 18 August 1984

I'VE WITNESSED dozens of Parker's improvisations and learned something on each occasion from this complex work. The singular applies, for every time he plays alone ...

The Dirty Dozen Brass Band: Energetic Updating Of Brass-Band Sound

Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 2 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 ...

Dollar Brand/Abdullah Ibrahim: Dollar Brand: Royal Festival Hall, London

Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 8 September 1984

A LONG TIME ago, Dollar Brand recorded an album called African Space Programme: the cover's landscape interpreted space as being something which is not up ...

Ornette Coleman: Doctor Unorthodox

Interview by Don Snowden, L.A. Weekly, 13 September 1984

I WAS working in a Licorice Pizza in North Hollywood six years ago, when I decided to play my Best of Ornette Coleman album (Atlantic) ...

Frank Sinatra: Songs For Young Lovers and other Capitol reissues

Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 22 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 ...

Wynton Marsalis: Royal Festival Hall, London

Live Review by Brian Case, Melody Maker, 22 September 1984

TRUST WYNTON Marsalis to try the most difficult crossover of all. There has been very little successful commuting between jazz and classical music, although the ...

Ornette Coleman: Roots & Branches

Interview by John Morthland, High Fidelity, October 1984

Ornette Coleman connects the dance music of the Forties and the Eighties. ...

Derek Bailey: The Guy Who Found The Lost Chord

Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 13 October 1984

The guitarist DEREK BAILEY has been one of the leaders of improvised music for 20 years. As a generation of guitar heroes has come and ...

Gil Evans: Birth Of The Cool At 72

Interview by Brian Case, Melody Maker, 20 October 1984

The film version of Colin MacInnes' classic Fifties novel, Absolute Beginners, has attracted a wealth of talent including Elvis Costello, Mick Jagger and American jazz ...

Miles Davis: Teo Macero: Thoughts of Chairman Teo

Interview by Max Jones, The Wire, November 1984

TEO MACERO is best known as the producer of dozens of classic Miles Davis LPs, from Sketches Of Spain to Star People. Here he talks ...

Manu Dibango: Hammersmith Palais, London

Live Review by Lynden Barber, Melody Maker, 24 November 1984

IT TAKES TENOR TO TANGO ...

Quincy Jones, Frank Sinatra: Frank Sinatra with Quincy Jones and Orchestra: L.A. Is My Lady (Quest)

Review by Mitchell Cohen, Creem, December 1984

FRANKIE RUNS OVER HOLLYWOOD ...

Al Jarreau: Has The Adult Contemporary Songwriter Eclipsed The Jazz Singer?

Interview by Mark Rowland, Musician, January 1985

FOUR JARREAU brothers grew up in Milwaukee. They all sang. Three still live there. "My older brother had a fine tenor voice," Al recalls. "The ...

Horace Andy, Bobby "Blue" Bland, James Brown, Burning Spear, Tyrone Davis, The Drifters, Al Green, Billie Holiday, Robert Johnson, George Jones, Linda Jones, Janis Joplin, Joy Division, Little Anthony and the Imperials, Michael McDonald, Van Morrison, Aaron Neville, Otis Redding, Smokey Robinson, Nina Simone, Frank Sinatra, Bettye Swann, Ted Taylor, O.V. Wright: The Voice Squad

Overview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 12 January 1985

From the raw to the pure, from the sublime to the meticulous — BARNEY HOSKYNS sings the praises of 24 of music's most glorious voices. ...

Slim Gaillard: Voutie O Roonie O Scoodilaroosimoe

Interview by Paul Bradshaw, New Musical Express, 19 January 1985

THE HILARIOUS hallucinatory view of consumer America that sprang from the songs of dashing young 'fashion play' Slim Gaillard earned him national notoriety during the ...

Evan Parker: The Magnificent Evan

Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 9 February 1985

The siren song of the saxophone — Evan Parker's been looking into this mystery for 20 years.  The master of free music talks to Richard ...

Allan Holdsworth: Guitarist Making Up Lost Time

Report and Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 15 February 1985

HOW DOES ALLAN Holdsworth react to being labeled a "guitarist's guitarist"? ...

Georgie Fame (1985)

Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, 1 March 1985

Mr. Fame talks about his current activities, then looks back to his first gig, backing Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran; being named by Larry Parnes; the Blue Flames starting as Billy Fury's backing group; playing the Flamingo, and discovering the Hammond after hearing 'Green Onions', and his first hit, 'Yeh Yeh'.

File format: mp3; file size: 11.1mb, interview length: 12' 09" sound quality: ** (phoner)

Nina Simone: Ronnie Scott's, London

Live Review by David Sinclair, The Times, 6 May 1985

IT WAS A fair measure of Nina Simone's ability that, in, the bustling thoroughfare of Ronnie Scott's, she was able, to command close attention with ...

James Blood Ulmer: The 'Harmolodics' Of James Ulmer

Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 10 May 1985

NEUTRAL GROUND doesn't seem to exist when it comes to James (Blood) Ulmer's music. ...

Archie Shepp: Sax in the Afternoon

Interview by Brian Case, Melody Maker, 25 May 1985

ARCHIE SHEPP has grown... smarter, smoother, slicker. But he still blows a mean sax. Brian Case shares his cab and a Scotch with the jazz ...

Miles Davis: You're Under Arrest (Columbia)

Review by Fred Goodman, Musician, June 1985

MILES DAVIS' brilliance is so often attributed to his musical innovations and refusal to coast on past accomplishments that it's easy to overlook his talent ...

John Coltrane, Miles Davis: Miles Davis: You’re Under Arrest (CBS)

Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 15 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: You're Under Arrest (CBS)

Review by Brian Case, Melody Maker, 15 June 1985

JUDGING BY the cover shots of Miles looking studiedly dangerous with a sub-machinegun, and judging by the music too, the great man is after the ...

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 ...

Film Fest To Offer Jazz, Reggae Documentaries

Review by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 12 July 1985

THE PAIR OF 1981 documentaries making their local premieres this weekend as part of the Fox International Theater's ongoing Summer Music Film Fest offers an ...

Miles Davis: Miles Runs The Voodoo Down

Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 13 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, New Musical Express, 17 July 1985

...

Stan Getz, Astrud Gilberto: Stan Getz: The guy from Ipanema

Retrospective by Brian Case, Melody Maker, 27 July 1985

Brian Case (grass skirt, hula-hoop) examines the resurgence in popularity of latinate saxman Stan Getz ...

Dizzy Gillespie

Interview by Fred Goodman, Musician, October 1985

A BEBOP REVOLUTIONARY KEEPS ON GROWING AND BLOWING ...

Cecil Taylor: Into The Hot

Overview by Brian Case, Melody Maker, 5 October 1985

CECIL TAYLOR isn't easy listening, but he's unique in remaining committed to pushing back the boundaries of jazz at a time when his former contemporaries ...

Miles Davis: Golden Miles

Overview by Brian Case, Melody Maker, 19 October 1985

MILES DAVIS has been one of the single most influential figures in the history and development of modern jazz, not only through his playing and ...

Art Blakey, Horace Silver: Blue Note Records: The Rolls Royce of Jazz

Retrospective by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 26 October 1985

For 30 years the Blue Note label was the premier outlet for jazz. Now its catalogue is being made available again. ROY CARR breathes a ...

Anthony Braxton: Bloomsbury Theatre, London

Live Review by Richard Williams, The Times, 15 November 1985

Ironic improvisations ...

Charlie Watts: The Charlie Watts Orchestra: Ronnie Scott's, London

Live Review by Richard Williams, The Times, 20 November 1985

YOU AND I probably dreamt of opening the batting for England or commanding the footplate of the Flying Scotsman. Charlie Watts yearned for the driving-seat ...

Chet Baker: Ronnie Scott's, London

Live Review by Richard Williams, The Times, 27 November 1985

Languid invention ...

Charlie Watts Big Band: Ronnie Scott's, London

Live Review by Brian Case, Melody Maker, 30 November 1985

PARTY TIME AGAIN ...

Sun Ra & his Arkestra: The Fridge, Brixton, London

Live Review by Frank Owen, Melody Maker, 30 November 1985

IN A VAIN attempt to create something approaching a jazz boho ambience, someone had covered the walls of the Fridge with arty French slogans. One ...

Art Pepper: The Art of darkness

Retrospective by Brian Case, Melody Maker, 11 January 1986

His story is a 'feast of rape, voyeurism, compulsive masturbation and armed robbery'. Brian Case on the legend of former drug addict, jailbird and sax ...

David Bowie, Elvis Costello, Working Week: Absolute Beginners

Special Feature by Brian Case, Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, 22 March 1986

AT LONG last, it's almost here. Poor old JULIEN TEMPLE has been working on his movie of Colin MacInnes' novel Absolute Beginners apparently since the ...

Art Blakey, Courtney Pine: Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers: Shaw Theatre, London

Live Review by Mark Sinker, New Musical Express, 12 April 1986

BLAKEY'S ZERO-degrees activity is so blazingly exciting that it transforms everything round it, even when he's laying out completely. And these Messengers, mob-handed in suits ...

Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers: Shaw Theatre, London

Live Review by Mark Sinker, New Musical Express, 12 April 1986

BLAKEY'S ZERO-degrees activity is so blazingly exciting that it transforms everything round it, even when he's laying out completely. And these Messengers, mob-handed in suits ...

Keith Jarrett, Wayne Shorter: Capital Jazz Parade, Royal Festival Hall, London

Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 21 July 1986

Winning sets ...

Gil Scott-Heron: Life After Arista

Profile and Interview by Larry Jaffee, unpublished, August 1986

NOTE: This interview was intended for Tower Records' Pulse!, but was rejected for fear that Arista Records would pull its advertising. ...

Chet Baker: Ronnie Scott's, London

Live Review by Richard Williams, The Times, 13 August 1986

LOOKING A good deal more fragile than on his last visit to Frith Street, when for an entire week he played what sounded like the ...

Anita Baker: The Deep Dark Soul

Interview by Richard Cook, The Wire, September 1986

THE BAND PLAYS a slow, rough-textured groove, flesh laid on the dark bones of the bass. Three women set up a vocal counterpoint, rich with ...

Miles Davis: Man of many colours

Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 20 September 1986

Miles to work with Prince? Maybe. Sinatra? Possibly. Wynton Marsalis? Splatch! Forty years on there's Tutu, and the hues and cries of MILES DAVIS — ...

Mary Coughlan: Angel With Dirty Phrases

Interview by Colin Irwin, Melody Maker, 27 September 1986

Seductive on vinyl, scathing in the flesh, MARY COUGHLAN tames the wild rover in Prof. Colin Irwin. ...

Courtney Pine: Wow! This is Jazz and We Like It!

Profile and Interview by Dave Rimmer, Q, October 1986

COURTNEY PINE LISTENED TO A LOT OF GROVER WASHINGTON, SONNY ROLLINS AND JOHN COLTRANE, THEN HE THOUGHT HE'D HAVE A GO HIMSELF. ...

Miles Davis: Tutu (WEA)

Review by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 11 October 1986

SO, THE last two, troubled decades of Miles Davis — from Voodoo to Tutu, from the blistering frustration of On The Corner to the comfortable ...

Loose Tubes, McCoy Tyner: McCoy Tyner: Ronnie Scott's; Loose Tubes: Logan Hall, London

Live Review by Richard Williams, The Times, 17 October 1986

NO ONE who ventured abroad in London on Wednesday night could have been in much doubt about the current health of the jazz scene. At ...

Dave Brubeck: The Unsquare Dance

Retrospective by Richard Cook, The Wire, November 1986

DAVE BRUBECK looked the part. The face that stared out from a Time magazine cover 30-odd years ago had the sober, shaven outline of a ...

Ornette Coleman: This Maverick of Modern Jazz Doesn't Like to Be Pigeonholed

Interview by Gene Santoro, Pulse!, November 1986

MOST OF THE other horn-wielding giants who shook the foundations of jazz a generation ago — Coltrane, Dolphy, Ayler — are gone now. But Ornette ...

Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy: Lester Bowie: Miles Davis Meets Donald Duck

Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 1 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 ...

Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy: Town And Country Club, London

Live Review by Cath Carroll, New Musical Express, 8 November 1986

SOMETHING REMARKABLE would surely happen at this hallowed electric tabernacle. You could sense the impending presence of a, ahem, 'jazz' legend — his shadow leant ...

Miles Davis: Wembley Conference Centre, London

Live Review by Richard Williams, The Times, 19 November 1986

Struggling to turn the clock back ...

Tony Bennett: "The Best Singer In The Business" — Frank Sinatra

Interview by Mark Rowland, Musician, December 1986

TONY BENNETT has recorded eighty-nine albums in a career spanning more than three decades, all on Columbia records. But his latest effort, The Art Of ...

Dexter Gordon: Bertrand Tavernier on Round Midnight

Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 6 December 1986

THE DIRECTOR of Round Midnight is extremely un-Bebop in appearance. His supine bearing and serene features suggest a cross between Roland Barthes and Claude Chabrol, ...

Charlie Watts Orchestra: The Ritz, New York NY

Live Review by Jeff Tamarkin, Billboard, 24 January 1987

WATCHING CHARLIE Watts' omnipresent grin at this, the second show of a three-night stand in December with his 31-piece extracurricular jazz project, one imagined that ...

Keith Jarrett: Exploring Inner Worlds with Keith Jarrett

Interview by Gene Santoro, Pulse!, March 1987

To This Musician/Composer, Music is a Mystical Experience ...

Charlie Haden Recalls Lessons Of Cuba Visit

Report and Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 27 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 ...

The Lounge Lizards: No Pain For Cakes (Antilles)

Review by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 30 May 1987

AT THE ICA last year, I was disappointed by the Lounge Lizards. The pianist's fringe, the languid horns, the bath of cigarette smoke, I could ...

The Lounge Lizards: No Pain For Cakes (Antllles)

Review by Mark Sinker, New Musical Express, 30 May 1987

LURIE SAYS he's got stuff to make Tom Waits weep. And this collection, has a verve and nerve to justify his sly pride. Something to ...

Marcus Miller, Miles Davis: Marcus Miller: Bass For All Seasons

Interview by Gene Santoro, Guitar World, June 1987

What is it about MARCUS MILLER'S eternal thump that makes him Miles' choice bottom and the Bee Gees' top choice? ...

Ornette Coleman Explores Old, New

Report and Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 25 June 1987

APPEARS WITH HIS TWO BANDS ...

Miles Davis: A little loving goes Miles and miles. Miles Davis: Royal Festival Hall, London

Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 1 July 1987

Adam Sweeting finds one of Jazz's greatest innovators in masterful form at the Festival Hall ...

Ornette Coleman: Music Dreams Are Made Of: Ornette Coleman at Town Hall, New York

Live Review by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 5 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 ...

Sun Ra: Into The Stratosphere

Profile and Interview by Gene Santoro, Pulse!, September 1987

Sun Ra and the Arkestra Inhabit a Cavernous Musical Cosmos ...

Hugh Masekela, Paul Simon: Hugh Masekela: Grazing in Graceland

Interview by Roy Trakin, Creem, October 1987

HUGH MASEKELA hasn't been back to South Africa since he left his homeland 27 years ago to study trumpet in London and New York, but ...

John Hammond

Memoir by Dave Marsh, Musician, October 1987

REMEMBERING THE CONSCIENCE OF AMERICAN MUSIC ...

Cecil Taylor: Pianist Cecil Taylor Makes Poetry Of His Jazz

Profile and Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 10 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 ...

