Stadium Jazz
It all started at the 1976 Newport Jazz Festival — but not in Rhode Island. Herbie Hancock was booked into New York City Center, a theater on 55th Street in Manhattan, for a performance that was...
View ArticleBA Podcast 71: Lenny White
This is the sixth year of the Burning Ambulance Podcast. This is episode 71, and I decided at the beginning of this year that it was time to change things up a little. So for all ten episodes that I’m...
View ArticleSonny Rollins in the ’70s: Part 3
Sonny Rollins might be the greatest tenor saxophonist who ever lived. But in the 21st century, his reputation mostly rests on the albums he made in the 1950s and 1960s, on the Blue Note, Riverside,...
View ArticleSonny Rollins in the ’70s: Part 2
Sonny Rollins might be the greatest tenor saxophonist who ever lived. But in the 21st century, his reputation mostly rests on the albums he made in the 1950s and 1960s, on the Blue Note, Riverside,...
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McCoy Tyner In The ’70s: Part 5
by Phil Freeman This is the final installment of our series looking at every album McCoy Tyner recorded between 1970 and 1979. In case you need to catch up, here’s Part 1; here’s Part 2; here’s Part 3;...
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McCoy Tyner In The ’70s: Part 4
by Phil Freeman All this week, we’re reviewing every album pianist McCoy Tyner recorded between 1970 and 1979. (There were 19 of them.) Here’s Part 1 of our overview; here’s Part 2; and here’s Part 3....
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George Coleman
Photo by Jesse Cahill Last week, I saw tenor saxophonist George Coleman perform at the Jazz Standard. He was accompanied by pianist Jeb Patton, bassist David Wong, and his son, George Coleman, Jr., on...
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Gabriel Ferrandini
Photo: Nuno Martins Anyone who’s been paying attention to the Portuguese avant-jazz scene knows drummer Gabriel Ferrandini‘s name. He’s a member of two excellent groups: the RED Trio with pianist...
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Herbie Hancock
In the mid ’70s, Herbie Hancock was making a significant career transition. He’d left Miles Davis‘s band in 1969, though he popped up again as one of the army of keyboardists on 1972’s On the Corner...
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David Weiss & Point Of Departure
L-R: Matt Clohesy, Travis Reuter, Kush Abadey, David Weiss, Ben Eunson, Myron Walden. Photo by Deneka Peniston. Trumpeter David Weiss‘s Point of Departure band will release their fourth album in...
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Dan Weiss
Drummer/composer Dan Weiss‘s new album Sixteen: Drummers Suite will be released next week on Pi Recordings. Each track is named in tribute to a particular drummer, and takes a piece of that drummer’s...
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Best Jazz Of 2015: 25-21
It’s time for our annual countdown of the 25 best jazz albums of the year. In 2015, there was really only one Big Story in jazz, and that was the rise and crossover success of saxophonist Kamasi...
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Simulacrum
John Zorn‘s latest group, Simulacrum, has come out of the gate fast and hard. They’ve released three albums so far this year—a self-titled debut in March, The True Discoveries of Witches and Demons in...
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Miles Davis
Live In Europe 1969: The Bootleg Series Vol. 2 (Legacy) by Phil Freeman This second volume of Sony Legacy’s 3CD/1DVD sets of live Miles Davis material documents a band that never made it into the...
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Tony Williams Lifetime 1971
Here’s some terrific video, with augmented soundboard audio, of the Tony Williams Lifetime performing at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1971. This was the final version of the group’s first...
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Jerome Sabbagh
Plugged In (Bee Jazz) Buy it from Amazon by Phil Freeman French saxophonist Jerome Sabbagh has been fascinating me for a couple of years now. In November 2010, I reviewed I Will Follow You, a CD he did...
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Jeremy Pelt
Soul (HighNote) by Phil Freeman Buy it from Amazon Trumpeter Jeremy Pelt‘s fourth CD with his working band—tenor saxophonist JD Allen, pianist Danny Grissett, bassist Dwayne Burno, and drummer Gerald...
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Mahavishnu Orchestra
The Complete Columbia Albums Collection (Columbia) by Phil Freeman Buy it English guitarist John McLaughlin first emerged into the public eye in 1969 and 1970, a period he spent mostly working with...
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Sam Rivers Playlist
Sam Rivers died December 26 of pneumonia; he was 88. Here’s a Spotify playlist of some of his notable performances. What you’ll hear: “Beatrice” (from Fuschia Swing Song, Blue Note 1965) “My Funny...
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Tim Hagans
The Moon Is Waiting (Palmetto) by Phil Freeman Buy it from Amazon I’ve been a fan of trumpeter Tim Hagans for over a decade. His album Animation/Imagination, made in collaboration with producer Bob...
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