by Nick DeRiso “Elegy” begins with a trill from Herbie Hancock, then a persistent, oh-so distinctive tapping that could only be drummer Tony Williams. Next, a nimble, casually funky bass line from Ron Carter. Like a dream made real, Miles Davis’ second great group — with Wallace Roney stepping inRead More

Some people think ‘Straight Life’ is the gem of Freddie Hubbard’s epic early-’70s run with the CTI label. I gotta go with ‘Red Clay.’

by S. Victor Aaron Strange as this might sound, listening to Joe Lovano’s rendition of this 1960 Coltrane original makes me think of Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Wing”. Hendrix’s “Wing” was a relatively brief and initially largely unnoticed track in it’s original form, but in someone else’s hands…Clapton’s…it became a moreRead More

You’ve seen it many times before and probably joined the fray a time or two. I’m talking about that never-ending debate on “Who is the greatest guitarist of all time?” Man, there’s so many outstanding ones out there with so many different styles, how can you choose? I sure asRead More

The foundations laid down here set up the Pat Metheny Group for commercial success on 1985’s ‘The Falcon and the Snowman’ and 1987’s ‘Still Life (Talking).’

by Pico Lately it seems every other article I write has some sort of Miles Davis connection to it (and I have yet another piece about a Davis sideman sitting in the pipeline). But as a lover of the early style of fusion as well as just about any formRead More

by S. Victor Aaron That Keith Jarrett, he’s one amazing individual. Consider: · In the middle of the domination of jazz by wanking electric guitarists and keyboardists in 1975, KJ sits down in front of an audience in West Germany armed with only a piano, starts playing whatever came outRead More

Miles Davis’ ‘Tribute to Jack Johnson’ is less than perfect in many respects, but the imperfections are such that they only add to the intrigue.

by Pico When the phrase “jazz musician from Louisiana” is thrown out, thoughts of New Orleans immediately spring to mind. And while it’s true that NOLA is the state’s, natch, the region’s jazz hub, you can find a few from Up North over in Nick’s neck of the woods whoRead More

by Pico From Stanton Moore we make a short hop to his Garage A Trois bandmate Charlie Hunter. Even among eccentric acid-jazz musicians, Hunter stands out. First of all, for all the soul-jazz, funk and world fusion he paints on his canvas, he is a bop man at heart; mostRead More