Liner Notes
Johnny "Hammond" Smith: Wild Horses Rock Steady
by Arnaldo DeSouteiro
Born John Robert Smith on December 16, 1933 (in jny: Louisville, KY), formerly known as Johnny Hammond Smith, and later as Johnnny Hammond, one of the all-time best jazz organists passed away on June 4, 1997, in jny: Chicago, Illinois. For some of his early fans, some of the best albums he recorded were done for Prestige in the Sixties. A younger generation, who grew up listening to the hip-hop influenced jazz sounds of the 1990s, prefers Johnny's over-produced sessions ...
Continue ReadingEric Gale: Forecast
by Arnaldo DeSouteiro
Eric Gale (born on September 20, 1938, of Barbadian parents, in Brooklyn, NY) recorded over 500 albums as sideman, backing such stars as Aretha Franklin, King Curtis, Dianna Ross, Paul Simon, Lena Horne, Michel Legrand, Quincy Jones, Roberta Flack, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Joe Cocker, Carly Simon, Van Morrison, Milton Nascimento, Billy Joel, Gato Barbieri and Mongo Santamaria, to name a few. Gale's association with Creed Taylor began when the celebrated producer was working at Verve Records. ...
Continue ReadingClaudio Sanna: Compositori Sardi Contemporanei II
by Mark Corroto
Today's wine tasting is once again hosted by sommelier Claudio Sanna. He presents more local Sardinian varieties with a round of flights, much like the 2022 release Compositori Sardi Contemporanei. Instead of grape cultivars and vintners, Sanna presents multiple composers and performers for you to sample, not with your tongue but your ears. Just like a wine tasting experience, these tracks are a sample of the rich and fertile Sardinian landscape of creative musicians. Double bassist Adriano Orrù's ...
Continue ReadingJason Keiser: Kind of Kenny
by Andrew Gilbert
Over the past decade San Jose guitarist Jason Keiser has carved out a sterling reputation as a bandleader whose musical passions range across North America's expansive soundscape, and this album extends his exploration into arrestingly lyrical territory. After highlighting Woody Shaw's treasure trove of intervallic leaping post-bop gems on 2023's Shaw's Groove, he turns his attention to another undersung trumpet maestro with Kind of Kenny, a deep dive into the ravishing music of Canadian composer Kenny Wheeler (1930-2014).
Continue ReadingRalph Bowen: Keep the Change
by C. Andrew Hovan
I can still remember the impression that Ralph Bowen made on a young jazz enthusiast trying to break into radio and be part of the hip jazz crowd. I had decided to get involved with the programming end of a local non-profit arts support organization and on a letter perfect July evening our committee had lined up a double bill that included Kevin Eubanks and the mid '80s collective Out Of The Blue. An hour or so before OTB was ...
Continue ReadingMelvin Rhyne: Classmasters
by C. Andrew Hovan
While it's an easy task to designate any number of Hammond B-3 organ players who have quickly fallen under the spell of innovator Jimmy Smith, it's not as simple to inventory the few individuals who've avoided Smith's overpowering influence to develop a sound and manner of their own. Melvin Rhyne is one who managed to carve a niche for himself during the '60s with a much lighter and less bombastic approach, around during the heydays as a member of Wes ...
Continue ReadingCedar Walton One Flight Down
by Thomas Conrad
They are thinning out: the ranks of pianists who can trace their lineage directly back to primary sources like J.J. Johnson, the early Jazz Messengers of Art Blakey, and the Jazztet of Art Farmer and Benny Golson. In the last few years, we have lost Tommy Flanagan, Mal Waldron, Roland Hanna, Dodo Marmarosa, Russ Freeman, Frank Hewitt, and, most recently, John Hicks. Producer Bob Porter once said of Cedar Walton, “By the time he came to make his ...
Continue ReadingRalph Bowen: Five
by C. Andrew Hovan
Although he's better known in educational circles due to his solid commitment to jazz pedagogy as a member of the faculty at Rutgers University, Ralph Bowen has been a vital member of the jazz community since debuting with the group Out of the Blue back in the mid '80s. His adaptability to a diversity of musical situations has made him a valuable sideman over the years, although the opportunities for Bowen to call the shots as a leader have not ...
Continue ReadingDelia Fischer: Beyond Bossa
by Allen Morrison
In 2019, after I'd been writing for DownBeat Magazine for about a decade, I was asked to review a batch of new albums from Brazil, including one by a Rio de Janeiro-based singer named Delia Fischer who wrote her own songs. I gathered that, in addition, she was a jazz pianist, an arranger, and the musical director for several hit musicals in Rio. She had worked with Brazilian legends like Marcos Valle, Egberto Gismonti, and Milton Nascimento, who recorded one ...
Continue ReadingBenjamin Boone: Confluence - The Ireland Sessions
by Jason Crane
"A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions." --Oliver Wendell Holmes “It's not that the Irish are cynical. It's rather that they have a wonderful lack of respect for everything and everybody." --Brendan Behan The Oliver Wendell Holmes quote is loftier, but the Brendan Behan quote gets closer to the heart of the matter on saxophonist Benjamin Boone's new album Confluence: The Ireland Sessions, which finds Boone ...
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