Search results for "Denzil Best"

Billie Holiday: I Loves You Porgy (Rating: 100/100) posted in Music October 31, 07

In the 1940s, Billie Holiday had the misfortune (as if she needed any more) of being contracted to Decca Records, whi...

George Shearing: Conception (Rating: 97/100) posted in Music November 01, 07

The luminous Shearing Quintet of 1949-51 shone most brightly on refashioned standards taken at medium or slow tempos,...

George Shearing: East of the Sun (Rating: 95/100) posted in Music October 26, 07

In 1949, pianist George Shearing committed jazz's cardinal sin: popularity. Building an appealing formula around clos...

Erroll Garner: April in Paris (Rating: 91/100) posted in Music November 11, 07

        Erroll Garner and Art Tatum at Birdland, 1952           ...

George Shearing: In a Chinese Garden (Rating: 94/100) posted in Music November 20, 07

Like Albert W. Ketèlbey's 1925 "In a Chinese Temple Garden," one of the staples of British light music, "In a Chinese...

This track review is included in: THE DOZENS: JAZZ EXOTICA

Exotica is armchair tourism. We experience foreign strangeness without the hassles of leaving home. No passports, imm...

George Shearing: I'll Remember April (Rating: 95/100) posted in Music December 04, 07

"The fire will dwindle into glowing ashes," goes the lyric. "For flames and love live such a little while." Depressin...

Erroll Garner: I'll Remember April (Rating: 95/100) posted in Music May 10, 08

Erroll Garner's Concert by the Sea was one of the most popular piano trio albums of the era, and was also heard widel...

Miles Davis: Move (Rating: 95/100) posted in Music March 03, 08

Written by drummer Denzil Best, this is one of the Birth of the Cool arrangements that could be naturally opened up f...

This track review is included in: THE DOZENS: THE BIRTH OF THE COOL

On September 4, 1948, a live broadcast from the Royal Roost featured a group led by trumpeter Miles Davis. Th...

Jessica Williams: Bemsha Swing (Rating: 98/100) posted in Music April 15, 09

Those following Williams' career from the '80's to the late '90's were delighted when In the Key of Monk, her long-aw...

This track review is included in: THE DOZENS: ESSENTIAL JESSICA WILLIAMS

Superlatives abound in the many reviews and articles about the now 61-year-old pianist Jessica Williams, as well as...

Garner, Erroll (Louis) posted in Encyclopedia June 20, 08

Pianist Erroll Garner established himself out of the rag tradition and created a sound all his own. In an era of pia...

Shearing, George (Albert) posted in Encyclopedia February 18, 09

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Miles Davis: Bemsha Swing (Rating: 97/100) posted in Music October 23, 07

Miles Davis’s Christmas Eve 1954 session was the one where, legend had it, Miles instructed Monk to “lay out” while t...

This track review is included in: THE DOZENS: TWELVE ESSENTIAL THELONIOUS MONK PERFORMANCES

The pianist Thelonious Monk (1917-1982) was bebop’s mad genius. He and a handful of others created the jazz form, and...

The Quintet: Wee (Rating: 90/100) posted in Music June 11, 08

Yes, Mingus's discontent with the audio quality of this legendary concert and his subsequent overdubbing of the bass ...

This track review is included in: THE DOZENS: HISTORIC RHYTHM SECTIONS

            The Rhythm Section, artwork by Suzanne Cerny ...

Erroll Garner: It's All Right with Me (Rating: 97/100) posted in Music August 19, 08

Partly attributed to his well-documented inability to read music, Erroll Garner's pianistic voice is one of the most ...

Erroll Garner: Teach Me Tonight (Rating: 100/100) posted in Music August 19, 08

This popular Cahn-DePaul composition, published in 1953, has attracted the attention of many musicians across several...

Pettiford, Oscar posted in Encyclopedia January 20, 09

Oscar Pettiford set the standard for bassists in bebop by drawing out the melodic and solo potential of his instrumen...

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