Eric Dolphy: Naima (Jazzway); Vintage Dolphy (ENJA)

Review by Richard Cook, The Wire, November 1987

Naima (Jazzway MUTT-1502) ...

Duke Ellington, Mercer Ellington: Mercer Ellington: Duke's heir accepts no substitutes

Interview by Steve Bloom, Musician, December 1987

I TOOK THE A train to Mercer Ellington's apartment on Manhattan's Upper West Side. There I was, sitting in the train, flipping through Duke Ellington ...

Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter: Wayne Shorter (1988)

Interview by Mark Sinker, Rock's Backpages audio, 1988

The saxophone star talks about his place in the music; working in different areas and avoiding formula; what he looks for in musicians he plays with, and working with young musicians; the place of improvisation in his music; explorations with Miles Davis, and the 1965 Plugged Nickel sessions; his love of science fiction; creating space in music; the impact of rock in the sixties, and bringing back the fun that jazz lacked.

File format: mp3; file size: 43.6mb, interview length: 45' 25" sound quality: ***½

Art Ensemble of Chicago, Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy, Keith Jarrett, Pat Metheny, Arvo Pärt: Manfred Eicher: Elegant, Crystalline, Mysterious or Enervated, Chilly, Morose?

Interview by Richard Cook, The Wire, January 1988

In this rare interview, Europe's leading label boss explains exactly what ECM stands for. ...

Albert Ayler: My Name is Albert Ayler

Retrospective by Richard Cook, The Wire, January 1988

Still misunderstood and neglected, the man who took jazz saxophone to its furthest limits awaits a new appreciation. Richard Cook offers a personal view. ...

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. ...

Tony Bennett, Barry Manilow: Barry Manilow: Swing Street (Arista LP/Cassette/CD); Tony Bennett: Bennett/Berlin (CBS LP and cassette)

Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 5 March 1988

ARISTA'S SWING Street hails the return of Bazza the jazzer. The man who once put more bums on the grass at Blenheim than Churchill had ...

Django Reinhardt: Djangologie/USA Vols. 1-7 (DRG/Swing Records)

Review by Gene Santoro, Spin, April 1988

GYPSY GUITARIST Django Reinhardt offers an early modern (read post-phonograph) example of how pop music travels from its native habitat, is heard through alienated ears, ...

Henry Threadgill: Into another world

Interview by Gene Santoro, Pulse!, April 1988

Reedman/composer Henry Threadgill rips down the barriers of jazz with uncompromising, challenging music. ...

Miles Davis: The Man With The Horn

Retrospective and Interview by Gene Santoro, Pulse!, June 1988

IT'S DRIZZLING on an unseasonably warm spring day in New York; even the huge bay windows in this suite on the upper reaches of the ...

Herman Leonard: Then was the time

Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 4 June 1988

Herman Leonard caught the mood of the bebop era just by being there. He tells Adam Sweeting how ...

Jane Ira Bloom, Steve Coleman, Kenny G, Grover Washington Jr: Kenny G et al: Safe Sax

Report and Interview by Steve Bloom, Musician, July 1988

What's Sales Got to Do With It? A Lot. ...

Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson: Eddie 'Cleanhead' Vinson: Folks Called Him Mr. Cleanhead

Obituary by Kirk Silsbee, Los Angeles Reader, 23 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 ...

Fab 5 Freddy, Max Roach: Fab 5 Freddy & Max Roach: Hip Hop Bebop

Report and Interview by Frank Owen, Spin, October 1988

Max Roach says the new Charlie Parkers are in hip hop. The inventor of modern jazz drumming celebrates the new generation with wild stylist Fab ...

Dollar Brand/Abdullah Ibrahim: Abdullah Ibrahim: Out of (South) Africa

Profile and Interview by Don Snowden, L.A. Weekly, 6 October 1988

FUNNY THAT you never hear Abdullah Ibrahim's name mentioned in post-Graceland discussions of contemporary South African music. The 54-year-old pianist/composer (who performed as Dollar Brand ...

Harry Connick Jr.: The Entertainer

Profile and Interview by Rob Tannenbaum, Rolling Stone, 23 March 1989

New Orleans jazz pianist Harry Connick brings mission to his music ...

Sammy Davis Jr., Liza Minnelli, Frank Sinatra: Frank Sinatra, Liza Minnelli, Sammy Davis Jr.: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 20 April 1989

Come to the cabaret, old chums. Adam Sweeting gets a kick out of Liza, Sammy and a revitalised Frank Sinatra at the Albert Hall. ...

Henry Threadgill: Rag, Bush and All (Novus)

Review by Dave DiMartino, Musician, May 1989

HENRY THREADGILL, who with Air explored the trio format more thoroughly than most jazz musicians, has been shifting his focus toward composition and large ensemble ...

The Dirty Dozen Brass Band: Voodoo (Columbia)

Review by Jon Young, Musician, May 1989

HAVING BACKED Elvis Costello (Spike) and inspired David Byrne (The Knee Plays), the Dirty Dozen Brass Band of New Orleans may be poised to capture ...

Dr. John: Dr John: In A Sentimental Mood (Warner Bros LP/Cassette/CD)

Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 20 May 1989

FUNNY OL' game the record business! First, we have the triumphant return of the Neville Brothers to the A&M stable after a ten year absence ...

Wynton Marsalis: Majesty of the Blues (Columbia) ***½

Review by Michael Azerrad, Rolling Stone, 13 July 1989

NONE OTHER than Miles Davis himself pronounced trumpeter Wynton Marsalis a "perfect player," but that may have been damning with faint praise — there was ...

Tony Williams: Jazz Drummer Tony Williams: A Lifetime of Risky Riffs

Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 17 August 1989

"Every time I go on stage to I play, I'm risking," declared jazz drummer/bandleader Tony Williams. "That's part of my job and part of my ...

Amina Claudine Myers: In Touch (Novus/RCA)

Review by Don Snowden, L.A. Weekly, 31 August 1989

INSTANT DANGER signal: the word that a musician associated with the freewheeling end of the jazz spectrum is messing with things like pop-song structures and ...

World Saxophone Quartet: Rhythm 'n Blues (Elektra/Musician)

Review by Kirk Silsbee, Musician, September 1989

JUST AS WSQ triumphantly addressed the music of Ellington/Strayhorn on its own terms a couple of years ago, so they now tip their mouthpieces to ...

Danny Thompson: Romance From A Bit Of A Raver

Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, Sunday Correspondent, 22 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 & 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 ...

Eugene Chadbourne: The Chadbournes: The Eddie Chatterbox Double Trio Love Album; Eugene Chadbourne: I've Been Everywhere (both Fundamental)

Review by Mark Sinker, The Wire, November 1989

THERE'S PREJUDICE and there's prejudice, but answer me this — what kind of a narrow soundworld do you have to be living in for the ...

Sonny Sharrock (1990)

Interview by Mark Dery, Rock's Backpages audio, 1990

The king of out there guitar on everything from playing on Miles' Jack Johnson album, through to Last Exit, with absolutely everything in between.

File format: mp3; file size: 143.5mb, interview length: 2h 36' 44" sound quality: ***

Chet Baker: Let's Get Lost (15) (Bruce Weber)

Film/DVD/TV Review by Lloyd Bradley, Q, February 1990

CHET BAKER'S James Deanish looks, rebel-type lifestyle and romantic jazz style made him a cult figure in the '50s, when he became one of photographer ...

Dave Brubeck: Bru-Bach?

Live Review by Tim Riley, The Boston Phoenix, 2 February 1990

Let's get improvisational ...

Quincy Jones: The Hit Master

Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 8 February 1990

From Satchmo to Wacko Jacko, Quincy Jones has worked with them all. Now, he tells Mark Cooper, it's time to take stock. ...

Art Ensemble of Chicago: The Art Ensemble Of Chicago

Report and Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 2 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 ...

Cecil Taylor: Blue Light Special

Profile by Gene Santoro, Spin, May 1990

FOR THE uninitiated, a Cecil Taylor performance can be like sitting in the middle of a breaking tidal wave on a leaky rubber raft. He ...

The Dirty Dozen Brass Band: The New Orleans Album (Columbia)

Review by Richard C. Walls, Musician, June 1990

I KNOW this is supposed to be jolly listening — and much of it is — but there's something about records like this that taps ...

Sun Ra: Not-so-lucky old Sun shines on

Profile and Interview by David Toop, The Times, 8 June 1990

David Toop talks to Sun Ra; supremely idiosyncratic veteran US bandleader ...

Sun Ra Arkestra: ULU, London

Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 23 June 1990

WORD OF mouth has drawn a near sell-out (To a free gig? — Ed) crowd to catch the legendary Sun Ra. Amidst rumours that he'll ...

Chet Baker Gets Lost In Time

Retrospective by Paul Nelson, Musician, October 1990

It takes a tough hopper to be cool ...

Marc Ribot: Master of the Sideways Guitar

Interview by Ted Drozdowski, Musician, November 1990

The odd man in is proud of his mistakes ...

Stanley Turrentine: All That Jazz: Stanley Turrentine Interview

Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Good Times Savannah, 1991

MOST JAZZ LEGENDS make their mark with a particular style of the genre. Dizzy Gillespie is bop. Duke Ellington stays traditional. Miles Davis stands as ...

Patrice Rushen: The Lady Plays a Vamp

Interview by Alan di Perna, Musician, March 1991

Keyboard wizard Patrice Rushen unravels jazz improvisation ...

Sun Ra

Profile and Interview by Mark Dery, Keyboard, March 1991

AFTER 50 YEARS IN JAZZ THE BANDLEADER FROM SATURN FINALLY LANDS A MAJOR LABEL DEAL. ...

Sun Ra (1991)

Interview by Mark Dery, Rock's Backpages audio, March 1991

The great bandleader and cosmologist talks about everything from being a visitor from Saturn to his spiritual home in Egypt, via much about making music, improvisation and the importance of discipline.

File format: mp3; file size: 86.2mb, interview length: 1h 34' 12" sound quality: ***

Sonny Sharrock: A Musician With Lightning In His Hands

Profile and Interview by Mark Dery, The New York Times, 5 May 1991

Sonny Sharrock knew his route would be rocky. ...

James Brown, The J.B.'s, Fred Wesley: Fred Wesley: Right, Said Fred...

Interview by Roger St. Pierre, Blues & Soul, 14 May 1991

Fred Wesley talks of funk, jazz and the idiosyncratic Mr. Brown ...

Tony Williams Reinvents Himself

Interview by Tony Scherman, Musician, June 1991

Can't stop worrying, can't stop growing. The world's best drummer turns to composing. ...

Joni Mitchell

Interview by Steve Matteo, CD Review, July 1991

BACK IN 1975, Rolling Stone mercilessly slammed Joni Mitchell's The Hissing of Summer Lawns, charging the singer/songwriter with adapting styles of music – jazz and ...

McCoy Tyner on Going Solo

Interview by Alan di Perna, Musician, July 1991

Keyboard giant tells how it all started and how it all works ...

Tony Bennett: Forty Years — The Artistry of Tony Bennett (Columbia/legacy)

Review by Mark Rowland, Musician, September 1991

THERE'S NO ONE so cold as a cold Italian, the saying goes. And as this lovingly crafted, four-CD boxed set demonstrates, there's none so warm ...

Julian Joseph, Sun Ra: Sun Ra, Julian Joseph: Ronnie Scott's, London

Live Review by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 21 September 1991

HAVING accelerated towards a state of whiteout in the late Sixties with the antics of Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor and Sun Ra, a state beyond ...

Miles Davis Inspired 4 Decades Of Jazz

Obituary by Geoffrey Himes, Evening Sun (Baltimore), The , 30 September 1991

FEW JAZZMEN are ever identified with even one major innovation in the music. Miles Davis, who died Saturday at age 65, was associated with at ...

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 ...

Miles Davis 1926-1991

Obituary by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 12 October 1991

JAZZ TRUMPETER Miles Davis, who died last week in Santa Monica, was a 20th century genius on a par with Picasso in that he was ...

Miles Davis: Miles Dewey Davis III (1926-1991)

Obituary by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 12 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 ...

Miles Davis 25.5.26-28.9.91

Obituary by Richard Cook, The Wire, November 1991

Richard Cook reflects on the great trumpeter's passing. ...

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 ...

Les Paul (1991)

Interview by Mark Dery, Rock's Backpages audio, Winter 1991

The great guitarist and inventor talks about the basis of his style; the making of 'How High The Moon'; co-inventing The Chipmunks; his influence on other musicians; the development of sound-on-sound and multitrack recording, and pays a heartfelt tribute to Mary Ford.

File format: mp3; file size: 51.4mb, interview length: 51' 06" sound quality: ***

Earl Palmer the Rhythm Bomber, the Funk Machine from New Orleans

Retrospective and Interview by Tony Scherman, Musician, January 1992

From Bessie Smith to Elvis Costello, the Amazing Life and Perfect Time of a Great Rock 'n' Roll Pioneer ...

Terry Edwards: Totally Wired Individual

Profile and Interview by Push, Melody Maker, 18 January 1992

TERRY EDWARDS has long been true to the word "individual" he has tattooed along his neck. ...

Barbara Thompson: Major Barbara: saxophonist and bandleader

Interview by Richard Cook, The Wire, March 1992

Barbara Thompson reflects on life at the top of British jazz. ...

Ronald Shannon Jackson, Bill Laswell, Sonny Sharrock: Bill Laswell: Mad Maxim

Interview by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 16 May 1992

Laughing in the face of musical categories, Manhattan's AXIOM label smashes through Techno stomp, space bass boogie, classical gas, Islamic rap'n'thrash, ferocious free-form jazz and ...

Natalie Cole, Nat King Cole: Natalie Cole: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Lloyd Bradley, The Independent, 21 May 1992

Not really so unforgettable: Lloyd Bradley is dazed and confused by Natalie Cole at the Royal Albert Hall. ...

Natalie Cole, Nat King Cole: Natalie Cole: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 25 May 1992

'UNFORGETTABLE', Natalie Cole's "duet" with her father, Nat "King", cleaned up this year's Grammy awards. The song, wherein Natalie's voice was grafted onto Pop's 1951 ...

Miles Davis, Easy Mo Bee: Miles Davis with Easy Mo Bee: Doo-Bop (Warner Bros.)

Review by Mark Rowland, Musician, June 1992

THE RAP ON MILES ...

Al Jarreau: Moving Heaven and Earth

Interview by Jeff Lorez, Blues & Soul, 30 June 1992

A four year gap in between albums has caused Al Jarreau to carefully re-evaluate his career. The conclusions made and actions undertaken as shown on ...

Louis Jordan, Forefather of Rock 'N' Roll

Retrospective by Nick Tosches, The Village Voice, 18 August 1992

He made some of the greatest music that has ever been made; if any one man is to be given credit for siring rock 'n' ...

David Sanborn, Rachelle Ferrell: Town & Country Club, London

Live Review by Jeff Lorez, Blues & Soul, 29 December 1992

I HAVE TO admit, I don't think that the largely all standing T&C was the ideal venue for either of these acts. ...

Matthew Shipp Trio: Circular Temple (Quinton)

Review by Byron Coley, Forced Exposure, 1993

…LIKE MARC EDWARDS' quartet, this trio is descended from David Ware's current working unit. ...

Sun Ra: Holiday For Soul Dance; Jazz In Silhouette; Monorails and Satellites; Sound Sun Pleasure!!; Super-Sonic Jazz

Review by Byron Coley, Forced Exposure, 1993

…SUN RA is one of the truly legendary figures of modern jazz. He's led his Arkestra for better than 30 years and in that time ...

