Performing at the newly reopened Smoke Jazz Club in New York, from left: Julius Rodriguez, Gerald Cannon, Eddie Henderson, Melissa Aldana and Joe Farnsworth
(Photo: Jimmy Katz)Aug 9, 2022 1:52 PM
Thursdays have always set the vibe for weekends at Smoke. The first of a four-night run for headliners, Thursday would serve as a point of entry and rumination. Bandstand energy…
Albert Ayler
Nov 16, 2021 11:23 AM
In a restaurant-bar in Greenwich Village, tenor saxophonist Albert Ayler was ruminating on the disparity between renown and income. In his case, anyway. Covers of his albums are prominent in the windows of more and more jazz record stores; references to him are increasingly frequent in jazz magazines, here and abroad; a growing number of players are trying to sound like him.
“I’m a new star, according to a magazine in England,” Ayler said, “and I don’t even have fare to England. Record royalties? I never see any. Oh, maybe I’ll get $50…
