This absolute classic album was just remastered by Blue Note in 2002, and it sounds great. Thad Jones/Mel Lewis was the big band of the 1970s (they were around much before that, but were really carrying the torch in the ’70s), with powerhouse talent like Mrvin Stamm, Snooky Young, Jimmy Knepper, Jerome Richardson, Roland Hanna, Richard Davis, and Pepper Adams on board. Jones was at his writing and arranging peak as well, and churned out wonderful stuff like “Dedication”, “Tiptoe”, “A Child Is Born”, “Us”, and “Consummation.”
Continue reading Thad Jones/Mel Lewis/ConsummationMonthly Archives:
Don Cherry: Musician of the World
by Marshall Bowden
Read about Don Cherry/Symphony for Improvisers
Don Cherry was born in Oklahoma City, OK in 1936 and raised in Los Angeles, where he first began to play the trumpet and later piano. According to Cherry, his upbringing had everything to do with his interest in music:
Continue reading Don Cherry: Musician of the WorldDavid Axelrod: Soul on The Edge
by Marshall Bowden
Read about the compilation David Axelrod/The Edge
David Axelrod’s first work as a producer was on tenor saxophonist Harold Land’s The Fox, an album that demonstrated what a marvelous musician Land was as well as putting the world on notice that West coast jazz musicians could play hard-edged bop with the best of the East.
Continue reading David Axelrod: Soul on The Edge“Stage Fright” and “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”
by Marshall Bowden
“Stage Fright,” the title track from The Band’s third album, is a greatest hit, a song they performed live throughout the remainder of their career as a group, yet the album is often cited as a definite step down from the first two and a sign that the group was beginning to fracture as the task of songwriting moved from a collaborative effort to mostly the work of guitarist Robbie Robertson.
