For the longest time my favorite vibraphonist was Gary Burton and while he still may be my favorite, coming in a close second is Milt Jackson, who would have celebrated his 92nd birthday today! From Wikipedia:
So I started this mornings birthday reviews at All About Jazz by looking for a younger jazz artists and one that caught my eye because of his name was Goh Kurosawa. I went to his page at All About Jazz where I read:
To create the latest release from Gerry Gibbs Thrasher Dream Trio, you start with drummer Gerry Gibbs, son of vibraphonist Terry Gibbs. Then you add some bass from legendary bassist Ron Carter, and finally you let pianist Kenny Barron loose to weave his way in and around the deep grooves laid down by his mates. You then mix in some fantastic covers of some big hits from the 60s and 70s, and when it all comes together you call it We’re Back, the latest release form Gerry Gibbs Thrasher Dream Trio! Their first album was self-titled and released about a year ago and spent a number of weeks atop the JazzWeek Charts, their lastet release We’re Back, hit the shelves in September and has been number 1 on the JazzWeek Chart for the last six weeks!!
Among those who are celebrating their birthdays today is jazz saxophonist Vincent Herring, who was born on this day, November 19th in 1964. The year of the great Phillies collapse and the year I went to both a World Series game and the baseball All-Star game in New York. It was a great year for a 13 year-old! Anyway, back to Vincent Herring, even though he has released albums as a leader since 1989’s American Experience, I just discovered his music back in January, when I listened to his 2013 release The Uptown Shuffle, to say the least I was very impressed by his playing!! You can read my post New Jazz from Saxophonist Vincent Herring – The Uptown Shuffle!! to find out more about Vincent and the album. Tonight to celebrate Vincent’s 50th, I thought I’d go back and listen to one of his earliest albums Dawnbird released in 1993 on the Landmark label. Ron Wynn write this about the album in his review at AllMusic….
Houston Person is a jazz artist whose name I have seen on the JazzWeek Chart, as recently as this week. His latest release as a leader The Melody Lingers On is now at # 9. I had yet to listen to any of his music until last week. To be more specific, I listened to two albums on his birthday, November 1oth. The albums nI listened to were Something in Common from 1989 and Now’s the Time. Now’s the Time, released in 1990, was recorded with legendary bassist Ron Carter. Both albums were released on the Muse label. They were recorded at the Van Gelder Studios with Rudy Van Gelder serving as the engineer. I have listened mostly to Now’s the Time and for me it is simply an incredible album, just the two of them, a bass and a saxophone blending together, soaring alone!
Many of the 2014 jazz albums that I have explored this year have been released on the Smoke Sessions label, from Vincent Herring’s Uptown Shuffle to Orrin Evans Liberation Blues, with albums from Javon Jackson, Cyrus Chestnut and David Hazeltine in between! The latest Smoke Session Records release that has spent extended time in my music rotation is Groovewise from pianist Eric Reed.
One of the albums that has been in my rotation this week is When Words Fail from jazz trumpeter David Weiss.
David Weiss (born October 21, 1964 in New York City) is a jazz trumpeter and the founder of The New Jazz Composers Octet, a group dedicated to innovation in jazz. He studied music at North Texas State University, graduating in 1986. Returning to New York, he performed with Jaki Byard, Frank Foster, and Jimmy Heath. He continued his studies with trumpeters Tommy Turrentine and Bill Hardman, as well as attending Barry Harris’s jazz classes. Eventually leading an “After Hours” session for Harris, he performed with such musicians as Stephen Scott, Winard Harper, Leon Parker, Sam Newsome, Justin Robinson, Rodney Kendrick, Roy Hargrove, Clifford Jordan, Mulgrew Miller, Jeff Watts, Terence Blanchard, Benny Green, and Billy Hart.
The other day I posted about the new album Motif from the Greg Abate Quartet, which is among the most added albums on the JazzWeek chart. Another album among those albums, actually with one more add then Greg is the new release from Thomas Marriott Urban Folklore. The Seattle-based trumpeter is not a stranger to the national radio airplay charts, as three of his eight albums as a leader have made it into the top-ten. His 2009 release East-West Trumpet made it all the way to number one! His albums have been featured on NPR’s “Morning Edition” and his 2010 release Constraints and Liberations received 4 ½ stars in Downbeat Magazine. Yet I still have never heard his name….(note to self listen to more Jazz Radio, duh!) but now that I have heard both his name and his latest album, I won’t be forgetting either anytime soon!!
A good point guard on the basketball court elevates the players around him and makes them better players. That’s just what jazz saxophonist, flutist, and composer Greg Abate does on his latest release Motif and as a result the album is currently among the most added albums on the JazzWeek Chart and I look forward to tracking its upward movement on the chart, over the coming weeks! It doesn’t hurt though, that the other members of his quartet are, like Greg professors at the Berklee College Music, even so, on the album Greg’s compositions give each member of the quartet room to “do their thing” and boy do they know how to do it!! The first time I listened to the album I thought that the leader of the band could be the piano player Tim Ray, because he stood out so much through the first couple of tracks. But then Greg’s great sounding sax kicked in and a few tracks later his flute appeared and I knew who the leader was!
