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Miles Davis during the ’Round About Midnight sessions in June 1956

(Photo: Don Hunstein/Sony Music Archives/Courtesy of Abramorama/Eagle Rock)

Miles Davis Documentary Premieres, Portraying a Man of Contradictions

Miles Davis was a difficult man. Even those who are passingly familiar with his biography know that to be true.

He was an on-again, off-again drug addict for much of his life—heroin and cocaine being his primary lures. He had a…

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‘Blue World’ Offers Unheard Music from Coltrane’s Classic Quartet

John Coltrane and his classic quartet still have unissued music to offer 21st-century listeners.

Set for release Sept. 27, Blue World collects a batch of previously unheard…

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Sara Gazarek Charts Path Through Loss, Heartache on ‘Thirsty Ghost’

Pain might not be pretty, but honesty is riveting.

Thirsty Ghost is an unabashed exploration of loss, heartache and, ultimately, healing. It represents a departure for vocalist…

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Terri Lyne Carrington Crafts Double Album, ‘Waiting Game’

Drummer, bandleader and educator Terri Lyne Carrington is set to release an ambitious double album, Waiting Game, which was recorded with her ensemble Social Science.

Set for a…

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Pianist Victor Gould Out in Front

“Start as a sideman and prove yourself.”

Those words churned in Victor Gould’s mind as he left Los Angeles for New York in 2011. Gleaning tips from the biographies of…

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REVIEWS // EDITORS’ PICKS
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1 BY Ed Enright
George Garzone/Peter Erskine/Alan Pasqua/Darek Oles, 3 Nights In L.A.
(Fuzzy Music)

Veteran East Coast tenor saxophonist George Garzone seldom has sounded more inventive and impassioned than on this new three-CD collection, recorded live in January at Los Angeles’ new jazz club Sam First over the course of three nights with drummer Peter…

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1 BY Bobby Reed
Mike LeDonne, Partners In Time
(Savant)

If you’re fortunate enough to have bassist Christian McBride—one of the top bandleaders in jazz—play on your piano trio album, it would be foolish to give him tight strictures. On the studio album Partners In Time, keyboard wizard Mike LeDonne wisely…

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1 BY J.D. Considine
Jane Bunnett & Maqueque, On Firm Ground/Tierra Firme
(Linus/True North)

With their previous album, Oddara, Jane Bunnett and Maqueque presented an almost panoramic view of Cuban jazz, with flashes of percussive virtuosity, splashes of chamber music intimacy and regular bursts of vocal uplift. Although there was plenty of room for…

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1 BY Bobby Reed
Lauren Henderson, Alma Oscura
(Brontosaurus)

With the exception of a cappella artists, a singer can’t soar without a supportive squad. And an empathetic producer is essential to the equation. Lauren Henderson’s sixth release, Alma Oscura, is a gem, thanks to a combination of strong material, a…

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1 BY Dave Cantor
Roxy Coss, Quintet
(Outside In)

Whatever your political leanings, the travails of the Trump era have given culture makers a target. And the dirgey sections bookending Roxy Coss’ “Mr. President” simultaneously encapsulate the sullen feel of the past few years while momentarily…

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1 BY J.D. Considine
Aki Rissanen, Art In Motion
(Edition)

Perhaps because he grew up at a time when the term “keyboard” was as likely to mean a synth or sampler as a Steinway, Finnish pianist Aki Rissanen seems to have a particular fondness for the pulsing insistence of eighth-note ostinatos. It’s a sound that…

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1 BY Dave Cantor
Chase Baird, A Life Between
(Soundsabound)

“Ripcord,” the opening gambit of saxophonist Chase Baird’s A Life Between, makes it seem like the album might make a run at some sort of jazz-rock update. But the easy melodicism of each cut—defined by Baird’s innate ability to whip off lines that…

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1 BY Bobby Reed
Ricardo Peixoto, Scary Beautiful
(Moving Finger)

Veteran guitarist Ricardo Peixoto is poised to broaden his fan base with the elegant, all-original album Scary Beautiful, on which the Rio de Janeiro native (and current Bay Area resident) excels in solo, duet and full-band settings.

Peixoto’s…

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1 BY Dave Cantor
Various Artists, Strain Crack & Break: Music From The Nurse With Wound List, Volume 1 (France)
(Finders Keepers)

In the world of underground curios, Nurse With Wound, a 40-year-old noise project headed by British performer Steven Stapleton, is staggeringly important. The amassed esteem, in part, is predicated on a list of almost-forgotten bands that Stapleton and…

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JAZZ SCHOOL // TOOLSHED
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Intervallic Leaps

Volume II of Leaps & Sounds: 12 Contemporary Etudes for Jazz Saxophone continues saxophonist Adam Larson’s ongoing quest to integrate the use of large intervals into improvisation. Each etude is written over the chord changes to familiar jazz standards—many of them written in atypical key…


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Upstanding Uprights

Cooperstand’s Pro-CB stand is available in high-strength, multilamination birch for cello and bass. The stand is a secure, contoured, handcrafted enhancement to the instrument that sits upon it. The Pro-CB weighs 3 pounds, accommodates a variety of larger string instruments and features a…


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Elementary Pieces

Theo Wanne has released its Elements series of affordable mouthpieces. The Elements series includes three models that provide the player with the fundamental building blocks for their sound, whether it’s dark/classical (Water), all-around (Earth) or funky and bright (Fire). The Elements series is…


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Samples + Synthesis

Sequential’s Prophet X is a bi-timbral, eight-voice stereo, 16-voice mono/stereo, 32-voice paraphonic synth with a newly developed sound engine that powers two simultaneous 16-bit, 48kHz sample-based instruments, plus two high-resolution digital oscillators—all processed through analog filters.…


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Surfaces Sized

ATV has introduced the EXS-5 electronic drum kit, which features drum and cymbal pads with playing surfaces similar in size to those of a typical acoustic drum set. The combination of two rack toms, one floor tom, snare, hi-hat, crash cymbals and ride cymbals helps to realize a comfortable and…


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CURRENT ISSUE Small hr Issue

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CLASSIC INTERVIEW
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by Nat Hentoff // February/23/1955
Ella Fitzgerald Tells of Trouble in Mind Concerning Discs, Television

“We had a request to sing,” Ella began over the applause—and suddenly she stopped. “You know,” she grinned, “we really didn’t have a request. This is just our next number.” Ella had displayed again the candor that has been hers for 20 years in the music big leagues.

Yet, despite this open-hearted honesty, very little is known…


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