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. ...

Tony Bennett (1993)

Interview by Adam Sweeting, Rock's Backpages audio, 1 May 1993

Anthony Dominick Benedetto on his album of Sinatra covers, Perfectly Frank; on being an interpreter; his passion to sing and paint; being named Bennett by Bob Hope; the influence of Bing Crosby, and the American Songbook; his love of bebop; "concept" albums, and recording with Bill Evans; his friendship with David Hockney, and on painting; the Forty Years box set; the changes in the music business, and his nostalgia for the old Miami and Vegas.

File format: mp3; file size: 60.4mb, interview length: 1h 02' 58" sound quality: ****

Joe Sample: Classic Invitation

Interview by Jeff Lorez, Blues & Soul, 25 May 1993

Joe's new Invitation album of standards provides him with the musical therapy he felt he badly needed and gave him the chance to "move on"... ...

Bill Frisell

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. ...

Guru: Jazzmatazz Volume One (Chrysalis)

Review by Jon Young, Musician, June 1993

"IT WAS INDEED a privilege and a blessing to have worked on this project with such amazing people." Eastwood at the Oscars? Clapton on Grammy ...

Donald Byrd, Digable Planets, Guru: Digable Planets: Cool Like Us

Report and Interview by Pat Blashill, Details, July 1993

B-boys in berets and turtlenecks. Rappers with hippie tattoos. Gangstas with saxophones. What is rap coming to? Pat Blashill hangs with the Digable Planets and ...

George Benson: Labour of Love

Interview by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, 20 July 1993

TRYING TO please all of the people all of the time is no easy task and when you're a multi-faceted music man you run the ...

Max Jones, 1917-1993

Obituary by Brian Case, Melody Maker, 14 August 1993

IT WAS ALWAYS impossible to tell Max Jones, who died this month aged 76, anything about jazz that he didn't already know, or indeed get ...

Ronny Jordan: The Revolution Starts Here!

Interview by Jeff Lorez, Blues & Soul, 14 September 1993

Ronny Jordan feels he was 'born to play' and, having notched up a quarter million sales with his debut album and walked off with the ...

Marcus Miller, David Sanborn, Luther Vandross: Marcus Miller: Back to the Future

Interview by Jeff Lorez, Blues & Soul, 12 October 1993

CATCHING UP with Marcus Miller is no easy task. Forget about trying his home in New Jersey because he's hardly ever there. Chances are you'll ...

Funkadelic, Parliament: 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 ...

The Grid, Us3: Us3 and the Grid: Could Ludwig Van be techno's main man?

Report and Interview by David Toop, The Times, 20 May 1994

Sampling jazz rarities on to dance tracks could become old hat, now musicians can concoct raves from the grave. David Toop reports ...

Cassandra Wilson: A Diva's Progress

Interview by Rob Tannenbaum, GQ, July 1994

When jazz singer Cassandra Wilson gave in to her secret taste for pop music, she seduced a whole new audience ...

Natalie Cole: Royal Festival Hall, London

Live Review by Paul Sexton, The Times, 13 July 1994

Natalie's art still belongs to daddy ...

Galliano: Forum, London

Live Review by Andrew Smith, The Guardian, 15 July 1994

GALLIANO HAVE the knack of polarising opinion. On the one side, you have a public who have been drawn to the band's deeply hip fusion ...

Tony Bennett: This Smarming Man

Interview by Sylvia Patterson, New Musical Express, 20 August 1994

He left his heart in San Francisco in 1962 and it won him two Grammies, confirming his status as the cool crooner. Three decades later, ...

Tony Bennett: Taj Mahal, Atlantic City NJ

Live Review by Paul Lester, Melody Maker, 24 September 1994

IMAGINE GOING to see a man old enough to have been old at the birth or rock'n'roll, singing ballads inside a gigantic hotel with more ...

Bill Frisell Plays Buster Keaton: Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank, London

Preview by John L. Walters, The Guardian, 29 October 1994

Go West (1925), Sherlock Junior (1924), The High Sign (1921), One Week (1920). Wednesday November 2 1994, 7.30pm ...

Dave Brubeck (1995)

Interview by Paul Zollo, Rock's Backpages audio, March 1995

Mr. Brubeck on his family background and first listening to jazz; on playing, writing and arranging; on jazz's place in American culture and history; and on time signatures, Paul Desmond and Joe Morello, and that tune ('Take Five').

File format: mp3; file size: 49.2mb, interview length: 53' 44" sound quality: ***

Charlie Parker

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 ...

Gang Starr, Guru: Guru: Reality Bites

Interview by Frank Broughton, Hip-Hop Connection, July 1995

For most other artists, one project like Jazzmatazz in a lifetime would be enough. Not for Guru. Jazzmatazz 2: The New Reality collects up many of the first LP's ...

Bobby McFerrin

Profile and Interview by Tim Page, Newsday, 30 July 1995

CONDUCTING IS the most mysterious of musical talents. Who hasn't wondered what that person was really doing up there anyway, making those funny faces, testing ...

Charlie Haden: Home Bass

Interview by Marc Weingarten, MOJO, September 1995

CHARLIE HADEN — bassist in Ornette Coleman's epochal late '50s quartet and former leader of the politically charged Liberation Orchestra — has spawned some mighty ...

James Chance & the Contortions: James Chance: Middle East, Cambridge

Review and Interview by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 15 September 1995

CAMBRIDGE – James Chance, Milwaukee born 'n' bred, as well as musically educated, tried to fit in when he moved to New York City in ...

Ornette Coleman: In perfect harmolodics

Interview by David Toop, The Times, 30 September 1995

Jazz giant Ornette Coleman would like to teach the world to sing — if it understood him. David Toop reports ...

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. ...

Wynton Marsalis: What Is Jazz?

Interview by Tony Scherman, American Heritage, October 1995

Wynton Marsalis believes America is in danger of losing the truest mirror of our national identity. If that's the case, we are at least fortunate ...

Don Cherry 1936-1995

Obituary by Geoffrey Himes, Rolling Stone, 30 November 1995

TRUMPETER DON Cherry died of liver failure on Oct, 18 near Malaga, Spain. He was 58. As a member of the Ornette Coleman Quartet in ...

Miles Davis, Brian Eno, Hatfield And The North, King Crimson, Charles Mingus, Pink Floyd, Public Enemy, The Raincoats, Nina Simone, Sly & the Family Stone, Tony Williams, Robert Wyatt: Robert Wyatt: Invisible Jukebox

Interview by Mike Barnes, The Wire, December 1995

Every month we play a musician a series of records which they're asked to identify and comment on — with no prior knowledge of what ...

Wynton Marsalis (1996)

Interview by Tony Scherman, Rock's Backpages audio, 1996

The jazz trumpeter and composer talks about his impact on the form and its current state; his involvement in teaching and his proteges; where he's at, and his ambitions; on studying composition, and the nature of compositon and improvisation; his impact as a spokesman; his involvement in the Lincoln Center Jazz Program; on why he's attacked; his current projects; his luck being surrounded by good people, and some of the turning points in his career.

File format: mp3; file size: 87mb, interview length: 1h 30' 39" sound quality: ***

John McLaughlin (1996)

Interview by Colin Harper, Rock's Backpages audio, 17 January 1996

The fleet-fingered jazz-rocker looks back to the '60s, through his time with the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Shakti, and fondly remembers his time with Miles Davis, and playing with the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck and more.

File format: mp3; file size: 52.3mb, interview length: 57' 09" sound quality: ***

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 ...

Georgie Fame, Van Morrison: Van Morrison with Georgie Fame and Friends: How Long Has This Been Going On (Verve) ****

Review by Geoffrey Himes, Rolling Stone, 8 February 1996

ARETHA FRANKLIN AND VAN MORRISON are the best vocal improvisers of their generation, but neither can be accurately described as a jazz singer. When authentic ...

Cassandra Wilson: New Moon Daughter (Blue Note)

Review by Geoffrey Himes, Rolling Stone, 21 March 1996

ON FIRST listen, Cassandra Wilson's latest release, New Moon Daughter, seems like a sequel to 1993's Blue Light 'Til Dawn. The two albums share the ...

Jimmy Witherspoon: 'Ain't Nobody's Business': The No Rollin' Blues of Jimmy Witherspoon

Retrospective and Interview by Steve Roeser, Goldmine, 24 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." ...

Claire Martin: Mojo Rising: Claire Martin

Profile and Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, June 1996

CLAIRE MARTIN may well be the best British jazz singer for a generation, but she drives like a maniac. "Nervous?" she cackles, slamming into third, ...

Charlie Watts: Take me back to Birdland

Interview by David Sinclair, The Times, 7 June 1996

David Sinclair meets Rolling Stone Charlie Watts in his other incarnation — as a jazzman ...

Herb Alpert: It's long way to Tijuana

Interview by Paul Sexton, The Times, 10 July 1996

POP MUSIC. The mid-1960s. The era when Britannia apparently ruled the airwaves. Yet consider the American album chart of 30 years ago this week. The ...

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 ...

Orquestra Was: Forever's a Long, Long Time

Review by John L. Walters, unpublished, 1997

I BOUGHT Forever's a Long, Long Time within minutes of seeing it in a record store rack. The reason? I don't just admire Don Was, ...

Us3: Jazz Cafe, NW1

Live Review by Paul Sexton, The Times, 7 February 1997

Rapping out a new note ...

Was (Not Was), Hank Williams: Don Was: What Was Was and What Was Is

Interview by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 23 March 1997

After years as a top producer and bandleader, Don Was lost his creative vision. Then Francis Ford Coppola and Hank Williams gave him an idea. ...

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. ...

Miles Davis, Tony Williams: Tony Williams: Tribute to Tony

Obituary by Jon Newey, Jazzwise, April 1997

Tony Williams' sudden death in February has deprived us of one of our foremost drummers. Jon Newey pays tribute to a musical master ...

Lenny Bruce, Miles Davis, Eric Dolphy, Duke Ellington, Jimi Hendrix, The Last Poets, Bill Laswell, Lightnin' Rod, John McLaughlin: Alan Douglas: Thee Man Who Sold The Underworld

Retrospective and Interview by Edwin Pouncey, The Wire, July 1997

Now into his fifth decade at the doors of perception, label boss ALAN DOUGLAS hasworked with many of the century's underground greats, from Lenny Bruce, ...

k.d. lang: fi interview: k.d. lang

Interview by Gene Santoro, Fi, September 1997

IN POSTWAR America, pumped with the energy of victory and prosperity and the conflicts of changing social attitudes, pop culture opened up new frontiers. The ...

Ray Charles, Cassandra Wilson: Greek Theatre, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Marc Weingarten, Los Angeles Times, 7 October 1997

Ray Charles Keeps Breaking New Ground in Old Fields ...

Billie Holiday: How to Buy Billie Holiday

Guide by Fred Dellar, MOJO, November 1997

TIME WAS when Billie Holiday records were hard to come by. But Motown's filmed version of her life, based on a dubious autobiography to which ...

Charles Mingus: a musical misfit in black and white

Film/DVD/TV Review by James Maycock, The Independent, 28 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 ...

Charlie Mingus: Charles Mingus: A Musical Misfit In Black And White

Retrospective by James Maycock, The Independent, 28 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, The Independent, 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 ...

Pat Metheny Keeps the Story Going

Interview by Mac Randall, Musician, February 1998

A Master of Improv Stresses the Importance of Narrative ...

Miles Davis: The Miles Davis Quintet 1965-1968: The Complete Columbia Studio Recordings

Retrospective by James Maycock, The Independent, 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 ...

Bob Dorough: After-School Special: Bob Dorough

Review by RJ Smith, The Village Voice, 24 March 1998

I KNOW THIS couple who think Lou Rawls is the shit. You can look in the books on soul music and find little reference to ...

Producer in Paradise: Joel Dorn Revisits a Golden Age of Jazz

Report and Interview by Ted Drozdowski, The Boston Phoenix, 13 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: Talent, addiction and all that jazz

Retrospective by James Maycock, The Independent, May 1998

James Maycock looks at the life of trumpet great Chet Baker, who died 10 years ago this week ...

Frank Sinatra: Sinatra Crooned, World Swooned

Obituary by Tim Page, The Washington Post, 16 May 1998

HE CALLED himself a mere "saloon singer" from Hoboken, New Jersey. But Frank Sinatra, who died late Thursday at the age of 82, was much ...

The Balanescu Quartet, Bedouin Ascent, Big Star, Charlemagne Palestine, John Coltrane, Johnny Copeland, Funkadelic, Spiritualized, Suicide: Invisible Jukebox: Spiritualized

Interview by Mike Barnes, The Wire, July 1998

Every month we play a musician a series of records which they're asked to identify and comment on — with no prior knowledge of what ...

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 ...

Tony Bennett (1998)

Interview by David Stubbs, Rock's Backpages audio, October 1998

The American Great (and daughter Antonia) talk about Radio City Music Hall, the Great American Songbook, his return to the spotlight, his family and Depression upbringing, and a whole lot more, whilst tasting the delights of Teodora's cuisine.

File format: mp3; file size: 57.4mb, interview length: 1h 02' 42" sound quality: ***

Royal Crown Revue: The Contender  

Review by Chuck Eddy, Rolling Stone, 1 October 1998

SNAZZY FEDORAS and a brass section can't hide Royal Crown Revue's tough-guy heart. On their varied and witty fourth album, The Contender, this swinging Los ...

Diana Krall

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 ...

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 ...

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, The Guardian, 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 not ...

Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk: Charles Mingus' Aces Back to Back and other jazz reissues

Review by Gene Santoro, The Nation, 18 February 1999

FOR THE PAST year and a half, I've been spending most of my time between 1922 and 1979 – the years of Charles Mingus's birth ...

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? ...

Billie Holiday, Lester Young: Billie Holiday And Lester Young: The Intimate Friendship Between Lady Day & Prez

Retrospective by James Maycock, The Independent, 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, The Boston Phoenix, 9 August 1999

"WELL, THIS IS real bullshit!" yelled Eddie Condon.  ...

Oscar Peterson: A Living, Swinging Legend: Oscar Peterson

Profile and Interview by Nicholas Jennings, Maclean's, 13 September 1999

OSCAR PETERSON peers up through the glass ceiling of his sunroom and apologizes for the faint noise coming from a distant jet passing overhead. "We're ...

Diana Krall: Sweet Seduction

Profile and Interview by Nicholas Jennings, Maclean's, 13 September 1999

IT'S MID-MORNING in a quiet hotel restaurant and Diana Krall is having a love affair with an artichoke. ...

Elvis Costello, Georgie Fame: Last Night a Record Changed My Life: Attack of the killer organ

Memoir by Colin Irwin, MOJO, October 1999

Elvis Costello was a scrawny 12-year-old — until Georgie Fame opened the door to hipness. ...

John Coltrane, Ravi Coltrane, Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, Eric Mingus, Thelonious Monk, T.S. Monk: Coltrane, Davis, Monk, Mingus

Interview by Fred Schruers, Rolling Stone, 11 November 1999

JOHN COLTRANE, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk and Charles Mingus were not just virtuoso musicians but path-breaking composers and bandleaders who shaped the sound of modern ...

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 ...

Charles Mingus: Growing Up Absurd

Book Excerpt by Gene Santoro, 'Myself When I Am Real' (Oxford University Press), 2000

THE BABY, barely three months old and pudgy but with bright eyes and an inquiring air, was the center of attention as he fussed on ...

