by S. Victor Aaron Joe Morris is fresh-minded guitarist whose uncommon ideas about improvisation, interaction, time, harmonics and phrasing collectively combine to form a unique sound even within the “seen it all/done it all” world of New York’s improvised music scene. And he does it with a tone that’s clearRead More

by Pico We’ve heard and read so many times about how where a musician is physically has such great bearing on where he’s at musically. Some jazz musicians become vitalized, inspired, motivated by the hustle and bustle of the diverse, vibrant big city scene. Tenor saxophonist Tom Gullion is notRead More

by S. Victor Aaron This installment of Quickies takes a glance at three new offerings from HighNote Records. HighNote Reocrds, in case you didn’t know, has been around since 1996, a creation of former Muse Records founder and Prestige Records exec Joe Fields. As a longtime veteran of the wholeRead More

by S. Victor Aaron There’s a special class of jazz record labels whereby you don’t even have to know the artist to get an idea of the kind of music that’s in store for you when you pop in that CD for the first time. If it’s an ECM, you’reRead More

photo: The Picture Booth by S. Victor Aaron Last year came the debut of a promising young guitarist, composer and bandleader Ryan Blotnick, who was already thinking beyond conventional melodic structures and places intelligence over cheap licks. We took notice at the time, and Music Needs You received our praise,Read More

by S. Victor Aaron Born in the Mississippi Delta town of Leland, MS just a few miles west of BB King’s hometown of Indianola, Wadada Leo Smith didn’t pick up a guitar and started singing the blues but his mark on music ended up having a worldwide impact, anyway. AfterRead More

by S. Victor Aaron Previte has from the start been a “go it alone” kind of guy and found success taking that route, a remarkable achievement considering that drummers usually have to first make their mark as a member of a band. He’s gotten his due in a wide varietyRead More

Russian-born Brooklyn-raised guitarist and composer Gene Segal may have released his first album Hypnotic only this past July, but there was a lifetime of intense schooling that brought him to this point. Having earned multiple music degrees, Segal also studied under established guitarists as diverse as Scott Henderson, John Abercrombie,Read More

by Pico Phil Upchurch is a guitarist I’ve known about for a long time, from his stint in George Benson’s band in the late seventies. Even though he was the rhythm guitarist in a band that was fronted by one of the greatest jazz guitarists of all time, Upchurch managedRead More

by S. Victor Aaron Last year we spotlighted a trio of CD’s that made up the maiden releases by a new record label, the artist-run collective Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records. A year later last June, there were three more BJU records to examine. And here we are less than sixRead More