Norwegian producer, composer, and arranger John Derek Bishop has recorded under several, different names and Tortusa is his ambient music alias. Recorded with famous guitarist and composer Eivind Aarset for Bugge Wesseltoft’s Jazzland Recordings (celebrating 20 years in the business this year), “I Know This Place” is a pretty short, 8-song selection clocking in at…
It was Bill Henderson who recorded Horace Silver’s “Senor Blues” for Blue Note Records in 1958. Bill also worked with Wynton Kelly, Yusef Lateef, Ramsey Lewis, and started to release several albums in the late 50s on Vee-Jay Records. In the 60s, Bill worked with Eddie Harris, Oscar Peterson, and Count Basie and after settling…
This is an interesting record from guitarist Julian Lage in various respects: it is his first trio record, it is his first album where he plays electric guitar, and it is his first album produced by singer and songwriter Jesse Harris. All of the 11 tracks on offer are between two and four minutes long…
The passion and fire of tenor saxophonist Gato Barbieri‘s playing and writing certainly had its artistic and commercial peak with his score for Bernardo Bertolucci’s “Last Tango In Paris” from 1973, where the Argentinian musician, who was born into a very musical family, merged both his Latin and his jazz influences into a unique style….
It’s as if Tommy Flanagan and Bill Evans are coming together as one and meet Hank Jones, each time that I hear pianist Bill Charlap play. The last time he was heard on record was on the brilliantly relaxed and elegant Tony Bennett album with the songs of Jerome Kern. I was lucky enough to hear…
Legendary saxophonist Rahsaan Roland Kirk, who was certainly more than a blind musician who could play three horns at once, is the topic of a documentary called “The Case Of The Three Sided Dream”. The streaming of the movie and the download on vimeo on demand will be available on May 1st, with iTunes coming later…
Cheryl Bentyne has recorded a lot of solo albums over the years, in addition to her work with the Manhattan Transfer. Most notably among those, a superb duo recording with the equally impressive Mark Winkler (“West Coast Cool”, 2013). This new compilation with hand-picked songs include tracks that have only been released in Japan. It…
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) will produce the Jazz Masters Tribute Concert on Monday, April 4th at 8pm ET. This year’s recipients are vibraphonist Gary Burton, saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, saxophonist Archie Shepp, and musicians’ advocate Wendy Oxenhorn. Participating musicians are Randy Weston, Jimmy Heath, Ambrose Akinmusire, Lakecia Benjamin, Stefon Harris, Justin Kauflin, Rudresh Mahanthappa,…
Legendary singer Sarah Vaughan‘s image will grace postcards and envelopes in the form of a “Commemorative Forever Stamp” beginning March 29th, two days after what would have been her 92nd birthday. Thus, the U.S. Postal Service honors the famous singer with an unveiling ceremony at the Sarah Vaughan Concert Hall at Newark Symphony Hall in…
The Spinners were an R&B vocal group from the Detroit area and were first known as the Domingoes. Discovered by producer and singer Harvey Fuqua, they started to record and perform as the Spinners (later they called themselves simply Spinners) in 1961 with their first charted single being “That’s What Girls Are Made For” which reached Number 27…