John Coltrane, Miles Davis: Miles Davis: Complete Columbia Recordings #3, 1955-'60, with John Coltrane

Review by Clinton Walker, HQ, 2000

IN 1955 WHEN John Coltrane replaced Sonny Rollins in the new quintet Miles Davis was getting together, jazz was at a turning point – and ...

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, ...

Pharoah Sanders: An Interview

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 ...

Chet Baker, John Barry: Playing by Heart: John Barry in All His Glory

Review by James Hunter, New York Observer, 17 January 2000

A SUPERNATURAL-LOOKING CD entitled Playing by Heart is billed to John Barry, Chris Botti and, weirdly enough, Chet Baker. On the black-and-white CD cover, in ...

Don Byron: Of Romance and History

Essay by Gene Santoro, Chamber Music, February 2000

PUT ON Romance With The Unseen (Blue Note 7243 4 99545 2 6), the latest CD by clarinetist Don Byron, and you're stepping into dialogues ...

John Zorn: Barbican, London

Live Review by Rob Young, The Wire, March 2000

ZORN'S BACK: that part of his anatomy, clad in a casual red pullover above yellow-flecked combat slacks, is, in fact, what is presented to the ...

One nation underground: ESP Disk

Retrospective by Edwin Pouncey, Jazzwise, March 2000

What record company these days would dare print "the Artists Alone Decide What You Will Hear" on their album sleeves. Well ESP Disk did in ...

Charlie Haden, Lee Konitz: Questioning Cool, Chamber, & Third Stream: Lee Konitz, Charlie Haden, and Brad Mehldau

Comment by Gene Santoro, Chamber Music, April 2000

FOR THE LAST TWO columns, we've ridden in the Wayback Machine to peer into how jazz has in practice been a kind of chamber music ...

Mark O'Connor: Fiddling While the Old Barriers Burn

Profile by Tony Scherman, The New York Times, 2 April 2000

WHEN THE cellist Yo-Yo Ma, the bassist Edgar Meyer and the violinist Mark O'Connor take the stage on Wednesday at Avery Fisher Hall to play ...

Dylan Group: Ur-klang Search

Review by Kodwo Eshun, The Wire, May 2000

Dynamic syncopators ...

Chet Baker, Terry Riley: Terry Riley: The Gift (Organ of Corti)

Review by Edwin Pouncey, The Wire, May 2000

TO DATE, Organ of Corti's important release programme of rare and previously released material from master minimalist Terry Riley has been a somewhat frustrating exercise ...

Tisziji Muñoz: Alpha-Nebula — The Prophecies (Anami Music)

Review by Edwin Pouncey, The Wire, May 2000

FOR MANY, the name of New York born, Puerto Rican guitarist Tisziji Muñoz will be unfamiliar, so perhaps a brief summary of his career is ...

Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Dr. John, Earl King, Jean Knight, Mighty Diamonds, The Neville Brothers, Professor Longhair, Robbie Robertson: Wardell Quezergue: Architect of the Sound

Profile and Interview by John Swenson, Offbeat, 1 May 2000

ON AN UNSEASONABLY warm December afternoon, Wardell Quezergue walks carefully into the Musicians Union meeting hall on Esplanade Avenue. ...

Greg Osby: Musical Archaeology: Greg Osby's Performances/Recordings from Duke to Monk and beyond

Review by Gene Santoro, Chamber Music, June 2000

NEW JAZZ FANS often have well-intentioned questions I dread, like, "What records should I listen to?" One of my stock answers: "Thelonious Monk Plays Duke ...

Tisziji Muñoz: Tisjizi Muñoz

Interview by Edwin Pouncey, The Wire, June 2000

Galactic guitarist ...

Charles Mingus: Town Hall Train Wreck

Retrospective by Gene Santoro, The Village Voice, 6 June 2000

IN MID-1962, Charles Mingus made a deal with United Artists. He wanted to lead a big band, but he wanted to record it live, before ...

Jane Bunnett: Our Gal in Havana

Profile and Interview by Nicholas Jennings, Maclean's, 26 June 2000

SHE'S BEEN CALLED "Havana Jane", and Canada's Jane Bunnett has certainly earned the title. The celebrated jazz flautist and soprano saxophonist has been a familiar ...

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 ...

Charlie Watts: Proper Charlie

Profile and Interview by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 9 July 2000

Charlie Watts has always marched to a different drum than the rest of the Rolling Stones. He has been happily married for 36 years, he ...

João Gilberto: the Barbican, London

Live Review by John L. Walters, The Guardian, 18 July 2000

TRY THIS FOR an example of musical minimalism: a man sits on a stool before a single microphone at the centre of a stage which ...

John Coltrane, Miles Davis: Miles Davis and John Coltrane: The Complete Columbia Recordings 1955-1961

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 ...

Richard Meltzer: An Interview

Interview by Jason Gross, Perfect Sound Forever, August 2000

AS ONE OF the first people who decided that rock and roll was something that could and should be something that could be seriously written ...

Sun Ra: Wooze and Spazz

Overview by Eric Weisbard, The Village Voice, 11 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. ...

Squirrel Nut Zippers: Bedlam Ballroom

Review by Devon Powers, PopMatters, 16 October 2000

THERE ONCE WAS a year called 1996. Hit songs came from bands like La Bouche. Humanity, near the brink of ruin, tottered, desperate for salvation. ...

Guru: Goodbye to all that Jazz: Guru's Jazzmatazz

Report and Interview by Lisa Verrico, The Times, 20 October 2000

LATE LAST YEAR Guru, the rapper from Gang Starr, compiled a wish-list of artists he wanted to work with on his upcoming Jazzmatazz album. ...

Otomo Yoshihide: Invisible Jukebox: Otomo Yoshihide

Interview by Mike Barnes, The Wire, December 2000

Every month we play a musician a series of records which they're asked to identify and comment on — with no prior knowledge of what ...

Evan Parker, Keith Rowe: Keith Rowe: Harsh, Guitar Solo; Evan Parker/Keith Rowe: Dark Rags

Review by David Toop, The Wire, December 2000

"AFTER SEVERAL years of bizarre playing in a sort of anti-jazz style that always ill-suited his supposed role of rhythm guitarist, Rowe now seems on ...

Sonny Rollins: The Freelance Years

Review by Ian MacDonald, Uncut, December 2000

COLTRANE'S GREAT tenor rival gets another boxed-set boost. ...

Various Artists: Ken Burns Jazz - The Story of American Music/The Best of Ken Burns Jazz

Review by J.D. Considine, Revolver, Winter 2000

ANYONE FAMILIAR with the acclaimed documentary filmmaker Ken Burns (Baseball, The Civil War, et al) knows that this man is unafraid of tackling the most ...

Albert Ammons

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001

b. 23 September 1907, Chicago, Illinois, USA, d. 2 December 1949, Chicago ...

Art Ensemble Of Chicago

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001

Roscoe Mitchell, b. 3 August 1940, Chicago, Illinois, USA; Joseph Jarman, b. 14 September 1937, Pine Bluff, Arkansas; Lester Bowie, b. 11 October 1941, Frederick, ...

Artie Shaw

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. Arthur Jacob Arshawsky, 23 May 1910, New York, USA ...

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 ...

Bill Frisell: Let your fingers do the talking

Interview by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 2001

Jazz guitarist Bill Frisell has worked with everyone from Chet Baker to Marianne Faithful. So why start taking lessons now? Richard Williams met him ...

Billy Eckstine

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. William Clarence Eckstein, 8 July 1913, Pittsburgh, USA, d. 8 March 1993, Pennsylvania ...

Cannonball Adderley

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. Julian Adderley, 15 September 1928, Tampa, Florida, USA, d. 8 August 1975, Gary, Indiana ...

Charlie Haden

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. Charles Edward Haden, 6 August 1937, Shenandoah, Iowa, USA ...

Cleo Laine

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001

b. Clementina Dinah Campbell, 27 October 1928, Middlesex, England ...

David Sanborn

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. 30 July 1945, Tampa, Florida, USA ...

Django Reinhardt

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001

b. Jean Baptiste Reinhardt, 23 January 1910, Liverchies, Belgium, d. 16 May 1953, Samois, France ...

Duke Ellington

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. Edward Kennedy Ellington, 29 April 1899, Washington DC, USA, d. 24 May 1974, New York ...

Judy Garland

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001

b. Frances Ethel Gumm, 10 June 1922, Grand Rapids, Minnesota, USA, d. 22 June 1969, London, England ...

Lambert, Hendricks & Ross: Lambert, Hendricks and Ross

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001

Jon Hendricks, b. John Carl Hendricks, 16 September 1921, Newark, Ohio, USA; Dave Lambert, b. 1917, Boston, Massachusetts, d. 1966; Annie Ross, b. Annabelle Lynch, ...

Leonard Feather

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001

b. 13 September 1914, London, England, d. 22 September 1994, New York, USA ...

Louis Armstrong

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. 4 July 1898, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, d. 6 July 1971, New York ...

Louis Jordan

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001

b. 8 July 1908, Brinkley, Arkansas, USA, d. 4 February 1975, Los Angeles, California ...

Mose Allison

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001

b. 11 November 1927, Tippo, Mississippi, USA ...

Peggy Lee

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001

b. Norma Egstrom, 26 May 1920, Jamestown, North Dakota, USA ...

Sonny Rollins

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, 'Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music', 2001

b. Theodore Walter Rollins, 7 September 1929, New York, USA ...

Yusef Lateef

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001

b. William Evans, 1920, Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA ...

Delta Rhythm Boys: Carl Jones

Interview by Jason Gross, Perfect Sound Forever, January 2001

WHILE TROLLING AROUND an MP3 newsgroup one day, I saw the name 'Delta Rhythm Boys.' I had no idea who they were but the name ...

All That Jazz: Ken Burns

Film/DVD/TV Review by Gene Santoro, The Nation, 12 January 2001

LET'S CUT TO the chase on Ken Burns's Jazz, which rolled out on PBS January 8, by invoking Wallace Stevens. ...

Gary Lucas: Invisible Jukebox: Gary Lucas

Interview by Mike Barnes, The Wire, February 2001

Every month we play a musician a series of records which they're asked to identify and comment on — with no prior knowledge of what ...

Lina: Manchester University

Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 13 February 2001

Lina's delicious smoky big band sound ...

Pat Metheny Trio: Live

Review by Gene Santoro, Chamber Music, April 2001

THE GUITAR is arguably the most eclectic and democratic of instruments. Some form of it appears in nearly every society. Anyone can learn to play ...

Humphrey Lyttelton, Radiohead: Radiohead recruit new member!

Report and Interview by Pat Long, Q, April 2001

Brit jazz veteran Humphrey Lyttleton helps out on new album's free-form epic. ...

Bill Evans: The Last Waltz

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 ...

Bill Frisell: Blues Dream (Nonesuch)

Review by Gene Santoro, Chamber Music, June 2001

WITH BLUES DREAM (Nonesuch), an album that interprets the blues as the foundation for jazz, bluegrass, Thelonious Monk, soul, Western Swing, heavy metal, and other ...

Jazz on film: Play Misty for Me

Retrospective by John L. Walters, Jazzwise, July 2001

Jazz DJs don't always get in the hot water Dave Garver lands in during Play Misty For Me, says John L. Walters. ...

Louis Armstrong: Navigating the Swamp of Louis Armstrong Releases

Discography by John Swenson, Offbeat, 1 August 2001

ONE OF the happiest side effects of the Louis Armstrong centennial celebration is the reconfiguration of this master musician's catalog. For many years, much of ...

Bill Laswell, Carlos Santana: Bill Laswell/Carlos Santana: Divine Light (Columbia Legacy)

Review by Edwin Pouncey, The Wire, September 2001

IN 1997, PRODUCER Bill Laswell was granted access to Columbia's tape vaults where, using the original masters, he put together Panthalassa, his devoted reconstruction of ...

Gregg Bendian

Interview by Edwin Pouncey, The Wire, September 2001

"KIRBY'S FOURTH WORLD period was sort of like when Miles went electric," enthuses jazz percussionist Gregg Bendian about the inspirational force behind his improvised tribute ...

Jazz At The Movies: Sweet Smell of Success (1957)

Special Feature by John L. Walters, Jazzwise, November 2001

JAZZ IS CRUCIAL to Sweet Smell of Success, the extraordinary and intense film drama made by British director Alexander MacKendrick in 1957.  ...

Richard Davis, Van Morrison: Nothin' But A Stranger In This World: Van Morrison and Astral Weeks

Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, November 2001

THE FITFUL BRITISH SUMMER of 2001 is ending not with a whimper but a bang – a burst of Bank Holiday heat that's got everyone ...

Dave Holland: Bass Is the Place: Dave Holland and the Jazz Bass

Retrospective by Gene Santoro, Chamber Music, December 2001

NOT FOR NOTHIN' (ECM) is bassist Dave Holland's latest CD, and the laconic title could sum up the man himself, his instrument's history, and the ...

Roy Haynes: Birds of a Feather (Disques Dreyfus)

Review by Gene Santoro, Chamber Music, 2002

WITH BIRDS OF A FEATHER (Disques Dreyfus), 75-year-old drummer Roy Haynes has forged a scintillating tribute album to bebop icon Charlie "Bird" Parker. His quintet ...

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." ...

Rahsaan Roland Kirk: The Great Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Or: What you don't know about Black Classical Music could be killing you

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 ...

Quincy Jones: Q – The Musical Biography Of Quincy Jones (Rhino)

Review by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, January 2002

QUINCY JONES HAS enjoyed a truly remarkable career, moving between the fields of jazz, blues, soundtracks, pop, soul, funk and rap. This celebratory collection encompasses ...

Sand

Interview by Mike Barnes, The Wire, January 2002

Born gritty "THE MANY and varied musical backgrounds of the current Sand line-up lead the group to argue violently at length about compositional and performance ideas, ...

Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Robbie Williams: The Rat Pack: Boys Keep Swinging

Retrospective by Dorian Lynskey, Q, February 2002

They were a gang of hard-drinking, soft-crooning, middle-aged smart alecs, and they were the walking, talking, wise-cracking definition of cool. Now, half a century later, ...

Diana Krall: In Defence of Diana Krall

Comment by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 5 March 2002

Diana Krall and Jane Monheit are better than you think. Geoffrey Himes explains why. ...

Alice Coltrane, John Coltrane: Alice Coltrane: Enduring Love

Retrospective and Interview by Edwin Pouncey, The Wire, April 2002

AFTER HER KEY ROLE IN JOHN COLTRANE'S ECSTATIC JAZZ EXPERIMENTS OF THE LATE 60S, PIANIST AND HARPIST ALICE COLTRANE EMBARKED ON A JOURNEY INTO THE OUTER SPIRALS ...

John Medeski, John Scofield, Medeski, Martin & Wood : Jam On It: Hippies, Jazzbos, and Beat Junkies Build One Nation Under a Mutant Groove

Report and Interview by Will Hermes, The Village Voice, 9 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 ...

Chet Baker: James Gavin: Deep in a Dream – The Long Night of Chet Baker

Book Review by Gene Santoro, The Nation, 27 June 2002

IT'S EASY TO rephrase Tolstoy's opening to Anna Karenina so it describes junkies, who all share an essential plot line: Who and how to hustle ...

Charles Mingus, Eric Mingus: Eric Mingus: The big brand

Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 4 July 2002

There's the Mingus Big Band, the Mingus Orchestra... and then there's Eric Mingus. He talks to Adam Sweeting about life in a jazz dynasty ...

