When vocalist Tessa Souter mentioned to Tetsuo Hara, owner of Venus Records, that she dug Steve Kuhn's recording of Prelude in E Minor by Chopin, Hara had a suggestion: How about an album of classical melodies set to words? Tessa agreed, and she set about creating a list for Beyond the Blue (Venus). Some of the songs were already jazz-pop standards while others
When you see the name Jean-Luc Ponty on an album, you expect tracks of string mayhem given the violinist's role in helping to found jazz-rock with John McLaughlin's
The Pratt Brothers Big Band is old school with a post-modern feel. On 16 Men & A Chick Singer Swingin' (CAP), a good number of the tracks are up-tempo numbers with classy arrangements and
I don't know how Willie Nelson does it. The country singer-songwriter records up to three albums a year, and they're always captivating and touching. What's more, Nelson's voice is still like Jimmy Forrest's tenor sax—crisp, bluesy and
The roots of soul reach all the way back to urban R&B wailers like Little Willie John. From 1955 to 1961, the shouter had a slew of R&B hits for Cincinnati's King label—all of them captured on an impressive new two-CD set: Little Willie John: Complete Hit Singles A's & B's (Real Gone Music). Back at the dawn of
Bill Evans' Moon Beams (Concord) has just been gloriously remastered, finally allowing us to hear all three musicians distinctly. This is an important album for many reasons. Recorded in June 1962, the date came during a tough time in Evans' life following the car-crash death of his bassist, Scott
A Talking Heads fan? That's what I thought. The minimalist New Wave band got its start in 1975, and its gig history is well documented on a new DVD—Talking Heads Chronology
This story appears courtesy of JazzWax by Marc Myers.
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