WBGO Composer, conductor and pianist Carla Bley at the Town Hall, on a 2015 memorial for her longtime collaborator Charlie Haden.
When Carla Bley hitchhiked from Oakland, Calif. to New York City at age 17, it was one in a series of renegade actions that have defined an irrefutably original career. She found her way to Birdland, landing a job as a cigarette girl and a perfect perch to absorb musical lessons from the likes of Count Basie, Miles Davis and Horace Silver.
Largely self-taught as a pianist (having learned the basics from her father), Carla was first and foremost a composer. She began to earn a reputation when her pieces turned up on albums by equally free-thinking artists like George Russell, Gary Burton and Jimmy Giuffre, along with her first husband, pianist Paul Bley. She then helped organize an avant-garde collective called the Jazz Composers Guild with another partner, Michael Mantler.
James Brandon Lewis, a Saxophonist Who Embodies and Transcends Tradition
His new album, “Jesup Wagon,” is a tribute to another polymathic figure who insisted on cutting his own path: George Washington Carver.
James Brandon Lewis read biographies of the scientist and inventor George Washington Carver before composing the seven tracks and two poems that appear on his new album, “Jesup Wagon.”Credit.Chase Hall for The New York Times
May 5, 2021
When James Brandon Lewis plays the saxophone, he usually plants his feet shoulder width apart and bends a bit at the knee, swaying and tunneling into a rhythmic flow. As a bandleader, he almost exclusively performs his own compositions, which have melodies that roam, dart and soar but often stay grounded in a pulse.
Gary Brunton, trois hommes dans un bus de nuit francemusique.fr - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from francemusique.fr Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Shai Maestro interview: Jazz is a flexible music, everything s open to interpretation and change John Fordham Thursday, April 22, 2021
Pianist Shai Maestro was catapulted to international renown in the mid 2000s when fellow Israeli and bass star Avishai Cohen talent-spotted him for his power Trio with Mark Guiliana. He s since forged his own solo path and now releases his striking new album, Human, his second outing for ECM and first with his new Quartet. John Fordham discovers how it reflects Maestro’s ever-deepening artistic vision
Shai Maestro [photo: Gabriel Baharlia] Thank you for visiting Jazzwise.co.uk To get full, unrestricted access to all our news, features, artist profiles and much more besides simply click the button below and register for free to the website. By signing up you will also receive our regular email newsletters which will bring news of all our latest articles from the site so you don’t miss o
Toots Thielemans - East Coast West Coast (13 tracks) +Album Reviews swapacd.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from swapacd.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.