Oscar Peterson: A Jazz Odyssey: The Life of Oscar Peterson

Book Review by Gene Santoro, The New York Times Book Review, 14 July 2002

SINCE SEPTEMBER 1949, when he made his debut at Carnegie Hall as a member of the all-star troupe called Jazz at the Philharmonic, the pianist ...

The West Side Horns: West Side Horns: San Quilmas (Dialtone)

Review by Joe Nick Patoski, Austin Chronicle, 13 September 2002

WITHIN THE FIRST few bars of 'Rainbow Riot', the opening track of the West Side Horns' San Quilmas, three great revelations came to me while ...

Ray Charles (2002)

Interview by Bill DeMain, Rock's Backpages audio, 26 September 2002

Brother Ray on how he's matured as a singer; on keeping interested in old songs by improvising; finding his own voice at the end of the '40s, and meeting his hero Nat King Cole; writing because he had to, and stopping when he didn't; mixing gospel and blues; on dressing sharp, and singing about love.

File format: mp3; file size: 14.3mb, interview length: 14' 52" sound quality: *** (phoner)

Wayne Shorter: After the storm

Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 26 September 2002

Wayne Shorter made his name with saxophone pyrotechnics. But now it's all peace and tranquillity — unless you mention Wynton Marsalis ...

Jamie Cullum: So you want to be a jazz star?

Comment by John L. Walters, The Guardian, 11 October 2002

It's the TV show that will never be made — but it would be a lot more fun than Popstars ...

John Coltrane: Ashley Kahn: A Love Supreme – The creation of John Coltrane's classic album

Book Review by Nick Coleman, The Independent, 23 October 2002

Hot sax and religion in New Jersey ...

Epiphanies

Memoir by Richard Cook, The Wire, November 2002

Well, there are worse ways of making a living. Richard Cook tells how a compulsive jones for collecting records — only partly sated by music ...

Ken Nordine: Speak Memory

Profile and Interview by Bill DeMain, MOJO, November 2002

Ken Nordine is the laird of language, the maestro of the monologue, the wizard of word jazz. Bill DeMain lends an ear. ...

Steve Beresford, Manfred Schoof, Sun Ra, David Toop, Alexander von Schlippenbach: Unheard Music Series

Review by Byron Coley, The Wire, November 2002

Byron Coley appraises more archive treasures of free jazz and Improv unearthed in Atavistic's ongoing Unheard Music Series. ...

Rod Stewart: It Had To Be You ... The Great American Songbook

Review by Lisa Verrico, The Times, 15 November 2002

IN BRITAIN, Rod Stewarthasn't a hope of ever being hip again. Like Elton John, he can still sell out shows, but only if he stuffs ...

Jason Moran: Modernistic

Review by Gene Santoro, Chamber Music, December 2002

HERE AT THE beginnings of the 21st century, jazz faces several dilemmas, some creative, some commercial. After an often vitriolic and demoralizing period of consolidation ...

John Sinclair: Invisible Jukebox: John Sinclair

Interview by Edwin Pouncey, The Wire, January 2003

John Sinclair — poet, journalist and former manager of 60s revolutionary rockers The MC5 — was born in Flint, Michigan in 1941. His father worked ...

Wayne Shorter: Footprints Live!

Review by Ian MacDonald, Uncut, January 2003

Impressive-to-excessive live foray from quartet ...

Collective inspiration

Report by Jon Newey, Jazzwise, February 2003

Jon Newey reports from New York on a celebration of 25 years of New York’s legendary jazz drum and bass school, the Collective, and its ...

Norah Jones: Q&A: Jonesing

Interview by Precious Williams, New York Magazine, 7 March 2003

SUDDEN FAME and fortune have a way of changing people—fast. But you won’t see Norah Jones in a Christina Aguilera getup anytime soon. And she’s ...

Wayne Shorter, Weather Report: Wayne Shorter: Alegria (Verve)

Review by John L. Walters, The Guardian, 21 March 2003

SAXOPHONIST WAYNE SHORTER still towers over contemporary jazz. Over four decades he's combined compositional flair with an original and masterly command of tenor and soprano ...

Wayne Shorter: Barbican, London

Sleeve notes by John Lewis, Time Out, 29 March 2003

Featuring Wayne Shorter — tenor and soprano saxes Danilo Perez — piano John Patitucci — double bass Brian Blade — drums ...

Teddy Edwards 1924-2003

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 ...

Matthew Herbert: The Body Politician

Interview by Rob Young, The Wire, May 2003

If electronica constructed entirely from sampled body parts, stacked recordings of falling telephone directories or the noise of domestic appliances hasn't already established that utopian ...

Nina Simone: Always Searching for a Key

Obituary by Ian Penman, The Wire, June 2003

The realisation that she was black in a country run by whites, a woman in a world run by men, turned Nina Simone into the ...

George Wein: Myself Among Others – A Life in Music

Book Review by Gene Santoro, The Nation, 26 June 2003

NOT MANY PEOPLE can say they changed the world and make it stick. In Myself Among Others: A Life in Music, George Wein does. Without ...

Cassandra Wilson

Preview by John Lewis, Programme notes for gig at Barbican Hall, 13 July 2003

CASSANDRA WILSON's voice can startle you the first time you hear it. It's down, deep and bassy, almost androgynous, with a hint of menace that ...

Boz Scaggs on But Beautiful

Interview by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, 15 July 2003

WITH HIS new album hitting No. 1 on the jazz charts, Boz Scaggs is a changed man. "I'll use what I've learned in this process ...

Carla Bley Looks for America

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 ...

Jamie Cullum's Big Break

Profile and Interview by Simon Garfield, The Observer, September 2003

FOR A FEW weeks in the middle of summer it was easier to see Jamie Cullum in concert than not to see him. ...

Jamie Cullum: Bright Young Thing

Profile and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 25 September 2003

At 24, Jamie Cullum has a £1m record deal and a Mobo nomination. He talks to Caroline Sullivan about Nirvana, Prince William, and his mission ...

Albert Ayler: Nuits De La Fondation Maeght

Review by Edwin Pouncey, Jazzwise, October 2003

Albert Ayler (tf/ts); Mary Marta Parks (v/ss); Call Cobbs (p); Steve Tlntwetss (b); A Pen Biairman (d). Rec. 25 and 27 July 1970 ...

Jamie Cullum

Profile and Interview by Angus Batey, The Times, 4 October 2003

THE BRIGHTEST and most controversial new star to appear in the British jazz firmament in years is explaining how he first became interested in the ...

Amy Winehouse: Dietrich with a nose-stud

Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 28 October 2003

Her voice belongs in a 1940s jazz bar. But Amy Winehouse may be the future of hip-hop. Dave Simpson meets her ...

James "Blood" Ulmer: James Blood Ulmer: No Escape From the Blues

Interview by John Swenson, Offbeat, 1 November 2003

THE SEPTEMBER release of James Blood Ulmer’s No Escape From the Blues: The Electric Lady Sessions is a milestone event in this centennial Year of ...

David Amram, Jack Kerouac: David Amram's Beat Memories

Retrospective and Interview by Victor Bockris, High Times, December 2003

David Amram is an American treasure. A multi-instrumentalist who can play in all styles, he's composed classical concertos and symphonies, accompanied poets on spoken-word records, ...

Chet Baker

Book Excerpt by Gene Santoro, 'Highway 61 Revisited...', 2004

IT'S EASY TO rephrase Tolstoy's opening to Anna Karenina so it describes junkies, who all share an essential plotline: Who and how to hustle in ...

Eric Dolphy: Iron Man

Sleeve notes by Hank Bordowitz, Fresh Sound Records, 2004

"Eric Dolphy was a saint, in every way, not just his playing." (Charles Mingus) ...

Mary Lou Williams: Linda Dahl: Morning Glory – A Biography of Mary Lou Williams

Book Excerpt by Gene Santoro, 'Highway 61 Revisited...', 2004

MARY LOU WILLIAMS was the first girl who really made it into the boys' club that was (and mostly still is) jazz. Sure, girl singers ...

Louis Armstrong

Book Excerpt by Gene Santoro, 'Highway 61 Revisited...', 2004

FROM 1925 TO 1928, Louis Armstrong made an astonishing series of recordings, the jazz-creating legacy of his Hot Fives and Hot Sevens, a succession of ...

Miles Davis: The Prince of Darkness: So What: The Life Of Miles Davis by John Szwed (Arrow)

Book Review by Andy Gill, The Word, January 2004

Miles Davis: what demonic spirit possessed him? ...

The Twilight Singers, Amy Winehouse: Amy Winehouse: Jazz Cafe, London/The Twilight Singers: Islington Academy, London

Live Review by Simon Price, Independent on Sunday, 1 February 2004

"YOUR NEIGHBOURS WERE screaming 'I don't have a key for downstairs'/ So I punched all the buzzers, hoping you wouldn't be there..." ...

Norah Jones: Don't Fence Me In

Profile and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, April 2004

Success Nearly Cost Norah Jones Her Sanity. Now She's Back – Stronger, Wiser And Ready To Do Things Her Way. ...

Eric Dolphy: Eric's Trip

Retrospective by David Stubbs, The Wire, June 2004

On the 40th anniversary of the death of Eric Dolphy, David Stubbs offers a personal benediction to one of the most enigmatic and neglected figures ...

Eric Dolphy: Squeaks and scronks: Eric Dolphy's Out To Lunch

Retrospective by Mal Peachey, The Independent, June 2004

Song for the man who went out to lunch ...

Hugh Masekela and D. Michael Cheers: Still Grazing – The Musical Journey of Hugh Masekela

Book Review by Eric Weisbard, The New York Times Book Review, 13 June 2004

IN THE MID-1950s, as Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley and all the rest were leading a rock 'n' roll revolution across America, Hugh Masekela found himself ...

Arif Mardin: Producer

Interview by Tom Doyle, Sound on Sound, July 2004

Arif Mardin has engineered and produced an incredible array of classic records from artists such as Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield, Diana Ross, the Bee Gees ...

Gwyneth Herbert: From bistro waitress to jazz festival star

Report and Interview by Tim Cooper, The Evening Standard, 13 July 2004

Pub gigs pay off as "Britain's Norah Jones" is chosen to open concert ...

George Benson: Staying Power

Interview by Andria Lisle, Memphis Flyer, 6 August 2004

From Miles to Usher: George Benson on four decades of musical changes. ...

Derek Bailey: Ben Watson: Derek Bailey and the Story of Free Improvisation

Book Review by Richard Gehr, The Village Voice, 17 August 2004

FREE IMPROVISATION is the automatic writing, the abstract expressionism, or as British critic Ben Watson most aptly describes it, the "stand-up comedy" of musical performance.  ...

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 ...

Tony Bennett: The Art Of Romance (Columbia)

Review by John Lewis, Time Out, October 2004

FOR NEARLY 50 years, Bennett seems to have straddled two careers. ...

Ornette Coleman, Charlie Haden: Jazz Critic's Choice: Ornette Coleman and Charlie Haden

Profile by Kirk Silsbee, LA CityBeat, 4 November 2004

IN 1954, IF you had stepped through the door at 309 N. Main St. in downtown L.A., you would've entered a netherworld of vice called ...

Peter Cincotti: Shooting the pianist

Interview by Robin Eggar, The Times, 28 November 2004

Jazz sensation Peter Cincotti plays to the camera ...

Woody Allen's New Orleans Jazz Band: Hammersmith Apollo, London

Live Review by Robert Sandall, Daily Telegraph, 21 December 2004

ON THE FACE of it, Woody Allen and old New Orleans-style jazz have slightly less in common than chalk and cheese. Knowing Allen, he has ...

Remembering Ralph J. Gleason

Retrospective by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, 23 December 2004

NOTE: I’ve never done a more personal piece of journalism. Ralph was a distant figure on my horizon, but his presence surrounded me; from reading ...

All at sea: Jazz Party at Sea

Report by Jon Newey, Jazzwise, February 2005

Jazz gets a life on the ocean waves. ...

Michael Bublé: A Charmed Life

Interview by Nicholas Jennings, Inside Entertainment, February 2005

VANCOUVER CROONER Michael Bublé is leading a charmed life. Since launching his singing career, raised on his grandfather's love of the sounds of the Mills ...

Bill Frisell: Richter 858

Review by Mike Barnes, The Wire, March 2005

RICHTER 858 begins explosively with guitar, violin, viola and cello producing an atonal storm akin to George Crumb's Black Angels. This cedes to slow guitar ...

Michael Bublé: Why I gave up drugs and womanising

Profile and Interview by Robert Sandall, Daily Telegraph, 24 March 2005

Michael Bublé's rise to worldwide fame has been swift. But, as his second album is released, "the new Sinatra" tells Robert Sandall how he has ...

Billie Holiday: Julia Blackburn: With Billie (Cape)

Book Review by Robert Sandall, The Sunday Times, 27 March 2005

BILLIE HOLIDAY famously led a chaotic, dissolute life that has attracted biographers like rubberneckers to a car crash. ...

Sun Ra: Cosmic Relief: Sun Ra & His Solar Arkestra: The Magic Sun

Film/DVD/TV Review by Rob Young, Uncut, April 2005

Important documentary artefact of late-'60s avant-garde jazz ...

Jimmy Smith: Soulsmith

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 ...

Ornette Coleman: Barbican, London

Preview by John Lewis, Barbican show programme, 2 May 2005

Programme notes for Barbican Hall performance of Ornette Coleman — Alto sax Denardo Coleman — Drums Greg Cohen — Bass Tony Falanga — Bass ...

Paolo Conte: The Italian way to swing

Report and Interview by Robert Sandall, Daily Telegraph, 5 May 2005

DESPITE THE FACT that he has sold out a week of shows in a plush theatre in central Milan where rival attractions such as Crosby ...

Ahmad Jamal: Barbican, London

Live Review by John L. Walters, The Guardian, 11 May 2005

LIKE CREAM, Ahmad Jamal's trio is an influential outfit, hugely successful in its time, whose place in history can be underestimated. His early music had ...

Jerry Garcia, Grateful Dead: Jerry Garcia: Spirit of The Dead

Retrospective by Ken Hunt, Jazzwise, August 2005

Ken Hunt looks back at the life, music and jazz influences of Jerry Garcia of The Grateful Dead who died 10 years ago this month ...

Madeleine Peyroux: "I'm an outcast"

Report and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 2 August 2005

Madeleine Peyroux could be the new Norah Jones – if she didn't find the idea insulting. She tells Caroline Sullivan about walking out on her ...

Paul Desmond: Doug Ramsey: Take Five: The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond (Parkside Publications)

Book Review by Kirk Silsbee, LA CityBeat, 18 August 2005

HE GAVE UP writing because playing jazz seemed like an easier way to make a living.  In the era dominated by Charlie Parker, he developed an ...

Jimmy Scott: Little Boy Lost

Retrospective and Interview by Fred Dellar, MOJO, October 2005

Today, Jimmy Scott is a legend, revered by Lou Reed and Madonna for his ethereal, unearthly soprano. But for years he languished in anonymity, battling ...

Madeleine Peyroux: Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh

Live Review by Chris Ingham, MOJO, October 2005

Francophile jazz singer makes for a better class of busker at the Edinburgh Festival. ...

Sun Ra: Space Is The Place

Essay by David Stubbs, The Guardian, 22 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, 23 October 2005

MOSE ALLISON can be summed up in two words – Mose Allison. ...

