Ellis Marsalis’ ‘Whistle Stop’ served as an important reminder that New Orleans’ jazz patriarch was still a hat-tipping, oh-so-swinging piano man.

Before they were the Crusaders, they were the Jazz Crusaders. And before they were the Jazz Crusaders, keyboardist Joe Sample, trombonist Wayne Henderson, tenor saxophonist Wilton Felder and drummer Nesbert “Stix” Hooper were kids growing up together in post-war Houston, Texas. By the late fifties, these burgeoning talents formed aRead More

by S. Victor Aaron The lead singer and guitar player plays in an electric blues band in Atlanta. The bass player is in New York as one third of the premier acid jazz band of the last ten years. You might say that these guys form a musical odd couple.Read More

Brazilian-born, Seattle-based multi-instrumentalist Jovino Santos Neto is an artist I’m just getting familiar with, but his brand new CD Alma do Nordeste (http://www.adventure-music.com/) has sure gotten my curiosity. The title means “soul of the Northeast” in Portugese, and the “northeast” being referred to here is the northeast region of Brazil.Read More

NICK DERISO: Pete Fountain, and this is rare, has remained local. Even now, you can still find this almost-mythical 70-something clarinetist at hometown spots in the New Orleans area, playing native-born favorites. Your garden-variety Marsalis talks about the Crescent City, but can’t be found within a country mile of itRead More

For both the man and the music, it’s a story of three continents. Bronx native drummer Steve Reid has been everywhere and played for nearly everyone. He grew up across the street from Thelonius Monk and three blocks from John Coltrane. As a teenager he drummed for Martha Reeves andRead More

Skip the in-concert patter, and Frank Sinatra’s ‘Sinatra and Sextet: Live in Paris’ was a record that couldn’t help but matter.

by S. Victor Aaron Kurt Rosenwinkel first got my attention as the cerebral but melodic guitarist on Brian Blade’s masterpiece Perceptual back in 2000 and then via Rosenwinkel’s own major work of art Heartcore from three years later. That vastly overlooked record was a commanding balance of musicianship, texture andRead More

by Pico Over the last five years Lizz Wright has become a widely known and respected singer in jazz circles. But much as Eric Bibb often gets unfairly pigeonholed as just “blues” I sort of resent the “jazz” bin she is often put into. That’s because the very thing thatRead More

To call this the most successful melding of New Orleans-style rag with hard Chicago blues presupposes that there ever was one before. Eurreal “Little Brother” Montgomery, as was his way, tills up new earth here, and with remarkable results. A stride pianist of great wit and power, Montgomery had theRead More