Mainly dependent on inspired improvisation, jazz music is ephemeral stuff. Unrecorded performances evaporate into the ether never to be retrieved. Hence the obligation to fall on our knees at regular intervals and devote thanks to the deities of recorded sound. [...]
Some quality inherent in jazz music resonates deeply in Scandinavian soul, and nowhere as powerfully as Copenhagen. The city’s laid-back attitude has attracted many U.S. giants: Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz and Ben Webster among tenor players alone. Pianists included Duke [...]
After 92 years of surmounting life’s obstacles, Martial Solal has decided to throw in the towel. Born Jewish in Algeria in 1927 while the French were still running the country, the wartime anti-Semitic Vichy authorities prevented his attending school and [...]
This Mosaic collection, limited to 3,500 copies worldwide, chronicles two fascinating decades of Louis Armstrong’s recording activity. At no stage is it ever less than revelatory. Seven CDs, as well as 30,000 words and some rare photos from Armstrong’s chief [...]
Some sketched background: New Orleans-born, Los Angeles-resident Michael Wolff is a pianist affected by Tourette’s Syndrome: “a common neurodevelopmental disorder that begins in childhood or adolescence, characterized by multiple movement tics and at least one vocal tic” (grateful nod to [...]
My first encounter with vocalist Veronica Swift was a YouTube clip shot in pianist Emmet Cohen’s apartment. Dressed in an idiosyncratic body-hugging white outfit, complete with floppy cap, flashy feathers and flares, Ms Swift conjured a vision of Carnaby Street [...]