Phil Elwood, 1926-2006

Obituary by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, 11 January 2006

Beloved Bay Area jazz and blues critic ...

Miles Davis: Kind Of Overkill

Comment by John L. Walters, The Guardian, 10 February 2006

Miles Davis wouldn't have wanted his out-takes made public, so why all the box sets? ...

Ronnie Scott's says goodbye to sticky carpets, hello to decent food and air conditioning

Report and Interview by Robert Sandall, Daily Telegraph, 24 June 2006

The legendary Soho jazz club has had a long overdue revamp. Robert Sandall reports. ...

Madeleine Peyroux: Half The Perfect World

Review by Mat Snow, MOJO, November 2006

A truly beautiful record and one from the heart, sighs Mat Snow. A romantic masterpiece is born. ...

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 ...

Goin' to Kansas City

Report and Interview by Kirk Silsbee, LA CityBeat, 3 November 2006

FLYING INTO Kansas City, Missouri, you see a huge patchwork landscape of eccentric green and brown shapes that is farmland acreage. These are both separated ...

Kansas City: Sorry But I Can't Take You

Report and Interview by Kirk Silsbee, JazzTimes, December 2006

KANSAS CITY, MO – It was like a scene out of The Godfather or Goldfinger, only it was on the storied corner of 18th and ...

Tony Bennett: An interview with Tony Bennett

Interview by Maureen Paton, You, 10 December 2006

I'VE LEFT MY heart in a London taxi that dropped Tony Bennett off at the Dorchester Hotel. The man who has made his 1962 hit ...

John Densmore: Opening New Doors

Live Review by Kirk Silsbee, LA CityBeat, 21 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 ...

Wynton Marsalis: Shock of the New

Profile and Interview by John Lewis, The Guardian, 2 March 2007

Wynton Marsalis almost explodes with rage when he talks about hip-hop. So why has the jazz stalwart recorded a track on which he breaks into ...

Madeleine Peyroux: Hammersmith Apollo

Live Review by John Lewis, London Lite, 17 April 2007

ONE GETS THE impression that folksy jazz warbler Madeleine Peyroux would make a great punk icon. Like Pete Doherty, she enjoys heroically sabotaging her career ...

Madeleine Peyroux: 'It's OK To Be Dark'

Interview by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 24 April 2007

Madeleine Peyroux made it big with intense reworkings of other people's tunes. Isn't it time she struck out alone? ...

Ornette Coleman

Interview by Andrew Purcell, The Guardian, 29 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 ...

Soweto Kinch: Absolute Beginners: Lyric Theatre, London

Report and Interview by John Lewis, The Times, July 2007

COLIN MACINNES'S 1959 novel Absolute Beginners remains a landmark in post-colonial literature, a brash, idealistic voyage through the Notting Hill race riots, seedy jazz dives, ...

Rashied Ali Quintet: Pizza on the Park

Review and Interview by John Lewis, Metro, July 2007

IT'S EXACTLY 40 years since the legendary saxophonist John Coltrane died, enough time for the cult surrounding him to take upon religious proportions. ...

Ornette Coleman

Interview by John Lewis, Metro, 6 July 2007

ORNETTE COLEMAN's visits to London tend to be rather special events. Over the past four decades, the legendary saxophonist has been joined on stage by ...

Robert Glasper: "I'd like Wynton to listen to my iPod"

Interview by John Lewis, The Guardian, 17 August 2007

Jazz may be pianist Robert Glasper's first love, but hip-hop deserves equal respect, he tells John Lewis ...

Richard Cook 1957-2007: Friends and Colleagues Pay Tribute

Obituary by Various Writers, Rock's Backpages, September 2007

The great jazz and rock writer, who died on August 25, 2007, is remembered by those who worked with him at NME and Sounds. ...

Richard Cook, 1957 2007

Obituary by Robert Sandall, The Sunday Times, 2 September 2007

IF WRITING ABOUT music is like dancing about architecture, then Richard Cook, who died of cancer last week at 49, was the Norman Foster of ...

Albert Ayler: My Name Is Albert Ayler (dir. Kasper Collin)

Film/DVD/TV Review by John Lewis, Sight & Sound, November 2007

Synopsis Feature-length documentary about the African-American saxophonist Albert Ayler (1936–1970), told through archive footage and new interviews with friends, family and musicians, including his brother and ...

Stan Tracey: Make A Date: Stan Tracey

Retrospective and Interview by John Lewis, Metro, January 2008

"DOES ANYONE here realise how good this guy is?" remarked the legendary saxophonist Sonny Rollins during a lengthy session at Ronnie Scott's nightclub in the ...

Peter Doggett: There's a Riot Going On – Revolutionaries, Rock Stars and the Rise and Fall of 1960s Counter-Culture

Book Review by Jon Newey, Jazzwise, February 2008

FOR A BOOK that takes a very protracted look at the role played by rock music and its, mostly, over-paid and over-pampered stars in the ...

Pat Metheny endures, creating his own musical challenges

Report and Interview by Fred Shuster, Los Angeles Daily News, 21 February 2008

WHEN JAZZ PIANIST Herbie Hancock recently won the Grammy Award for album of the year for a set of reimagined Joni Mitchell songs, musicians and ...

Billie Holiday: Rare Live Recordings (1934-1959)

Review by Bill Wasserzieher, Blues Revue, April 2008

THAT WEARY, woeful voice and that life-is-hard delivery – these are the things that make Billie Holiday compelling and contemporary, despite the fact that next ...

Jason Moran: Make A Date: Jason Moran

Interview by John Lewis, Metro, May 2008

WHEN THE eccentric jazz legend Thelonious Monk died in 1982, Jason Moran was only seven years old. Aged 11, Moran was in his dad's car ...

Kieran Hebden: Close-Up: Kieran Hebden

Profile and Interview by John Lewis, Independent on Sunday, 13 July 2008

IF ONE WERE to draw a Venn diagram illustrating London's myriad music scenes – with circles depicting, say, rock, folk, jazz and techno – then ...

Anat Cohen: Jazz clarinetist Anat Cohen — so many roads

Interview by Kirk Silsbee, Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, 28 July 2008

JAZZ STAYS VITAL by virtue of the young players who step up and bring something new to the music. One of the most delightful "arrivals" ...

Elizabeth Pepin & Lewis Watts: Harlem Of The West, The San Francisco Fillmore Jazz Era

Book Review by Neil Slaven, Blues & Rhythm, August 2008

I PICKED UP this little item a few weeks ago at my local FOPP, one of the stores that survived the chain going bust, and ...

Zoe Rahman: Close-up: Zoe Rahman

Profile by John Lewis, Independent on Sunday, 14 September 2008

After blowing away the pop world, the pianist is turning to Bollywood. ...

Jerry Garcia, Grateful Dead, Merl Saunders: Merl Saunders, 1934-2008

Obituary by Ken Hunt, The Guardian, 27 October 2008

Keyboard wizard who often worked with Jerry Garcia, with or without the Grateful Dead ...

Herbie Hancock (2008)

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, The Guardian, 7 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 ...

Jerry Dammers, Sun Ra: Jerry Dammers' Spatial AKA Orchestra Presents a tribute to Sun Ra and other musical mavericks

Preview by John L. Walters, Barbican show programme, 10 March 2009

JERRY DAMMERS has long had a place in the nation's musical heart. His exuberant, hard-working band Special AKA (the Specials), helped to revive and redefine ...

Amanda Ambrose: Remembering Amanda Ambrose

Retrospective by Fred Dellar, Rock's Backpages, 23 March 2009

BECAUSE I'D BEEN an Amanda Ambrose fan since the '60s, during 2007 I nudged Poker Records into releasing an Ambrose album. ...

Ronnie Scott's at 50

Retrospective by Johnny Black, Music Week, 25 April 2009

IN THE WORDS of the jazz legend who founded it, Ronnie Scott's club has always been, "just like home … filthy and full of strangers." ...

Albert Ayler

Retrospective by Kris Needs, Rock's Backpages, May 2009

'I must play music that is beyond this world' – Albert Ayler ...

Moondog: The Viking of 6th Ave: The Music of Moondog

Preview by John L. Walters, Barbican show programme, 30 May 2009

Presented by the Barbican and Eat Your Own Ears; part of Only Connect ...

Ornette Coleman: Mister Anything Goes

Profile and Interview by John Lewis, The Guardian, 10 June 2009

He's taken jazz where it has never gone before — playing with pipers, punks and divas. As Ornette Coleman arrives in Britain, Patti Smith, Moby ...

Ornette Coleman, The Roots: The Roots with Ornette Coleman: Royal Festival Hall, London

Live Review by John Lewis, The Guardian, 17 June 2009

IT SEEMS fitting that Philadelphia hip-hoppers the Roots should help kick off Ornette Coleman's Meltdown festival. ...

Robert Wyatt: Orchestra National De Jazz & Robert Wyatt: Around Robert Wyatt (Bee Jazz)

Review by David Stubbs, The Wire, July 2009

ROBERT WYATT has become more and more an object of attention and devotion with the passing of time, as if taking on the status of ...

Miles Davis: Richard Williams: The Blue Moment (Faber & Faber)

Book Review by David Stubbs, The Wire, August 2009

MILES DAVIS's Kind of Blue is probably the most popular jazz recording of all time, equally so among those who don't own any other jazz ...

Chris Barber: Father of British R&B

Retrospective by John Pidgeon, Rock's Backpages, 28 September 2009

BY 1963, EVERYONE I knew had a TV. Two black-and-white channels: the one that was on and "the other side". So when the Rolling Stones ...

Miles Davis: The Miles Davis Quintet: Live In Europe 1967

Film/DVD/TV Review by Michael Azerrad, Rock's Backpages, October 2009

LIKE ANY credible person, I dig Miles Davis. But I particularly dig his quintet with saxophonist Wayne Shorter, pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter and ...

Carla Bley: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London

Live Review by John L. Walters, The Guardian, 19 November 2009

AT FIRST GLANCE, Carla Bley's current band, the Lost Chords, look like just another jazz quartet. Then you listen to what they play, and realise ...

Louis Armstrong: Terry Teachout: Pops – The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong (JR Books)

Book Review by Robert Sandall, The Sunday Times, 22 November 2009

AS TERRY Teachout makes clear in this terrific biography, the world that Louis Armstrong inhabited was anything but wonderful. It was, for most of his ...

Ramsey Lewis: Songs From the Heart – Ramsey Plays Ramsey

Review by Lloyd Bradley, bbc.co.uk, 15 March 2010

A credible jazz album for those who never knew they liked the genre ...

Bobby McFerrin gets vocal

Interview by John Lewis, The Guardian, 7 May 2010

Composer, conductor, vocalist, YouTube inspiration: you can't pin Bobby McFerrin down. His latest idea? Completely improvised concerts ...

Manhattan Transfer: Ronnie Scott's, London

Live Review by John L. Walters, London Jazz News, 8 May 2010

THERE'S NO ACT remotely like New York's Manhattan Transfer. The close harmony vocal quartet can do everything from Doo-Wop to Broadway schmaltz, from big band ...

Jamie Cullum: Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow

Live Review by David Sinclair, The Times, 11 May 2010

JAMIE CULLUM’S blend of jazz, pop and anything else that comes to hand may not be to everyone’s taste, but he certainly knows how to ...

Bill Frisell, Jan Garbarek, Keith Jarrett, Pat Metheny: Manfred Eicher: The Sound Man

Profile and Interview by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 17 July 2010

Admired by Radiohead, friend of Godard, Manfred Eicher is the founder of ECM, one of the most successful jazz labels in the world. He tells ...

James Chance & the Contortions: James Chance: Twist Your Soul – The Definitive Collection

Review by Stevie Chick, bbc.co.uk, August 2010

Two-disc retrospective of scabrous No Wave figure’s searing jazz-punk contortions. ...

Miles Davis: John Lydon, Nick Cave, Wayne Coyne, Iggy & More: My Favourite Miles Davis Album

Guide by John Doran, The Quietus, 5 October 2010

To celebrate the recent reissue of Bitches Brew, John Doran asked Iggy Pop, Jim Sclavunos, Jason Pierce, Mike Patton, Paul Weller and many other musicians ...

Johnny Edgecombe, 1932–2010

Obituary by Chris Salewicz, The Independent, 18 October 2010

Hustler and jazz promoter who played a key role in the Profumo scandal ...

Cassandra Wilson: Cassanda Wilson: Breathing new life into sound

Profile and Interview by John Lewis, Metro, 22 November 2010

Jazz great Cassandra Wilson tells Metro how British history has left its mark on the genre and how she has followed its ley lines. ...

Kip Hanrahan: Love is Like a Cigarette

Review by John L. Walters, Perfect Sound Forever, December 2010

MY FIRST encounter with Kip Hanrahan was when someone at Pangaea, his record company, handed me a copy of Days and Nights of Blue Luck ...

Odetta: 1930 — 2008

Profile by Michael Gray, Rock's Backpages, December 2010

N.B. This profile is an updated version based on Odetta's entry in The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia ...

Ornette Coleman and Outrage

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 ...

John Barry, 1933-2011

Obituary by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 31 January 2011

Composer most closely associated with the golden age of James Bond but whose scores ranged from Midnight Cowboy to Dances With Wolves  ...

Chet Baker, Jan Erik Vold: Jan Erik Vold & Chet Baker: Telemark Blue (Hot Club)

Review by Ian Penman, The Wire, March 2011

SO MANY paradoxes with Chet: a man who became a visual icon, but couldn't care less about his appearance; a man whose music was all ...

The Rebirth Brass Band: Rebirth of New Orleans

Review by Carol Cooper, The Village Voice, 20 April 2011

DURING THE FIRST episode of HBO's Treme, members of the Rebirth Brass Band and the show's trombone-playing character Antoine Batiste end a jazz parade in ...

Charlie Haden: Paul Morley On Music: Charlie Haden

Comment by Paul Morley, The Observer, 24 April 2011

Amazon has made critics of us all. But how does that bode for the professional critic? ...

Courtney Pine: Common Cause: Courtney Pine is making all the right connections

Report and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, May 2011

IF THE JAZZ police, those self-appointed protectors of a genre that's about freedom of expression (the irony is obviously lost on them), didn't know what ...

George Russell: The Complete Remastered Recordings On Black Saint & Soul Note

Review by Rob Young, The Wire, May 2011

THE LYDIAN Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organisation is seldom invoked these days, but jazz composer George Russell's theoretical attempt to lift jazz up and away ...

Bill Wells and Aidan Moffat: Bill Wells: "I've more in common with indie"

Report and Interview by Mike Barnes, The Guardian, 30 June 2011

Snubbed by Scotland's jazz scene, guitar virtuoso Bill Wells has teamed up with ex-Arab Strap man Aidan Moffat for a panoramic meditation on life and ...

Goldie, Pat Metheny: When Goldie Met Metheny

Interview by Kate Mossman, The Word, August 2011

Obsessed drum'n'bass muscle writes daily letters to jazz wizard (and to Beethoven and Elgar). Eventually he posts one. Word arranges a summit ...

Nina Simone: Between the Keys

Retrospective by Michael A. Gonzales, Wax Poetics, September 2011

"White people had Judy Garland. We had Nina." — Richard Pryor ...

Louis Armstrong: Satchmo

Review by Jim Irvin, The Word, October 2011

The new Louis Armstrong box set isn't the vast trunk you'd expect, more an overnight hag — but it has everything you need. ...

