by S. Victor Aaron Not long ago we lauded the old school approach of saxophonist Eric Alexander, but even Alexander sounds rather leading edge compared to another tenorman just two years his senior, Harry Allen. The son of a big band drummer, Allen was exposed to jazz literally from theRead More

by S. Victor Aaron Did Columbia Records just pull a forgotten Miles Davis Second Great Quintet record out of the vault and dropped it unsuspectingly on the public? Because when I listen to Jeremy Pelt’s new CD Men Of Honor (released January 26), it often feels like a set ofRead More

by S. Victor Aaron The master tenor sax player Ralph Bowen has been around for quite a while, releasing his first album back in 1992. But plum sideman opportunities and a teaching gig at Rutgers has kept him plenty busy; it only been the last three or so years thatRead More

Sam Newsome, who first came into wider notice as a tenor-playing member of the Terence Blanchard Quintet in the early 1990s, takes the soprano to places both familiar and new on “Blue Soliloquy.” Subtitled “Solo works for the soprano saxophone,” it’s Newsome’s tone-poem love letter to what makes his newRead More

by Pico When you look at what the pianist from Palermo, Sicily has already accomplished, any new release by Salvatore Bonafede should be a highly anticipated one. A Berklee grad, Bonafede has played with Jerry Bergonzi, John Scofield, Joe Lovano, Tim Berne, John Abercrombie, Lester Bowie, Tom Harrell, Dave DouglasRead More

by S. Victor Aaron The other day for the first time I heard a song by a certain female vocalist who had just won a Grammy (or maybe 6 or 7 Grammies, for all I know). The only thing I really remember about the song is that her voice wasRead More

Photo: Juan-Carlos Hernandez by S. Victor Aaron In my humble opinion, it’s not the improvised (aka “whack”) jazz that seems toughest to compose and render, nor is it the more mellifluous but intricate modern jazz. Rather, it’s the the kind of jazz that successfully combines both approaches. To me, it’sRead More

photo: Dan Codazziby Pico This isn’t the first time we’ve featured the Rod Temperton tune made into a 1979 hit by Michael Jackson. But it bears another look, as interpreted by a completely different artist. Pianist and organist Mike LeDonne, a long established fixture in New York’s jazz arena, workedRead More

by Pico A new John Ellis CD drops today, which is an occasion to shout an hallelujah or two. And that’s not just because Ellis serves his jazz with heaping spoonfuls of gospel, either. A couple of years ago, one of the of brightest, ascending sax stars today decided toRead More

by S. Victor Aaron They say that writing about music is like dancing about architecture, and if that’s true, then writing about whack jazz can be more like swimming about psychiatry. Often, you can’t describe a melodic or rhythmic structure because there are none. Saying so-and-so sounds like some otherRead More