Apr 2, 2024 12:59 PM
Saxophonist, Sonic Explorer Casey Benjamin Dies at 45
Casey Benjamin, the alto saxophonist, vocalist, keyboardist and producer who stamped his distinctive sounds on the…
Singer Koko Taylor, known worldwide as the queen of Chicago blues, died on Wednesday of gastrointestinal bleeding. She was 80.
Taylor, who was born in Tennessee, was singing since childhood and took her love of music to Chicago, when she made the city her home in 1952. She sang in Chicago’s then-thriving blues clubs and her aggressive growl caught the attention of Willie Dixon, who brought her to Chess Records. At Chess, she recorded her 1965 hit and life-time signature song, “Wang Dang Doodle.”
Even though rock-influenced flashy guitarists dominated much of the blues business in the 1970s and ‘80s, Taylor had a supportive musical home with Chicago’s Alligator Records, which signed her in 1977. She relentlessly toured blues festivals, clubs and theaters worldwide in the decades that followed. Her last album, Old School was released on the label in 2007.
“My career is much better now than it was 20 years ago,” Taylor told DownBeat shortly after recording Old School . “I’m doing a wonderful job to be my age, but I’m not a youngster. I don’t have the energy today that I had 10 years ago, but I’m not about to give up.”
Benjamin possessed a fluid, round sound on the alto saxophone, and he was often most recognizable by the layers of electronic effects that he put onto the instrument.
Apr 2, 2024 12:59 PM
Casey Benjamin, the alto saxophonist, vocalist, keyboardist and producer who stamped his distinctive sounds on the…
Albert “Tootie” Heath (1935–2024) followed in the tradition of drummer Kenny Clarke, his idol.
Apr 5, 2024 10:28 AM
Albert “Tootie” Heath, a drummer of impeccable taste and time who was the youngest of three jazz-legend brothers…
“Both of us are quite grounded in the craft, the tradition and the harmonic sense,” Rosenwinkel said of his experience playing with Allen. “Yet I felt we shared something mystical as well.”
Mar 12, 2024 11:42 AM
“There are a few musicians you hear where, as somebody once said, the molecules in the room change. Geri was one of…
Henry Threadgill performs with Zooid at Big Ears in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Apr 9, 2024 11:30 AM
Big Ears, the annual four-day music celebration that first took place in 2009 in Knoxville, Tennessee, could well be…
“I’m also at a point in my life where I don’t feel like I have anything to prove, like at all,” Akinmusire says about his art.
Mar 26, 2024 12:45 PM
At the risk of oversimplifying and romanticizing the story, Ambrose Akinmusire came bursting on the jazz scene at the…
