Though less spectacular than the other events of the JVC-NY the solo piano recitals held each year..... are a source of joy. These concerts start very precisely on time and are made to end similarly on the dot at the end of 60 minutes....While jazz audiences welcome starting things on time to terminate the music when everything is groovy and both artist and audience are willing, such military rigidity is most disconcerting. I remember Hilton Ruiz had to be almost physically removed at one of the

In a world where the term 'jazz singer' has been usurped by a generation of Quiet Storm R&B crooners and cabaret hangers on, the rare chance to be in the presence of true greatness is rare. So the opportunity to see Andy Bey in one of his (tragically) rare live appearances was all the more gratifying. Though the increasing notoriety that his brilliant albums bring is rendering the labeling of Bey as an 'unsung' master obsolete, the juxtaposition of his monumental gifts and what could be calle

John Coltrane met Pharoah Sanders in 1964, shortly after Coltrane released "A Love Supreme" and "Crescent". Those two albums signaled the end of one Coltrane's hard bop phase and the beginning of the free jazz experimentalism that would mark the rest of Coltrane's career. During Coltrane's last years he was enamored with other saxophonists; Sanders had a blustery growl of a tone that floored Coltrane, but moreover, a beautiful grasp of melody that would serve him well long after Coltrane passed

Years from now, when the work of Cassandra Wilson is discussed among jazz fans, scholars, and critics, two albums will stand out among her canon. The first, "Blue Light 'Til Dawn", her debut on Blue Note, was a breakthrough for the singer. After a tenure at Verve Records that found Wilson drifting further from the experimental jazz-funk of the seminal M-Base collective and sounding increasingly like a Betty Carter clone, producer Craig Street stressed spartan instrumentation, moody arrangements,

An assemblage of quintessential musicianship performed before me last night at a concert in Amherst, Ma. The quintet was Alan Silva on bass (a rarity for him), Marshall Allen on alto sax, Hamid Drake on drums, Kidd Jordan on tenor sax and William Parker also on bass. Silva began the one set gig with a long introduction playing a lilting rhythmic line, sometimes strumming the strings like he would a guitar, setting the theme, stating the pace. The other players listened. Each one had his eyes