Jazz Archives -

Music Archive by category "Jazz"

Wes Montgomery- A Playlist from the First Wes Albums I Bought!

Wes Montgomery – The First of My Jazz Guitar Heroes

I go way back with Wes Montgomery. I discovered Wes Montgomery in the late 1960s around the time he was crossing over to “mainstream” music: Actually, I don’t know if seeing him on the Hollywood Palace had anything to do with my discovering Wes. Most likely I already already about him because of “Windy”.

Either way I know I went out and bought the three albums Wes recorded on the A&M label. A Day in the Life (1967), Down Here on the Ground (1968) and Road Song (1968). By the time A Day in the Life was released in read more

Cyrus Chestnut – Soul Food – 6/11/23 – Random Album

So occassionally I use a random number generator to pick an album to listen to that evening. I did just that tonight I counted the albums on the top shelf of my jazz albums, Then, I used a random number generator to select an album. The number generator result was 21, which led me to Soul Food from jazz pianist Cyrus Chestnut. I am enjoying the album as I am writing this post. Here’s a little biographical back ground about Cyrus.

Cyrus Chestnut was born in Baltimore , Maryland on January 17, 1963. His father McDonald was a retired post-office employee and church pianist. Mother Flossie was a city social services worker and church choir director, By the age of nine, he was studying classical music at the Peabody Institute. In 1985, Chestnut earned a degree in jazz composition and arranging from Boston’s Berklee College of Music read more

Catching Up and an LP Haul from The Princeton Record Exchange

So once again I must confess to not wrting many new posts. One of my excuses is I am still trying to fully recover from the ankle sprain that occurred on my May 28th run! In order to facilitate that recovery, for the last several weeks I’ve been going to Physical Theraphy twice a week. Additionally, I’ve been working more at Target.Finally, last week in an attempt to get myself to write more I bought a new laptop.

Only I shopped price and bought an HP Chromebook. And while it works fine for using the Internet, which means it works well for most of my uses. It doesn’t play nicely with my iTunes music library. Now because not all of my music was recorded by iTunes and moved right into iTunes my albums and recording are located in various folders on various storage devices! So what I’ve beem doing is relocating them to devices where I know what I have and where they are located! I actually bought a 256 GB microSD card that I think will hold my whole library. read more

Preaching to the Choir – Vincent Herring – A Winner!

As I sit here and hope that one of these times I try my laptop will, like it do last night, turn on, I am listening to the latest release from saxophonist Vincent Herring Preaching to the Choir. I have several of Herring‘s albums in my music library and have enjoyed his music.

Preaching to the Choir is the 56 year-old Herring‘s 23rd release either as a leader or co-leader. Herring‘s career started way back In 19&6. Herring has also appeared on countless albums as a sideman. He has appeared on multiple albums for the likes of: Cedar Walton, Nat Adderly and Freddie Hubbard. read more

Wes Montgomery and Robben Ford Provide a Day of Blues and Jazz

Wes Montgomery and Robben Ford albums today’s random picks So yesterday’s random numbers were 3 and 5. Those numbers led me to one blues album from Robben Ford and the Blue Line and a jazz album from Wes Montgomery. The Robben Ford album is his 1995 release Handful of Blues. The Wes Montgomery album was Movin’ Wes, released in 1964 on the Verve label.

Robben Ford -Handful of Blues

Robben Ford is one of the artists I like when I hear his music but I tend not to search out his music. Part of the reason is I really didnt care for a few of his more recent albums. Therefore, I probably haven’t given his current albums a good listen. Bottom line , I just havent been listening to his music much anymore. read more

Matthew Halsall a Salute to You for Salute to the Sun!

So I sat down this afternoon to read some more in The Silent Wife , the latest release from Karin Slaughter. Prior to starting to read, I reviewed my Release Radar on Spotify. Release Radar is a collection of music I may like, containing both recently released albums and singles from soon to be released albums. I was looking for a new jazz or New Age album. What I found, and picked to listen to, was the latest release from Mathew Halsall Salute to the Sun.

About Matthew Halsall

Matthew Halsall is a Manchester,England based composer, trumpeter, producer, and DJ. He is also the founder of a Gondwana Records. All that and he is only 37 years old! read more

Cindy Blackman Santana – Jazz Drummer Born Nov 18,1959

=&0=& (born November 18, 1959), sometimes known as =&1=&,[1] is a virtuoso drummer whose artistry spans the realms of jazz and rock. Blackman is best known for recording and touring with Lenny Kravitz. Full Biography and at her website I read…….. =&2=& Cindy Blackman has played with a variety of jazz and rock artistsincluding: Pharaoh Sanders, Cassandra Wilson, Bill Laswell, Joss Stone, Joe Henderson, Buckethead, Don Pullen, Hugh Masakela, and Angela Bofill.

Cindy‘s Many Albums

Cindy has released eleven straight-ahead solo jazz albums. Her 1992 release Telepahy is listed at AllMusic as an Editor’s Pick. While her 2001 release Someday and her 2010 release Another Lifetime both received 4 out of 5 stars! read more

Christian McBride Big Band – For Jimmy, Wes and Oliver a Winner

So this morning I decided to listen to some jazz, while I was doing some things around the house. The album I chose was For Jimmy, Wes and Oliver from the Christian McBride Big Band. I generally don’t listen to big band albums. However, because this album was obviously dedicated to Jimmy Smith, Wes Montgomery, and Oliver Nelson listening to it was a no brainer. The Dynamic Duo and The Further Adventures of Jimmy And Wes are two of my favorite albums.

About For Jimmy, Wes and Oliver

For Jimmy, Wes and Oliver is a mix of big band and quartet titles. For the album McBride recruited guitarist Mark Whitfield to play the part of Wes Montgomery and organist Joey DeFrancesco to take on the role of Smith. read more

Cannonball Adderley Born September 15th – Mercy, Mercy, Mercy

Back in the 60s there was a time when all genres appeared together on the pop charts. You might listen to an instrumental by Hugh Masekela and then a tune from The Beatles. Maybe something from Smokey Robinson and the Miracles followed by a song like “Mercy,Mercy, Mercy” from Cannonball Adderley. I loved to hear all kinds of music from the radio. So I often think fondly on those days. They were days for someone with ADHD.

Anyway, I’m thinking about those days more today because September 15th is the birthday of Julian “Cannonball” Adderley. Adderley was born in 1928 and left us way too soon in 1975. Here’s a little background information about Cannonball. read more

Questioned Answer From Brian Lynch Revisited on His Birthday (Sept 12th)

Trumpet player Brian Lynch was born on September 12th in 1956 in Urbana, Illinois)

Brian ….

….is a multi-Grammy winning jazz trumpeter. He has been a member of Eddie Palmieri’s Afro-Caribbean Jazz group and has led the Latin Side of Miles project with trombonist Conrad Herwig.

Lynch has worked with Buena Vista Social Clubalumnus Barbarito Torres, recorded with dance remixers Joe Claussell, Little Louie Vega and the Latin alternative group Yerba Buena. He arranged for Japanese pop star Mika Nakashima and producer Shinichi Osawa, has written string charts for Phil Woods, and has played with Maxwell, Prince, and Sheila E. read more

Category: Jazz