On this date in 1954 jazz guitarist Ed Cherry was born. This morning I listened to his latest release It’s All Good and it is! Here’s what some folks say about Ed’s guitar work:
“Ed is a great, soulful, swinging underrated player deserving of wider recognition.” – Bill Milkowski 1/13/11″
“An expressive instrumentalist, Cherry has a hip, melodic approach that is a refreshing contrast to guitarists who frequently resort to playing ‘finger music’, the execution of rapid streams of notes that serve no musical purpose other than to fill space”– Jim Ferguson: Jazztimes – 06/02
“Particularly dazzling – Cherry’s guitar had the young bar crowd dancing” – Kay Cordtz : blues review-5/10
Cherry was born in New Haven,Conn and has been playing jazz guitar in New York since 1978. Cherry played guitar with Dizzy Gillespie from 1978 to 1992, performing in Gillespie’s quartet, big band and with The United Nation Orchestra, which recorded the Grammy Award-winning Live at Royal Festival Hall (Enja). After Gillespie’s death in 1993, Cherry released his first recording as a leader, ‘First Take‘ (Groovin’ High) Since then he has released three more albums as a leader and recorded with a variety of artist as a sideman, including: Paquito D’Rivera, Jon Faddis, John Patton Hamiet Bluiett, Henry Threadgill, and Paula West. I first heard Cherry’s guitar back in June on Jeff Hackworth’s album Soul to Go and was really impressed. You can read the post about that album here – 2014 Jazz from NYC Saxophonist Jeff Hackworth – Soul to Go!
Another jazz artist who I’ve been listening to since his birthday on October 9th (1948) is Dave Samuels. Dave plays vibraphone and marimba and is best known for his work with Syro Gyra. More recently Samuels has been the driving force behind the Caribbean Jazz Project other members of the band include Paquito D’Rivera and Andy Narell. (Hum, Ed Cherry played on D’Rivera’s 1991 release Havana Cafe. One of Samuels other projects is the Organik Vibe Trio, yesterday I listened to their latest release Moscow and loved it!! Vibes and Organ it doesn’t get much better than that for me!
Today I listened to some blues from the great Michael Bloomfield and the recent compilation album From His Head to His Heart to His Hand. I haven’t listened to all of this multi-disc set but what I’ve heard I’ve loved. It was great to hear Mike play with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, The Electric Flag and Al Kooper!
Here’s is a playlist I created at Spotify with some tracks from each of the three artist and albums listed above. Since it is a jazz site, the tracks that I chose two instrumental tracks from Michael Bloomfield!!
