Happy Valentine’s Day
We were once again voted Great Jazz Venue by Downbeat Magazine in 2011!
Bring your sweetheart to Charlie O’s in February to hear great jazz including a very special Valentine’s Day celebration on the 14th with Janis Mann performing with the John Heard Trio (John, Roy McCurdy, Andy Langham); a fun evening with Dr. Bobby Rodriguez and the John Heard Trio (John, Roy and Andy) on the 19th and a birthday party for Justo Almario on the 26th…
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The tabbed boxes on the AAJ home page are now scrollable. So, instead of seeing the five most recent CD reviews or the five most recent free MP3s, you can now see up to 15 by clicking the right arrow button (see screen shots below).
First group of five reviews…
Second group of five reviews…
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Appearing at the Mt. Airy Presbyterian Church, 13 E. Mt. Pleasant Ave, Philadelphia, PA, on Thursday February 10th will be pianist m: Neil Podgurski with bassist m: Brian Howell and drummer m: Wayne Smith. One show: 7:30-9PM.
Known throughout Philadelphia as a prodigious pianist, Neil Podgurski has been performing for 19 years up and down the East Coast. A product of the New School in New York City, Podgurski studied under m: Reggie Workman, m: Joe Chambers and Jackie Byard. Currently, Podgurski is currently a member of the m: Tim Warfield Group, the m: Victor North Quartet, and m: Orrin Evans‘ Captain Black Big Band. His group New Fire released a CD called Revolutions in 2006 that was voted one of the top listener favorites on WRTI-FM. Neil has shared the stage with Nicholas Payton, Stefon Harris, Tim Warfield, Terell Stafford, Frank Tiberi, George Garzone, Bootsie Barnes, Jimmy Oliver, John Swana, and Mickey Roker…
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Jamaaladeen Tacuma is an underrated electric bassist who came up playing the unique harmolodic music of legendary saxophonist Ornette Coleman. On this album, he pays tribute to Coleman’s influence with a set of wonderfully invigorating original music that plugs into the electric music Coleman created with his Prime Time band. Starting off with a touching spoken dedication to Coleman, the music then moves into a very fast improvisation which pulls off the great coup of having the master himself as a guest soloist on a few tracks. Joining Tacuma and Coleman are Tony Kofi on tenor saxophone, Wolfgang Puschnig on flute, Yoichi Uzeki on piano, Justin Faulkner on drums, David “Fingers” Haynes on finger drums and Wadud Ahmad on spoken word. The opening track “Journey” sets the tone for the music to follow with a scalding collective improvisation that hews to the harmolodic ideal of “everybody solos, nobody solos” with the music developing in an empathatic nature. “Tacuma Song” was written by Coleman and is a starkly beautiful peice of music centered around the leaders nimble bass guitar. The album also includes two versions of the suite “Movement” which allow interlocking compositions and improvisations to give the musicians an opportunity to improvise at length in a structured, yet free environment. This was an excellent and every exciting album, fans of Coleman’s music and free-funk in general will gain a lot of pleasure from listening to this challenging and thought provoking music. For the Love of Ornette—Jazzwerkstatt…
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Recently my friend who shares a Hall Overton jones, Ethan Iverson, posted two long blog entries about race and jazz, based on Randy Sandke’s recent book.
I’ll let Ethan’s pieces speak for themselves. The discussion is important. I admire Ethan’s willingness to stick his neck out. I don’t know Sandke—I’ve enjoyed his trumpet work on a number of records—and I haven’t read his book. So I’ll make only a couple of comments here…
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By S. Victor Aaron
It seems like it was not even a year since we were last here chatting up a new Ralph Bowen CD, and checking back, there actually is less than twelve months between his last one, Due Reverence and this one due out on February 8, Power Play. That makes his third Posi-Tone record in as many years. And given how deadgummed good the last one was, that is just fine by me…
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An inspiring musical play on the life of gospel singer Mahalia Jackson opens at the Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center on Friday, February 4 and runs through Sunday, February 20, 2011.
The performances, presented by Mixed Magic Theatre, take place Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. and Sundays at 4:00 p.m. Tickets to the show are -25 and can be ordered online. Group discounts for 15 or more are also available by contacting the Box Office…
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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2
TULA’S JAZZ CLUB 2214 2nd Ave Seattle 206-443-4221 2 sets starting at 7:30pm, .00, All Ages
Former New York City trumpeter Jim Rotondi, who recently moved to Graz, Austria, is passing through town on Wednesday, February 2, to perform at Tula’s before heading up to The Cellar in Vancouver…
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1969 was a watershed year for John Surman. He released his eponymous debut on Dutton Vocalion that year, but it was the recording session for How Many Clouds Can You See? (Vocalion, 1970), that made the year of Woodstock and man’s first steps on the moon so portentous for the 25 year-old saxophonist An album effortlessly joining large and small ensembles–right down to a burning duet with drummer m: Alan Jackson that alluded to m: John Coltrane‘s incendiary pairing with m: Rashied Ali, but also demonstrated Surman’s economy and thematic focus–it became Surman’s first true statement as a definitive composer, performer and bandleader…
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Driven may seem a curious title for the debut album of a 37-year-old artist. But it’s likely bassist Matthew Rybicki chose the title more as a pronouncement of his musical tastes ("It’s definitely critical for me to be trying to swing all the time," he has noted) and, perhaps, of the bassist’s role within music, generally…
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