Category: Saxophone
New Music from Vincent Herring Joins My Music Rotation. Part 1
I do believe, two of the albums that have been in my music rotation for a few weeks. Now highlight my eclectic taste in music. One is the latest from jazz saxophonist Vincent Herring, while the other is from a bluegrass band Trout Steak Revival. While I don’t think I am alone with my live for both these genres of music, I would think I am in the minority.
Anyway here is my take on the first of these two albums.
New Morning Exercises & Hank Crawford’s Bday!
Ed K (Renaissance Granddad) – Day 23823 (Dec 21, 2016)
Woo! Hoo! Today is the Winter Solstice!! That of course means, today is either the shortest day of the year or the longest night! I prefer to look at it as the shortest day and from here until the Summer Solstice the days keep getting longer!! I used to hate it when it was dark when I went to work in the morning and again when I came home in the evening.
Hank Mobley….exploring his music
Hank Mobley – Tenor Saxophone – Composer
(July 7, 1930 – May 30, 1986)
I first discovered the saxophone of Hank Mobley one night in 2014 when I was exploring some jazz. That night I explored the music of Blue Mitchell, Wynton Kelly and Hank Mobley. One that night Hank Mobley’s album Soul Station was my favorite of the night!! You can read about it in- A Jazzy Night with Music from Blue, Wynton and Hank and friends!! Here’s some background information about Hank Mobley from Wikipedia:
Night and Day – Vincent Herring
Vincent Herring – Night and Day – A 2015 Favorite!
Back on May 12 I was excited to see that saxophonist Vincent Herring had released a new album titled Night and Day. Then I saw on the album cover who Herring had playing with him on the album and I was even more excited! The other members of this quintet include: Brandi Disterheft on bass, Joe Farnsworth on drums, pianist Mike LeDonne and trumpeter, Jeremy Pelt, Both Disterheft and Farnsworth played with Herring on his last album Uptown Shuffle.
Cannonball Adderley – Things Are Getting Better
Things Are Getting Better is the 11th album by jazz saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, and his second release on the Riverside label. The album was released in 1959, when I was 8, so that explains how I missed it on the first go around… Anyway, I had Things Are Getting Better on in the background this morning as I was working on this blog, so I haven’t really listen that closely to the album. But from what I heard and am listening to now, this one’s a keeper. I first chose Things Are Getting Better because of Milt Jackson‘s presence on the album, but then I saw the other players, i.e Wynton Kelly and Art Blakey and then I knew this was the first album to listen to from Cannonball……
Exploring the Music of Jazz Saxophonist Vincent Herring on his birthday – November 19th!!
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….
Exploring the Jazz Saxophone of Houston Person, following his birthday!!
Houston Person – Saxophone (born November 10, 1934)
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!
Jazz Album of the Day – Motif from the Greg Abate Quartet
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!
