photo by Pavel Korbut by S. Victor Aaron The Cuban influence on jazz has been resilient from the late forties on. From Desi Arnez and Mongo Santamaria to Paquito D’Rivera and Arturo Sandoval, the heritage remains as strong as ever, as evidenced by the left-field success of Ry Cooder’s BuenaRead More

For all his eccentricities, Rahsaan Roland Kirk could be a staunchly sensitive interpreter. This terrific Bill Withers cover is but one example.

by Pico Brad Leali (alto saxophone) and Claus Raible (piano) formed this quartet about three years ago and while they’re not all that well known, they certainly know their jazz roots well. These guys understand that jazz has always been a blues-based music form, but modern twists have all butRead More

It’s Thanksgiving, y’all, and while I don’t have a Thanskgiving-themed record or song with which to celebrate this national holiday, we can always be thankful of fresh new tunes by talented musicians. In the case of this chapter of “Quickies,” it’s all talented jazz musicians. For those not so inclined,Read More

by S. Victor Aaron Trumpeter and arranger Steven Bernstein might be the hardest working man in music these days. Just these last few years he has garnered a Grammy nomination (for Sexotica by his band Sex Mob) and a Annie nomination for scoring a children’s TV series; released an albumRead More

photo: Cryptogramophone by Pico The hermitic but acclaimed multi-reedist Bennie Maupin is suddenly prolific. As a sideman for Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock during fusion’s formative years, Maupin’s versatility and sensitivity across a wide variety of wind instruments garnered him work on important documents of the genre live Bitches BrewRead More

Scott LaFaro, Bill Evans and Paul Motian (photo: Steve Schapiro)What can be said about Bill Evans’ classic Sunday At The Village Vanguard that hadn’t already been said so many times over? If you’re new to jazz, here’s what you need to know: it is the beginning and the end ofRead More

by S. Victor Aaron There seems to be this wonderful trend of late, where a newer generation of bass players are following the example of Charles Mingus and presenting themselves as serious composers and bandleaders. In the last year on this space we’ve profiled the latest releases of such luminariesRead More

by Nick DeRiso Herbie Hancock almost didn’t pull off “The New Standard.” This High Concept offering from 1996 found Hancock, with varying degrees of success, adapting songs by popular artists like Peter Gabriel, The Eagles’ Don Henley, Paul Simon, The Beatles and Prince. You had to give him credit —Read More

As we like to note here so many times, there’s a lot of Miles Davis sidemen who have gone on to have notable careers of their own. Just among keyboardists, you’ve got your Bill Evans, Wynton Kelly, Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea. There’s another fine piano player whoRead More