The Gil Evans Project at the Jazz Standard
In our recent post in the Gazette, we shared Ryan Truesdell’s overview of the Gil Evans Project, just named Best Large Ensemble of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association, and whose Centennial: Newly Discovered Works of Gil Evans was named the JJA’s 2013 Record of the Year. Here’s a vivid look at the ensemble at the Jazz Standard in 2012, performing two pieces Evans recorded for his classic, The Individualism of Gil Evans. You can catch a live look at the band when they return to the Jazz Standard in mid-May.
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Ryan Truesdell: Behind the Gil Evans Centennial Project
Ryan Truesdell enjoyed a burst of celebrity this month, when the Jazz Jorunalists Association named his Centennial: Newly Discovered Works of Gil Evans as its 2013 Record of the Year, and named his Gil Evans Project its Best Large Ensemble of the Year. Who is Ryan Truesdell, and where is he coming from? Thoughtful answers to those questions, and a wealth of insight into Gil Evans and this project, in Edward Blanco’s interview with Truesdell in All About Jazz.
-Nick Moy
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Read MoreBetty Carter Wakes Up Today
This clip of Betty Carter, singing her “Droppin’ Things,” must have been some wake up call for viewers of the Today show in 1990. With Marc Cary’s piano, Dwayne Burno on bass, and Gregory Hutchinson on drums.
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Opus De Horace
Ethan Iverson’s post pays tribute to what was probably Horace Silver’s first hit, “Opus De Funk,” with the notated music and the recording. Great stuff, as is everything on Ethan Iverson’s site.
-Michael Cuscuna
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Great Jazz Bassists 1964-1965
Bassist and educator Michael Formanek zeroes in on a fertile period for modern jazz recordings and for the jazz bass. He highlights five great examples of jazz bass playing during this time, and regrets leaving out more; yet you can hardly go wrong starting with his picks.
The article highlights a selection from Mosaic’s recent release, Charles Mingus - The Jazz Workshop Concerts 1964-65. This set is still in stock, and you can order here.
-Nick Moy
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Singer Madeleine Peyroux: Perfect Musical Pedigree and Beyond
Madeleine Peyroux has the perfect artistic pedigree: New Orleans heritage and raised in Brooklyn and Paris. Her unique vocal approach is directed toward the songs that Ray Charles popularized on “Modern Sounds In Country And Western” on her latest album “The Blue Room,” for which I had the honor of writing the liner notes. Here’s a brief but interesting interview in the Great Britain’s The Guardian.
-Michael Cuscuna
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Chick Corea Interviewed
This late ‘80s Chick Corea interview by Billy Taylor took place when Chick was splitting his life between the Akoustic Band and the Elektric Band, satisfying his two major streams of music and inspiration. The conversation reaches back to Chick’s Boston beginnings.
-Michael Cuscuna
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Read MoreBechet Legacy: China Boy
Initially billed as Bob Wilber and the Smithsonian Jazz Repertory, this became the “Bechet Legacy” and was a band I saw on many occasions in New York — one of the great jazz groups on the scene in the 1980s. This clip from 1982 features Wilber, Glenn Zottola (tp), Chris Flory (g) and Phil Flanigan, as they re-create the great HRS recording of “China Boy” by the Bechet-Spanier Big Four.
-Scott Wenzel
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Interview: Sonny Rollins
Marc Myers has a wonderful way of getting people to relax and open up in an interview. This recent one with Sonny Rollins in his new home in Woodstock covers topics not usually discussed in Rollins interviews. But don’t miss his investigative skills by clicking on his “Anatomy Of A Song” column, in which he discovers the etymology of the Four Tops anthem “Reach Out”.
-Michael Cuscuna
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Zoot Sims Shows Off His Backhand
From the photo gallery of Bill Crow: this priceless photo of Zoot Sims playing table tennis aboard the Andrea Doria, while traveling to Italy with the Gerry Mulligan sextet — a year before that cruise ship sank. Thanks, JazzTimes.
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