 From left: Gary Smulyan, Miguel Zenón, Donny McCaslin, Don Braden and WBGO’s Michael Bourne (Photo: Fran Kaufman)
Talkin’ Sax at Litchfield Jazz Fest
The Litchfield Jazz Festival completed its 17th successful run on Aug. 12, continuing a recipe of bringing some of the world’s greatest jazz musicians to the rolling hills of northwest Connecticut. This year’s fest included amazing sets from The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, harmonica virtuoso Grégoire Maret, Vince Giordano & The Nighthawks, the historic Sojourner Truth Project led by bassist Avery Sharpe, the Ambrose Akinmusire Quintet, the Benny Green Quartet and a Kansas City swing session led by guitarist Dave Stryker and vocalist Kevin Mahogany.
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 HEADLINES
“OK, we’re gonna play some ‘terrible’ music,” joked iconic altoist Lee Konitz on Aug. 16, before he and the other senior statesmen of jazz who call themselves “Enfants Terribles” dug into a program of standards at the Blue Note. …
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Drummer Roy Haynes walked to the front of the stage in New York’s Marcus Garvey Park on Aug. 25. He was performing in Harlem for the second day of the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival, …
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Just moments after Gretchen Parlato’s hour-plus set had wrapped up at the Caramoor Jazz Festival on July 28, the Jazz Journalists Association (JJA) presented her with the JJA Jazz Award for Best Female Vocalist. …
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We’re proud to present the DownBeat Fall Album Preview, an online exclusive that shines a spotlight on several noteworthy albums that will make autumn more memorable. …
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REVIEWS // EDITORS’ PICKS
 BY BOBBY REED
New York-based guitarist David Ullmann said that for Falling, his second album as a leader, he “wanted to capture the idea of getting lost within the music—to explore falling into some mood, or sound, and being temporarily transported.”…
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 BY HILARY BROWN
Think of Italian guitarist Marco Cappelli’s new album as a mixture of Dick Dale and John Zorn, or perhaps a far-out musical crossbreeding of the Ventures with a mind-blowing, avant-garde jazz education. …
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 BY FRANK ALKYER
Pianist Chick Corea and vibraphonist Gary Burton first played together in 1972, by accident, during an impromptu encore at a German festival. That moment of serendipity led to their first recording together, the classic Crystal Silence (ECM), …
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 BY FRANK ALKYER
The music of Lionel Loueke has always been firmly grounded in his West African roots, but in the finest jazz tradition, he embraces and incorporates everything around him. Loueke presents the world as he hears it—with one foot grounded in mother Africa …
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 BY BOBBY REED
Fans don’t normally think “saxophone” when they hear guitarist Pat Metheny’s name. In 1980, Metheny recorded the album 80/81 with saxophonists Michael Brecker and Dewey Redman, and five years later …
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 BY AARON COHEN
In the cover story for the September issue of DownBeat, John McDonough examines the just-released Bill Evans historical recording Live At Art D’Lugoff’s Top Of The Gate (Resonance). …
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 BY BOBBY REED
The phrase “hidden treasures” is an apt description for this 2-CD set, which includes 131 minutes of previously unreleased music from the man who was born Henry St. Clair Fredericks Jr. but is known to music fans as Taj Mahal. …
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 BY FRANK ALKYER
Greg Lewis doesn’t play nice with Monk tunes. He sets them up and smacks them around. He treats them with rough love. As a result, somewhere Thelonious Monk is surely smiling. On Organ Monk: Uwo In The Black, the first-call New York organist delivers an intense …
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BY AARON COHEN
Surprisingly, Mali’s Fatoumata Diawara did not begin her performance career as a singer. Now 30, she had been a dancer, as well as a stage and screen actress in Africa and Europe before singing backup for Oumou Sangare. …
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BY AARON COHEN
Chicago-based trumpeter Marquis Hill, 24, knows that now is not the time to kick back. He’s active around town as a musician and a teacher (he received his master’s degree in jazz pedagogy from DePaul University this spring) and has just released his second disc …
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JAZZ SCHOOL // TOOLSHED
Compact enough to fit in an instrument case, Vandoren’s Hygro Reed Cases provide a humidity-control system for reed storage. Each case features space for six reeds, a sponge to maintain optimal humidity and a disc that indicates when it’s time to add water. …
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Audix has added the f50 and f50S microphones to its Fusion series. The f50 and f50S are designed for stage use as well as for rehearsals and home recording. …
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Whole Notes: A Piano Masterclass, by musician and educator Armen Donelian, is a piano method book and a guidebook to accompany the reader’s personal journey into music. Posture, practicing, mental and physical health, using weight and force, economy of movement and expression are …
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The Fender Custom Shop has added four guitars and a bass to its 2012 limited collection. The new additions are the 1963 Heavy Relic Stratocaster, 1969 Relic Stratocaster, 1959 Heavy Relic Telecaster (pictured), Relic la Cabronita “Boracha” Jazzmaster …
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Rico’s Reserve model hard-rubber clarinet mouthpiece offers the tone and response of a vintage mouthpiece paired with the intonation and flexibility required by today’s clarinetists. Milled, not molded, the Reserve mouthpiece bore, baffle, chamber and facing are crafted using CNC manufacturing for consistency. …
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Humidity Control
Fusion Mics
Custom Collection
Vintage Tone