Pete Rugolo, 1915-2011

Obituary by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 21 October 2011

Controversial jazz composer and arranger best known for his work with Stan Kenton ...

George Gershwin: Searching for 'Summertime': Gershwin's masterpiece

Retrospective by James Maycock, Daily Telegraph, 19 November 2011

In some versions it's a tender lullaby, in others a siren song. Filmmaker James Maycock explores the bittersweet mysteries and colourful past of Gershwin's most ...

Miles Davis: Me and Miles Davis, in a silent way

Essay by Mark Mordue, The Australian, 31 December 2011

I DON'T WANT to tell you where. It seems too private. Not that I have all that much to tell, only what I saw. Midafternoon, ...

Sun Ra: Space is the Place

Review by Stevie Chick, bbc.co.uk, 2012

Saturnian jazz godhead leaves Earth’s orbit. ...

Neil Cowley Trio: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London

Live Review by David Sinclair, The Times, 19 March 2012

NEIL COWLEY was 10 when he last played here. Now 39, he plays keyboards with acts ranging from the Brand New Heavies to Adele (on ...

Gary Burton, Chick Corea: Crystal Silence: Gary Burton & Chick Corea

Preview by John L. Walters, Barbican show programme, April 2012

NEARLY 40 YEARS have elapsed since Gary Burton and Chick Corea walked into an Oslo studio to record the nine exquisite tracks that make up ...

Norah Jones: 10 Questions for Norah Jones

Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Arts Desk, 26 April 2012

NORAH JONES is back. New haircut, new sound, new producer. The first of these, while very nice, needn't concern us too much. The second, meanwhile, ...

Kathleen Battle and Cyrus Chestnut: The Blue Note, New York City

Live Review by Carol Cooper, The Village Voice, 20 June 2012

IN 2010, KATHLEEN Battle chose a pianist and a repertoire of classical material to bring to Carnegie Hall for a formal recital. This summer, Battle ...

John Coltrane: Classic Album: John Coltrane's Blue Train

Review by Mike Diver, Clash, 24 October 2012

JAZZ. The word alone is enough to set some listeners on edge. Honking, squawking, screeching horrors. Well, that's one assessment, at least, and sometimes accurate ...

Gil Evans: Purple Hazer: The Many Lives of Gil Evans

Retrospective by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 7 November 2012

His cool, luminous sound redefined jazz. Then he threw it all in for Jimi Hendrix. Richard Williams on the brilliant and mercurial Gil Evans. ...

Chet Baker: The Heartbreaking Beauty Of Chet Baker

Retrospective by Lenny Kaye, Wondering Sound, 13 November 2012

IT'S AUTUMN IN NEW YORK, and as I always do at this time of year, I pull Chet Baker from the shelf.  ...

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 ...

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. ...

Erin McKeown: Manifestra

Review by Holly Gleason, Paste, 15 January 2013

WITH A LOUCHE SAUNTER and a thick, descending ripple of horn punctuations, Erin McKeown opens her first self-released album with a high-ironic colonic that skewers ...

Laura Mvula: The Voice

Interview by Tom Doyle, MOJO, February 2013

Laura Mvula is gospel-raised, classically trained and obsessed with The Beach Boys. "I'm quite a melancholic soul," she tells Tom Doyle. ...

Lianne La Havas: "I get pure happiness from making songs"

Interview by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 26 May 2013

She is compared to Sade and Amy Winehouse, with the biggest names in music lining up to duet with her. Barbara Ellen meets Lianne La ...

Laura Nyro, Mark Winkler: Mark Winkler Finds Healing in the Songs of Laura Nyro

Report and Interview by Kirk Silsbee, Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, 7 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 ...

John Zorn: Zorn@60: John Zorn and guests including Mike Patton and Marc Ribot

Preview by John Lewis, Barbican show programme, 12 July 2013

FOR THOSE OF US who've grown up listening to his music, it seems remarkable that John Zorn is celebrating his 60th birthday. ...

Wynton Marsalis Toots His Own Horn

Interview by Miles Marshall Lewis, Ebony, 8 October 2013

YES, WYNTON Marsalis has soul. The knee-jerk criticism of the 51-year-old jazz trumpeter ever since his self-titled 1981 album has been that, while always technically ...

Let's Take A Walk: Clara Hill Interviewed

Interview by Wyndham Wallace, The Quietus, 29 October 2013

With her fourth album, former Jazzanova protégé Clara Hill has reinvented herself as a singer of experimental indie-electronic torch songs. Wyndham Wallace asks her how ...

Herbie Hancock: The Futureshock of Herbie Hancock

Retrospective by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 8 November 2013

As Sony Music prepares a 34-disc box set for next week, Michael A. Gonzales takes a look back at the pianist's storied career. ...

Herbie Hancock: Vintage Vision: The Futureshock of Herbie Hancock

Retrospective and Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 8 November 2013

BLACK MUSIC, especially jazz, has never been afraid of change. Since strutting out of the Storyville whorehouses where piano players and horn blowers created the ...

Brian Auger, Mahavishnu Orchestra, John McLaughlin: The Brian Auger Quintet & the Rick Laird Trio: Fleeting Moments in 1964

Book Excerpt by Colin Harper, (Jawbone Books), 2014

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Rick Laird, who died on 4 July 2021, very kindly talked to me for Bathed In Lightning: John McLaughlin, the 60s and the ...

Charlie Parker: Gary Giddins: Celebrating Bird/Stanley Crouch: Kansas City Lightning/Chuck Haddix: Bird

Book Review by Ian Penman, London Review of Books, 23 January 2014

"There was a lot of racial tension around bebop. Black men were going with fine, rich white bitches. They were all over these niggers out ...

GoGo Penguin: v2.0

Review by Nick Hasted, Jazzwise, 23 January 2014

MANCHESTER's GoGo Penguin prove, among other things, what a rhythmic gift the drum 'n' bass dance scene, which began in the 1990s, has been to ...

Sun Ra: The Solar Myth Revisited: Sun Ra's Centenary Observed

Report by Kirk Silsbee, Glendale News-Press, 4 April 2014

HIS BIRTH certificate said Birmingham, Alabama but the man who called himself Sun Ra declared that he was from the planet Saturn. Miles Davis set ...

Flying Lotus: Colston Hall, Bristol

Live Review by Stephen Dalton, The Times, 10 June 2014

"BRISTOL, IT'S been a while," beamed the electronic explorer Flying Lotus, aka Steven Ellison, as he welcomed an excitable young crowd to one of his ...

Jimmy Scott: Singer Jimmy Scott Dies at 88

Obituary by Jeff Tamarkin, JazzTimes, 13 June 2014

JIMMY SCOTT, whose distinctively high contralto voice — caused by a rare genetic condition called Kallmann's syndrome — gave his music a purity and youthfulness ...

Duke Ellington, Bill Evans, Jimi Hendrix, The Last Poets, John McLaughlin, Cecil Taylor: Alan Douglas, 1931-2014

Obituary by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 18 June 2014

Record producer best known for his controversial posthumous releases of Jimi Hendrix recordings ...

Charlie Haden: Lifetime With Charlie Haden, R.I.P.

Retrospective by Don Snowden, Rock's Backpages, July 2014

THERE WAS NEVER any doubt I would write something about Charlie Haden moving on to the next phase but then a daunting thought struck me: ...

Duke Ellington, Sun Ra: The secret history of the jazz greats who were freemasons

Essay by John Lewis, The Guardian, 2 July 2014

Jazz and freemasonry are unlikely bedfellows, but in the 1950s, the secret society became a support network for musicians and the world's largest fraternity for ...

Alon Nechushtan: Jazz music with Israeli roots

Interview by Kirk Silsbee, Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, 9 July 2014

THE HISTORY of jazz is rife with junctures where the music received an infusion of creative innovation from the far-flung provinces: Louis Armstrong turned Chicago ...

Blue Note Records, "jazz's Motown, on celebrating 75 years in the limelight

Retrospective and Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 15 August 2014

Blue Note remains more than the shell of a name that other formerly legendary labels – Virgin, Island, Motown and EMI  – have been reduced ...

Dr. John: Welcome to the Big Easy

Retrospective and Interview by Michael Simmons, MOJO, October 2014

FROM HIS 1968 DEBUT ONWARDS, THE MUSIC OF DR. JOHN HAS BEEN MARINADED IN THE PSYCHEDELIC VOODOO OF NEW ORLEANS. NOW, WITH A TRIBUTE TO ...

David Bowie, Dylan Howe: Dylan Howe: Subterranean – New Designs on Bowie's Berlin

Review by Chris Charlesworth, Just Backdated, November 2014

IT IS NOT DIFFICULT to imagine the look of dismay on the faces of executives at RCA Records when David Bowie delivered the tapes for ...

The Pop Group: The Oral History of the Pop Group: The Noisy Brits Who Were Too Punk for the Punks

Interview by Richard Gehr, Rolling Stone, 7 November 2014

While London was calling, these Bristol teenagers responded with dub, avant-jazz and noise — and inspired everyone from Nick Cave to Nine Inch Nails. ...

Billie Holiday: Blood on the Leaves: Eric Garner and 'Strange Fruit'

Retrospective by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 5 December 2014

"I CAN'T BREATHE," Eric Garner moaned moments before dying on a Staten Island street on July 17 of this summer. As one of millions who ...

Chet Baker, Trumpeter, 1929-1988

Book Excerpt by Brian Case, On the Snap (Caught by the River, 2015), 2015

I CAN REMEMBER that Chet was major despondent. A black cloud marking time. Why was I interviewing him? No particular reason. The Jazz Centre Society ...

Whiplash has put drummers in their rightful place as music's irreplaceable root

Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 16 January 2015

Drummers are finally beginning to shake their tag as 'clueless thumpers' ...

Kat Edmonson, Robert Ellis: Kat Edmonson/Robert Ellis: Rams Head On Stage, Annapolis

Live Review by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 25 February 2015

KAT EDMONSON AND Robert Ellis, who brought their tour to Annapolis Tuesday night, are Houston singers with the same final initial and current Brooklyn addresses. ...

Kendrick Lamar Voices the Ferguson Era

Review by Miles Marshall Lewis, Ebony, 17 March 2015

WE CAN FINALLY take Black Messiah off repeat; masterpiece two has arrived. To Pimp a Butterfly, Kendrick Lamar's thematically and musically layered 16-track sophomore album, ...

Common: Center of Chaos: Common's Electric Circus

Retrospective by Michael A. Gonzales, Red Bull Academy Magazine, 24 March 2015

In the wake of the wide-ranging To Pimp a Butterfly, Michael A. Gonzales looks back to Common's most ambitious full-length. ...

Charlie Parker: Various Artists: The Complete Dial Modern Jazz Sessions (Mosaic Records)

Review by Geoffrey Himes, JazzTimes, 29 March 2015

TO UNDERSTAND the significance of Dial Records, a good place to start is the tune 'Relaxin' at Camarillo'. ...

Gavin Harrison, Porcupine Tree: Stripped down and reimagined in brass, Porcupine Tree takes on a whole new life

Interview by Mike Mettler, Digital Trends, 14 April 2015

WHEN A DRUMMER is acknowledged as occupying the same rarefied air as Rush's Neil Peart, it says a lot about just how damn good the ...

George Gershwin, Wilko Johnson, Lee Konitz, Gregory Porter, Martha Reeves & The Vandellas: Cheltenham Jazz Festival, review

Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 6 May 2015

Even in jazz, sometimes the simplest pleasures are best ...

"Brother" Jack McDuff: Brother Jack McDuff: Kisses/Having A Good Time/Live It Up (Sugarhill)

Sleeve notes by Bob Fisher, unpublished, June 2015

ALL PLATINUM RECORDS, based in New Jersey, was a remarkably powerful force in Black music during the early 1970s and prided itself on being a ...

Frank Sinatra: Swoonatra: Sinatra – London

Essay by Ian Penman, London Review of Books, 2 July 2015

REVEILLE WITH BEVERLY is a now largely forgotten 1943 film starring Ann Miller and the great Franklin Pangborn. Worked up from an equally forgotten US ...

Amy Winehouse: Slept on Soul: Amy Winehouse's Frank

Column by Michael A. Gonzales, soulhead, 8 July 2015

DOLLED-UP LIKE a Phil Spector creation doo-wopping on a Bronx boulevard, Amy Winehouse came into most Americans' homes with the release of her second album ...

Marian McPartland, Kate Tempest: A Tale of Two British Women: Marian McPartland and Kate Tempest

Comment by Larry Jaffee, Women Across Frontiers, 25 August 2015

AMERICAN SINGER-SONGWRITER Aimee Mann once told me during an interview how male executives from major record labels always gave her problems when she wanted to ...

Blick Bassy: "I want to expose the dangers of the immigration dream"

Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 9 September 2015

The Cameroonian singer-songwriter draws on figures from Miles Davis to African freedom fighters to produce his soulful, melodic sound — but it wasn't until he ...

John Coltrane: A Love Supreme: The Complete Masters (USM/Impulse/Verve)

Review by David Toop, The Wire, November 2015

The complete session of the landmark John Coltrane album underlines the solemn rigour of the ritual.  ...

Caravan Palace: O2 Academy, Bristol

Live Review by Stephen Dalton, The Times, 15 December 2015

Caravan Palace jived and jitterbugged through a sanitised 90-minute mix of sassy hot jazz and contemporary electronics ...

Caro Emerald: Eventim Apollo, W6

Live Review by Lisa Verrico, The Times, 21 December 2015

CARO EMERALD was due to release her third album this year. That she didn't hasn't halted her rise. Songs from the Dutch star's platinum-selling first ...

Snarky Puppy, Esperanza Spalding: Esperanza Spalding: Emily's D+Evolution; Snarky Puppy: Family Dinner Volume 2; Jeff Buckley: You and I

Review by Will Hermes, Rolling Stone, 10 March 2016

NOT SINCE Herbie Hancock robo-rocked the Grammys in 1984 have jazz and pop felt as closely intertwined as they do this year. ...

Lianne La Havas: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Stephen Dalton, The Times, 16 March 2016

In her headline debut, the south London singer was at her best on numbers that featured just her voice and a guitar ...

Ed Motta: Perpetual Gateways

Review by John L. Walters, London Jazz News, 2 July 2016

ED MOTTA's music can be an acquired taste. This is not because his music is especially challenging or 'difficult' — though his use of harmony ...

Burt Bacharach, GoGo Penguin, Grace Jones, Kamasi Washington: Grace Jones et al.: Love Supreme Jazz Festival, Sussex

Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 7 July 2016

Burt Bacharach, GoGo Penguin and Esperanza Spalding are other highlights ...

"Jazz was the catalyst for change": Jim Marshall's images of '60s festivals

Retrospective and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 4 September 2016

Photographer Jim Marshall is known for iconic images of '60s rock stars. But his first great portraits were of the giants of jazz, captured on ...

Mose Allison: Who Is... Mose Allison?

Retrospective by Geoffrey Himes, Music Aficionado, October 2016

THE LEGENDARY British organ player Georgie Fame once described his hero Mose Allison as "the jazz version of Bob Dylan." When an interviewer asked Fame's ...

David Bowie, The Comet Is Coming, Robert Glasper, GoGo Penguin, Shabaka Hutchings, Kendrick Lamar, Donny McCaslin, Courtney Pine, Sons of Kemet, Thundercat, Kamasi Washington: The new cool: how Kamasi, Kendrick and co gave jazz a new groove

Essay by John Lewis, The Guardian, 6 October 2016

A generation of jazz musicians has grown up with hip-hop in its blood. The result is the thrilling reinvention of a genre that has been ...

Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah (Christian Scott): Jazz artist of the week: Christian Scott

Profile by Jasper Murison-Bowie, Under City Lights, 16 October 2016

Who is he? Fully conscious of jazz tradition but also deeply embedded in today's music landscape, trumpeter Christian Scott draws on indie rock, hip-hop and beyond ...

Lucky Chops: Jazz artist of the week: Lucky Chops

Profile by Jasper Murison-Bowie, Under City Lights, 23 October 2016

Who are those guys? Lucky Chops. ...

Nina Simone: What happened, Miss Simone?

Film/DVD/TV Review by Richard Williams, Uncut, November 2016

The often harrowing life and times of a musical and political force. ...

Rudy Van Gelder: Quality Guaranteed

Obituary by Fred Dellar, MOJO, November 2016

MAESTRO OF engineering Rudy Van Gelder – the man who shaped the sound of modern jazz – left us on August 25. ...

Tim Buckley: The Dream Belongs to Me: The Tragic Journey of Tim Buckley

Retrospective by Kris Needs, Shindig, November 2016

FIFTY YEARS AGO this month, an album was released that, in its own strangely magical way, managed to stand out among the recent folk boom ...

Jacob Collier: Jazz artist of the week: Jacob Collier

Profile by Jasper Murison-Bowie, Under City Lights, 13 November 2016

Who's that then? Jacob Collier.  ...

Carla Bley, Charlie Haden, Liberation Music Orchestra: Liberation Music Orchestra: Cadogan Hall, London

Live Review by John L. Walters, London Jazz News, 21 November 2016

CHARLIE'S LIBERATION MUSIC Orchestra was a product of the cultural moment outlined in the Victoria & Albert Museum's current exhibition You Say You Want a ...

Tony Bennett: Swinging with the stars

Interview by Robin Eggar, The Sunday Times, 18 December 2016

From Basie, Bill Evans and all that jazz to duets with Amy and Gaga, Tony Bennett has lived a life in song. Take a bow, ...

Ella Fitzgerald: 100 Songs For a Centennial (Verve 2016-00957)

Sleeve notes by Kirk Silsbee, Verve Records, February 2017

AT FIRST BLUSH, a hundred songs from any artist seems like overkill.  In the case of Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996), whose recordings number in the thousands, ...

The Comet Is Coming: The Brudenell Social Club, Leeds

Live Review by Ben Myers, MOJO, March 2017

West Yorkshire braces for the impact of Shabaka Hutchings' near-Earth trio. ...

Why I made a 15,000-mile trip to a jazz festival when I don't even like jazz

Report by Tim Cooper, The Evening Standard, 10 March 2017

THIS WEEK I made a round trip of 15,000 miles to go to a jazz festival on the other side of the world.  ...

Thundercat: Gorilla, Manchester

Live Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 26 March 2017

The gifted bassist and Kendrick Lamar sidekick twists fusion, soul and hip-hop into magical shapes. ...

Thundercat: Heaven, London

Live Review by Stevie Chick, The Guardian, 29 March 2017

The prodigious bassist's songs veer between jazz fusion and intimate, soulful pop – augmented live by detours into wild improvisation ...

Terry Gibbs: House Terry Gibbs built at Age 92 delights jazz fans

Retrospective and Interview by Kirk Silsbee, Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, 14 June 2017

UNTIL A FEW YEARS AGO, vibraphonist Terry Gibbs was the oldest performing headliner in jazz. But at 91, he decided to cover his vibes for ...

A Tribe Called Quest, Miles Davis, Kendrick Lamar: The Sound In Our Veins

Memoir by Miles Marshall Lewis, The Fader, 30 June 2017

"How would someone young get turned on to jazz, an art form with its most innovative days behind it?" ...

When Jazz Started Feelin' Groovy

Guide by Mitchell Cohen, Music Aficionado, July 2017

IT WAS SO SIMPLE: pop music was for kids, and kids bought 45s. Jazz fans were older, hipper, and collected LPs. Two different constituencies, and ...

Soweto Kinch: A Singular Jazz Odyssey

Profile and Interview by David Burke, All About Jazz, 10 August 2017

SOWETO KINCH was a curious teenager when an encounter with Wynton Marsalis impelled him on his own jazz odyssey. An odyssey characterised by the creation ...

Avishai Cohen: Trumpeter Avishai Cohen among Israelis on jazz scene

Interview by Kirk Silsbee, Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, 30 August 2017

TO GET AN idea of the collective impact that Israeli musicians have had on American jazz in the past two decades, consider that when the ...

Mike Westbrook: The First 50 Years

Retrospective and Interview by Colin Harper, Record Collector, October 2017

TAKE A TRIP around eBay and Discogs and you will conclude that Mike Westbrook is a man who makes rare records. Periodically, something from the ...

Denys Baptiste, John Coltrane: Denys Baptiste: Making the Late Trane Accessible

Profile and Interview by David Burke, All About Jazz, 10 October 2017

EVEN THE MOST avowed John Coltrane disciples among us would admit to grappling with some of the albums he released in the couple of years ...

Herbie Hancock, Omar, Courtney Pine: Courtney Pine

Profile and Interview by David Burke, All About Jazz, 16 October 2017

COURTNEY PINE didn't pick up his beloved tenor saxophone for more than a decade, until an album exploring the black British experience demanded it. The ...

Alice Coltrane: "It's like you're on top of the Alps": Alice Coltrane's spiritual jazz rediscovered

Retrospective by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 17 November 2017

This weekend sees a host of London jazz festival events revisit the work of Alice Coltrane, who broke the rules of jazz to blaze a ...

Fred Hersch: Open Book May Rewrite Hersch's Grammy History

Interview by Kirk Silsbee, Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, 3 January 2018

TOP CONTEMPORARY JAZZ pianist Fred Hersch, who is nominated for two 2018 Grammy Awards, has long channeled his turbulent life into his work. The 62-year-old ...

Zara McFarlane: Embodying the Spirit of Jamaica

Profile and Interview by David Burke, All About Jazz, 13 January 2018

ZARA MCFARLANE may have been made in Britain, but she belongs to Jamaica. The land of her mother and father is written in her soul ...

Van Morrison: Versatile

Review by Colin Irwin, MOJO, February 2018

After R&B covers album, Van pays homage to the great jazz songbook. ...

Rhythm & Reaction: The Age of Jazz in Britain: Two Temple Place, London

Review by John L. Walters, Eye, 25 February 2018

Rhythm & Reaction gets under the skin of a British love affair with American jazz 27 January — 22 April 2018 ...

Cecil Taylor: Culture Spinach and Chaos Theory

Comment by Don Snowden, Rock's Backpages, April 2018

ONCE I DECIDED to write something on Cecil Taylor moving on to the next phase, I went back and counted the number of his albums ...

Kamasi Washington: Heaven and Earth (Young Turks)

Review by John Lewis, Metro, 18 June 2018

THROUGH HIS links with Kendrick Lamar and other hip hop and R&B artists, tenor saxophonist Kamasi Washington has moved from niche L.A. jazz musician into ...

Kamasi Washington: Heaven and Earth

Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 20 June 2018

THE CHAIN REACTION from Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly was explosive enough to blow a hole in America's musical ghettos. Hip hop's newly anointed ...

Patty Waters: Jazz from the abyss: Patty Waters' Sings

Retrospective and Interview by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, September 2018

This month's communique from the haunted dancehall: intense, free vocalisations which sustained the young Patti Smith. ...

Prince: Piano & a Microphone 1983 — revelatory listen from a colossal talent

Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 21 September 2018

THE RECORDINGS on this posthumous Prince album weren't originally intended for release. But they capture Prince Rogers Nelson at the peak of his powers, alone ...

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 ...

Billie Holiday: Lady Sings the Blues

Book Review by Nick Hornby, The Sunday Times, 9 December 2018

Unsparing in its portrayal of addiction, divorce and racism, Billie Holiday's memoir is now a Penguin Modern Classic. ...

Ella Fitzgerald: An Angel Sings: Ella Fitzgerald's Live at Zardi's

Sleeve notes by Kirk Silsbee, Verve Records, Spring 2018

"Zardi's spares absolutely no expense to bring you the greatest. As I mentioned before, for two-and-a-half weeks, now, it's been my pleasure to make this ...

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 ...

The Comet is Coming: Trust In The Life Force Of The Deep Mystery (Impulse!)

Review and Interview by John Lewis, Uncut, April 2019

Spiritual synths meet sax for pioneering, futuristic jazz.  ...

Theon Cross: Cross Currents: Jazz Re:Fest 2019

Live Review by Angus Batey, The Quietus, 30 July 2019

The Jazz Re:Freshed crew celebrate another year of progress for their movement and their music with their seventh one-day festival in Brighton. Angus Batey goes ...

Linda Ronstadt, Jerry Wexler: Linda Ronstadt and Jerry Wexler on Unreleased 1981 Album Keeping Out of Mischief

Retrospective and Interview by Stephen K. Peeples, stephenkpeeples.com, 30 September 2019

The well-received September 2019 theatrically released film documentary Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice altogether skipped Keeping Out of Mischief, the unreleased album of ...

Ginger Baker (19 August 1939 – 6 October 2019)

Obituary by Jon Newey, Jazzwise, December 2019

Pressed rolls and warthog: The life and times of Ginger Baker ...

Art Kane. Harlem 1958 (Wall of Sound Editions)

Book Review by John L. Walters, Eye, Spring 2019

THE BLACK-AND-WHITE Esquire photo of 57 jazz musicians (plus a few local children) posed in front of a Harlem brownstone on 12 August 1958 is ...

McAlmont & Webb: The Last Bohemians (Lateralize)

Review by Martin Aston, MOJO, January 2020

Seasoned collaboration "paying homage to the jazz life", Queen and R.E.M. ...

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 ...

Cab Calloway, August Darnell, Gene Krupa: Time Machine: June 1943 – L.A.'s Zoot Suit Riots

Retrospective by Fred Dellar, unpublished, February 2020

CAB CALLOWAY was something of a superstar by 1943. A would-be Harlem Globetrotter, he'd had that possible career nixed by his big sister Blanche, who ...

Jamie Cullum: Barbican, York

Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 12 March 2020

Although some routines are getting well-worn, Cullum hops between hip-hop, crooning and one-liners with aplomb ...

Count Basie: How Count Basie Brought Big Band Jazz Into the Atomic Age

Retrospective by Mitchell Cohen, Music Aficionado, April 2020

POST-WORLD WAR II America was a bleak period for the big-band business. It was the sound that accompanied the country during the Depression and through ...

Wray Downes: Jazz pianist Wray Downes was known for his expressive right hand

Obituary by Nicholas Jennings, The Globe and Mail, 1 April 2020

WRAY DOWNES was a gifted pianist, an Oscar Peterson protégé blessed with perfect pitch and impeccable timing and a bebop man who possessed one of ...

Nubya Garcia, Shabaka Hutchings, Nérija, SEED Ensemble, Sons of Kemet, Emma-Jean Thackray, The Comet is Coming: Add some township jive! How London's jazz scene set itself apart

Profile and Interview by John Lewis, The Guardian, 27 May 2020

The city's young jazz community has flourished by drawing on everything from hip-hop to calypso and highlife, creating a unique cosmopolitan sound. ...

June Tyson, Sun Ra: June Tyson: Saturnian Queen Of The Sun Ra Arkestra

Review by Neil Kulkarni, The Wire, June 2020

JUNE TYSON WASN'T just a collaborator with Sun Ra for 25 years, she was an integral Afrofuturist presence in The Arkestra, the only woman in ...

David Crosby: Long Time Comin'

Interview by Jon Newey, Jazzwise, September 2020

From early 1960s gigs with Terry Callier and having a song covered by Miles Davis to latter-day collaborations with Snarky Puppy and Steely Dan's Donald ...

Miles Davis: Miles Ahead

Retrospective by Jon Newey, Jazzwise, September 2020

Fifty years ago this month Miles Davis played the biggest gig of his career when he brought his groundbreaking Bitches Brew band to the 1970 ...

Charlie Parker: The Savoy 10" LP Collection

Review by Tony Burke, Vintage Jazz Mart, Fall 2020

2020 MARKS Charlie Parker's Centennial and as part of the celebrations Craft Recordings have re-issued Parker's 10" Savoy LPs with restored original album artwork, detailed booklet ...

Gary Crosby: The Ultimate Warrior: Gary Crosby

Book Excerpt by David Burke, Giant Steps (Desert Hearts), 2021

(Excerpt from Giant Steps: Diverse Journeys in British Jazz, published by Desert Hearts 2021)   ...

Yvette Janine Jackson: Freedom (Fridman Gallery)

Review by John Lewis, The Guardian, 15 January 2021

The composer’s two new works, exploring slavery and homophobia, are like immersive non-visual films ...

Celeste: Not Your Muse (Polydor)

Review by Lisa Verrico, The Sunday Times, 31 January 2021

ANOINTED BY the Brit awards as 2020’s rising star, Celeste hasn’t lived up to the hype. ...

Chick Corea: How Chick Corea shaped a jazz generation

Comment by Kate Mossman, New Statesman, 24 February 2021

The pianist, who died in February, was one of the founding fathers of jazz fusion — a deeply misunderstood genre. ...

Kamasi Washington: Swing Time: Kamasi Washington

Interview by Jeff Tamarkin, Reflex, 2 March 2021

AS A high profile jazz musician, Kamasi Washington is accustomed to improvising, just not in the ways that he's been forced to over the past ...

Baby Face Willett: "Baby Face" Willette: Two Faced To Live, Too Young to Die

Retrospective by Jon Newey, Jazzwise, April 2021

Hammond B3 honcho "Baby Face" Willette kicked off the early 1960s as a promising new Blue Note label signing in the wake of Jimmy Smith's ...

Michael Horovitz OBE (4 April 1935 – 7 July 2021)

Obituary by Jon Newey, Jazzwise, September 2021

The celebrated British beat poet, writer, artist, 'anglo saxophonist', Michael Horovitz, has died age 86. ...

Charlie Watts (2 June 1941 – 24 August 2021)

Obituary by Jon Newey, Jazzwise, October 2021

The gentleman of rhythm calls time ...

Jack Kerouac: Still Rockin' in the Beat world

Essay by Simon Warner, Perfect Sound Forever, October 2021

How Kerouac cool continues to fuel popular music passions as the writer's Centenary nears in 2022 ...

Kenny G: How Kenny G Shook Off the Haters And Finally Got Hip

Interview by Roy Trakin, AARP The Magazine, 30 November 2021

​A new HBO documentary has turned the much-maligned smooth jazz inventor into a cool cat. He shares the magic with AARP ...

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 ...

Jack Kerouac: The many sounds of Kerouac's On the Road

Retrospective by Simon Warner, Rock and the Beat Generation, 2 February 2022

Kerouac's most famous book is obviously first and foremost a written text. But the refrains of music ripple through its rolling adventures and there are ...

Bill Frisell: The Searcher

Book Excerpt by Philip Watson, Faber, March 2022

An extract from Chapter 1 of Bill Frisell, Beautiful Dreamer: The Guitarist Who Changed the Sound of American Music (Faber) ...

Pharoah Sanders: Spirit Force and Truly Iconic

Memoir by Don Snowden, Rock's Backpages, 26 September 2022

OK, THIS is it, the first step... Pharoah has crossed over the rainbow bridge (and I bet his bridge was a real musical rainbow) and ...

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