Search results for "John Lewis"

Gunther Schuller (featuring Ornette Coleman): Abstraction (Rating: 96/100) posted in Music November 21, 07

"Abstraction," explained its composer, combines "the most advanced [circa 1960] stylistic manifestations of both jazz...

This track review is included in: THE DOZENS: TWELVE ESSENTIAL 'THIRD STREAM' PERFORMANCES

A few years after longtime Metropolitan Opera French hornist Gunther Schuller assisted in Miles Davis's Birth of the ...

Jim Hall: Piece for Guitar & Strings (Rating: 95/100) posted in Music November 21, 07

Jim Hall's pre-1960 written output had been, as was the guitarist himself, modest. Hall the composer came out of left...

This track review is included in: THE DOZENS: TWELVE ESSENTIAL 'THIRD STREAM' PERFORMANCES

A few years after longtime Metropolitan Opera French hornist Gunther Schuller assisted in Miles Davis's Birth of the ...

John Lewis: The Golden Striker (Rating: 95/100) posted in Music January 13, 09

When Gunther Schuller (classical musician with jazz interests) collided with John Lewis (jazzman classically trained)...

John Lewis: Love Me or Leave Me (Rating: 94/100) posted in Music November 02, 07

How would two East Coasters (the MJQ's Lewis & Heath) match up with three West Coast jazzmen? Perfectly, thanks to m...

John Lewis: Sketch (Rating: 90/100) posted in Music November 23, 07

MJQ + string quartet = one felicitous match. Whereas many jazz groups would simply overwhelm such a setting—can ...

This track review is included in: THE DOZENS: TWELVE ESSENTIAL 'THIRD STREAM' PERFORMANCES

A few years after longtime Metropolitan Opera French hornist Gunther Schuller assisted in Miles Davis's Birth of the ...

Miles Davis: Rouge (Rating: 93/100) posted in Music March 03, 08

John Lewis throws us off track at the beginning of this charming piece by not only writing an introduction in 3/4, bu...

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...

Modern Jazz Quartet with Laurindo Almeida: Silver (Rating: 98/100) posted in Music October 23, 08

Four intense mood swings in the first minute and an untraditional song structure make this track inaccessible to most...

Modern Jazz Quartet: No Happiness for Slater (Rating: 94/100) posted in Music November 02, 07

Odds Against Tomorrow (1959) was the best heist film since The Asphalt Jungle (1950). Singer Harry Belafonte plays a ...

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

Film scholar David Butler reckons that by the early 1950s movie jazz had become "a convenient way to impart specific ...

Miles Davis: S'il Vous Plait (Rating: 88/100) posted in Music March 03, 08

When I was preparing edited scores for the Birth of the Cool folio, one of my hopes was that enough parts still exist...

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...

Modern Jazz Quartet: The Golden Striker (Rating: 96/100) posted in Music June 18, 09

"The Golden Striker" was a staple of the Modern Jazz Quartet's live repertoire, and this rousing version adds a sheen...

J.J. Johnson (with Clifford Brown): Turnpike (alternate take) (Rating: 95/100) posted in Music July 03, 09

June of 1953 was a very busy and prolific month for Clifford Brown. Having recently left the Blue Flames, he was wor...

This track review is included in: THE DOZENS: AL HOOD SELECTS 12 ESSENTIAL CLIFFORD BROWN TRACKS

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Charlie Parker: Parker's Mood (Rating: 100/100) posted in Music March 04, 08

Bird’s playing on "Parker’s Mood" is often referred to as the greatest saxophone solo ever recorded. Parker opens wit...

This track review is included in: THE DOZENS: CHARLIE PARKER'S OVERLOOKED GEMS

There are no bad Charlie Parker recordings. Everything Bird recorded had the blues and soul baked right in. So to ass...

The Modern Jazz Quartet: Django (Rating: 100/100) posted in Music October 29, 07

Ceremonially attired, affecting deadpan expressions suitable for illustrations in an embalmer’s manual, the MJQ l...

Modern Jazz Quartet: England's Carol (Rating: 95/100) posted in Music October 30, 07

Ironically, the greatest achievement of Third Stream music, for all its intellectual pretensions, was an update of th...

This track review is included in: THE DOZENS: RUDY REINDEER'S FAVORITE JAZZ

First, about the name. The whole "Rudolph" thing started as a joke. To friends and family, I've always been Rudy. The...

The Modern Jazz Quartet: Concorde (Rating: 92/100) posted in Music May 11, 09

"Jazz fugue" . . . the very name sounds oxymoronic. One wonders: are there country-and-western fugues or hip-hop fugu...

Modern Jazz Quartet: The Cylinder (Rating: 93/100) posted in Music June 18, 09

The Modern Jazz Quartet's "The Cylinder" is constructed around a single chord, and the form does not change until Mil...

Gerry Mulligan: Deception (Rating: 97/100) posted in Music January 06, 09

It's hard to believe that the complete Birth of the Cool, including all 12 studio tracks recorded in 1949 and '50, di...

J.J. Johnson: Turnpike (Rating: 96/100) posted in Music October 31, 07

Apart from single-handedly inventing the modern jazz trombone and becoming its foremost exponent, being a first-rate ...

The Modern Jazz Quartet: My Man's Gone Now (Rating: 96/100) posted in Music September 09, 08

Jazz.com recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of the the most famous jazz adaptation of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess...

Clifford Brown: Easy Living (Rating: 99/100) posted in Music July 03, 09

This was Brownie’s first date as a leader for Blue Note Records and came about after Brown’s outstanding playing on t...

This track review is included in: THE DOZENS: AL HOOD SELECTS 12 ESSENTIAL CLIFFORD BROWN TRACKS

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