by Pico Like the proverbial fine wine, James Moody only gets mellower and better with age. A seasoned saxophone and flute veteran who was in Dizzy Gillespie’s original big band of the later 1940’s and most famously the author of everyone’s favorite vocalese jazz tune “Moody’s Mood For Love,” (withRead More

Earlier this week, Erik Friedlander released his 12th album, in his fiftieth year on earth. Those facts may not be so important to you, but the music that marks both events just might. Especially if you like the army of sounds, both familiar and strange, that Friedlander wrests from aRead More

In the late 1970s, Chanel, Inc. took a bold step in advertising for their flagship fragrance, Chanel No. 5. Employing a cool bland of arthouse elan and surreal literary images, the campaign set a new standard for advertising creativity. The Ridley Scott-directed “Share the Fantasy” ad — “I am madeRead More

“Come Down in Time” works as a perfect metaphor, and a sad rebuke, for what later happened to Elton John and his songs.

by S. Victor Aaron Curtis Fuller, one of the greatest living trombone players of all time declared “I predict that Michael Dease will become one of the world’s great trombone masters.” And when you hear Dease’s fluid, lush style, it’s not hard to see the young phenom as the legitimateRead More

by S. Victor Aaron The Claudia Quintet is an ensemble that goes by its own set of rules. With its slightly weird combination of vibes, accordion, sax, double-bass and drums, and songs that don’t follow the script of how songs go (but avoids skronkery and dissonance), the five piece bandRead More

by Mark Saleski There’s no doubt that I bring up this topic too often, but sometimes I just can’t help it. Let’s talk about the future. Specifically, one in which all of the physical objects of entertainment have been replaced by their digital counterparts. This worries me, though not forRead More

by Mark Saleski I’m going to begin by saying something that will probably horrify many a jazz lover: I never liked Duke Ellington or Count Basie all that much. It’s true. I know that a jazz writer shouldn’t be admitting to such things but sometimes you have to stick withRead More

By Mark Saleski What do you think of when encountering the words “world music”? Squeaky vocals in unknown languages? Lots of drums? Brightly colored CD covers on display near the checkout at Starbucks? It’s a sad fact that the way music is marketed has forced many kinds of music intoRead More

Last week, that venerable soul-jazz outfit out of London Incognito released a new disc Transatlantic RPM, an occasion we marked with a couple of streams to songs to tracks on that record (click here to listen to the streams of “Lowdown” and “Gotta”). Now, it’s time to delve into thisRead More