James P. Johnson: Stride Piano Master
“Riffs”, an OKeh recording from 1929, is a perfect example of James P. Johnson’s Harlem stride style. Bob Hilbert’s excellent notes to our ninth Mosaic release, The Complete Edmond Hall / James P. Johnson / Sidney De Paris / Vic Dickenson Blue Note Sessions, defines his playing as “…always accurate, sure and perfectly articulated, and it always swung. He had a beautiful touch, instantly identifiable to anyone familiar with his recordings, a powerful left hand and a right hand that ‘sang while it danced’, in the words of one critic”. Johnson was even more improvisational than some others in the stride style as Hilbert remarks, “Due to the complexity of stride piano, most performers develop patterns from which they construct solos. Recordings show that their ‘improvisations’ remain little changed from take to take. With James P., however, spontaneity was the rule”.
-Scott Wenzel
Follow: Mosaic Records Facebook Tumblr Twitter
View VideoStraight from Germany: John Scofield Trio
Hot (and we mean hot) on the heels of the interview the Daily Jazz Gazette just posted with guitarist John Scofield, comes this fresh video clip of Scofield’s trio, with organist Larry Goldings and Gregory Hutchinson on drums, recorded March 18 in Aschaffenburg. Thanks to Larry Goldings for the tip.
Follow: Mosaic Records Facebook Tumblr Twitter
View Video
Kenny Garrett Blows Them Away on emGiant Steps/em
Doug Ramsey recounts a tale of awe on watching this video clip of Kenny Garrett’s blistering solo on the John Coltrane classic Giant Steps. It’s the kind of story you would have expected to hear about Coltrane himself. Anyone who would play Giant Steps in public, at this tempo, naturally invites such comparison. Looks like Kenny Garrett can take it.
-Nick Moy
Follow: Mosaic Records Facebook Tumblr Twitter
Read MoreDuke Ellington: Our Band Will Never Sound The Same
Duke Ellington and his Orchestra were playing at Philharmonic Hall in NY, April 16, 1971 and I had tickets. Ray Nance, Paul Gonsalves, Harry Carney were there and I seem to recall Cootie Williams was there although discographies claim he was not. But one whom I had idolized was no longer a part of the Ellington ensemble. Almost a year had gone since the passing of Johnny Hodges. The Maestro’s remark that “because of this great loss, our band will never sound the same” was indeed a correct statement. JazzVideoGuy has uploaded this clip onto YouTube which should date to circa 1964.
-Scott Wenzel
Follow: Mosaic Records Facebook Tumblr Twitter
View VideoSaxophone Summit: Brecker, Lovano and Liebman Play Coltrane
Everyone is on fire in this 1999 webcast of three contemporary tenor saxophonists re-igniting John Coltrane’s Locomotion. The rhythm section, Phil Markowitz, Rufus Reid and in particular, Billy Hart, nearly set off Birdland’s sprinkler system, too. Many thanks to the Jazz Video Guy, Bret Primack.
-Nick Moy
Follow: Mosaic Records Facebook Tumblr Twitter
View Video
The Quest: Only Two Photos Of Robert Johnson Have Ever Been Seen
Earlier this month it became official that an unidentified photograph bought on Ebay was authenticated to be that of the legendary bluesman Robert Johnson. Frank DiGiacomo’s in-depth article for Vanity Fair in 2008 sheds light on the musician, the legal nightmares involving the Johnson estate and the journey New York guitar dealer Steven “Zeke” Schein took trying to positively identify a photo made around 80 years ago.
- Scott Wenzel
Read Article… Follow: Mosaic Records Facebook Tumblr Twitter
Read More
John Coltrane’s Neighborhood: Philadelphia as Post-War Jazz Capital
All About Jazz is hosting a series of articles about the Philadelphia where John Coltrane spent his formative years. And not just Coltrane: the Heath Brothers, McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Smith, Philly Joe Jones, Benny Golson, Lee Morgan and Reggie Workman, among many others. In this article, Rob Armstrong revisits the Philadelphia local culture that, as Odean Pope asserts, harbored the most important US jazz scene between World War II and the mid 1960s.
Follow: Mosaic Records Facebook Tumblr Twitter
Read More
John Lewis: At Home with the Blues
John Lewis’s appearance on Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz from the first season in 1979 fittingly starts with a wonderful piano blues. I remember being amazed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in the mid ‘70s when Lewis unleashed a soulful set of piano blues. I had always associated him with the Modern Jazz Quartet and jazz interpretations of Bach’s music. But that typecasting came to a quick end that evening.
-Michael Cuscuna
Follow: Mosaic Records Facebook Tumblr Twitter
Read MoreGil Evans and his Orchestra in Umbria
By day, in this video, Gil Evans and his musicians bask and stroll in the Umbrian sun in Perugia. At night, Evans and his band, with Howard Johnson, Billy Harper and Hannibal Marvin Peterson upfront, wail before the grand fountain in the Piazza at the Umbria Jazz Festival. Sweet. Or should we say, dolce?
-Nick Moy
Follow: Mosaic Records Facebook Tumblr Twitter
View Video
The Early Years of Jimmy Heath
We’ve been relating in the Gazette the resurgent interest in John Coltrane’s formative years in Philadelphia. Another distnguished musical citizen of that City was saxoophonist and composer Jimmy Heath. In this 2009 JazzWax interview, Marc Myers adroitly elicits Jimmy Heath’s impressions of the jazz world in the late 1940s — especially his first foray into Dizzy Gillespie’s world, from the eyes of youth — albeit highly talented youth.
-Nick Moy
Follow: Mosaic Records Facebook Tumblr Twitter
Read More
