Search results for "George Mraz"

George Mraz: Aspen Leaf (Rating: 88/100) posted in Music February 18, 08

For those who may have forgotten that George Mraz's original first name is Jirì, and that he was born and raised...

Art Pepper: Cherokee (Rating: 98/100) posted in Music May 18, 09

One of the great challenges for the early bebop players was to maintain the same level of creativity at every conceiv...

Pepper Adams: Reflectory (Rating: 93/100) posted in Music August 29, 08

Recorded shortly after Pepper Adams left the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis band to set out on his own as a soloist, "Reflector...

Jan Hammer: Braching (Rating: 90/100) posted in Music January 30, 09

When 1968's Maliny Maliny was released on LP in the USA in 1976, it was retitled Make Love. Many years later, I asked...

Joe Lovano: Six and Four (Rating: 96/100) posted in Music February 10, 09

Although this CD's title comes from Joe Lovano's composition "Joyous Encounter," those words apply even more to the s...

Art Pepper: You Go To My Head (Rating: 97/100) posted in Music May 18, 09

Art Pepper's 1977 run at the Village Vanguard in New York was a career high point for the brilliant yet troubled (and...

Chano Dominguez: La Tarara (Rating: 93/100) posted in Music March 07, 08

This album, originally recorded on Venus Records, features Dominguez with the all-star rhythm section of George Mraz ...

Jan Hammer: Waltz for Ivonna (Rating: 91/100) posted in Music January 29, 09

On Jan Hammer's debut record as leader, he switched between piano and organ for each number. (At least, that is how i...

Jan Hammer: Maliny Maliny (Rating: 100/100) posted in Music January 29, 09

Another one of the great ideas of my life that I never took to fruition occurred to me the very first time I put the ...

Jan Hammer: Goat's Song (Rating: 93/100) posted in Music January 29, 09

I first saw this record in a store in 1976. The album art featured the backside of a greased-up naked woman whose pri...

Jan Hammer: Domicile's Last Night (Rating: 94/100) posted in Music January 30, 09

When listening to a new piece of music, do you ever get that weird feeling that it's familiar but not familiar at the...

Jan Hammer: Responsibility (Rating: 90/100) posted in Music January 30, 09

MPS has taken on the mission of releasing 1960s and '70s European jazz and jazz rock classics, Jan Hammer's Maliny Ma...

Stan Getz: I Thought About You (Rating: 98/100) posted in Music August 30, 09

In the mid-1980s, Stan Getz was living in Menlo Park, California—famous for start-ups and high tech, rather than jazz...

Art Pepper: Anthropology (Rating: 82/100) posted in Music January 13, 08

Art Pepper’s post-rehabilitation career reached its pinnacle with a successful run at the Vanguard in late July 1977....

This track review is included in: THE DOZENS: LIVE AT THE VILLAGE VANGUARD

Whenever I step inside the Village Vanguard, I am always struck by a déjà vu sense of the awe-inspiring amounts of ...

Jan Hammer: Make Love (Rating: 90/100) posted in Music January 28, 09

Maliny Maliny was Jan Hammer's first album as leader. Recorded live in Germany, the recording was very much unknown o...

Warne Marsh: Moose the Mooche (Rating: 96/100) posted in Music May 07, 09

The prevailing notion that Marsh was merely a cool-toned, cerebral saxophonist began to change to some extent in the ...

Carmen McRae: Suddenly (aka In Walked Bud) (Rating: 90/100) posted in Music August 07, 09

While she was plagued by poor health in her final years, Carmen McRae produced several fine recordings in the late 19...

This track review is included in: THE DOZENS: SCAT SINGING

Scat singing—improvised solos created by a vocalist using nonsense syllables for words—is one of the great parado...

Dizzy Gillespie: Billie's Bounce (Rating: 93/100) posted in Music February 05, 08

One of Gillespie's final albums was this tribute to Charlie Parker, recorded live at the Blue Note in New York, as pa...

This track review is included in: THE DOZENS: A DIZZY DOZEN GILLESPIE CLASSICS

From his seminal work with Charlie Parker to his collaborations with Chano Pozo, Dizzy Gillespie continually br...

Hank Jones: Bemsha Swing (Rating: 92/100) posted in Music March 21, 08

Hank Jones was already an established pianist when Thelonious Monk, who was his elder by a year, came to prominence. ...

Joe Lovano: I Waited For You (Rating: 96/100) posted in Music November 26, 08

It's puzzling how Hank Jones, at age 90, is still sometimes described as a "journeyman" or "veteran sideman." Here is...

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