Mar 4, 2025 1:29 PM
Changing of the Guard at Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra
On October 23, Ted Nash – having toured the world playing alto, soprano and tenor saxophone, clarinet and bass…
Unraveling The mystique and influence of one of the most innovative musicians of the last century, Charlie Christian: The Genius Of The Electric Guitar (Columbia/Legacy) sheds a floodlight—musically and biographically—on the guitarist’s incandescent career, which ended at age 25. Gathered for the first time on a four-CD boxed set, the first comprehensive collection of Columbia recordings that Charlie Christian made while a member of Benny Goodman’s Sextet and Orchestra from 1939 to 1941 (with one side trip on the Metronome All Star Nine), will arrive in stores Sept. 24.
Beginning on his first Columbia recording date with producer John Hammond and the Benny Goodman Sextet in October 1939—which yielded “Flying Home,” “Rose Room” and “Star Dust”—the Texas-born, Oklahoma-raised Christian lays the groundwork that earned him a title usually reserved for Albert Einstein and Ray Charles. Genius tracks Christian’s 14 extant Columbia studio dates spanning 17 months through March 1941 (one year before his death), when he recorded “Solo Flight” with the orchestra, the signature by which the famed Gibson ES150 guitarist would be known. The first Goodman feature actually built around Christian, “Solo Flight” found him in transition to the nascent bebop movement, upon which fellow conspirator Thelonious Monk and others considered him a primal force.
Lavishly packaged in a boxed set designed to simulate the appearance of a vintage Gibson amplifier (the classic Amelia Earhart “Tweed” luggage finish), Genius is a major commemoration of Christian. The four discs present some 40 songs over the course of 98 tracks—17 of which have never before surfaced anywhere in the world, 27 of which have never before been issued in the United States.
As Ted Nash, left, departs the alto saxophone chair for LCJO, Alexa Tarantino steps in as the band’s first female full-time member.
Mar 4, 2025 1:29 PM
On October 23, Ted Nash – having toured the world playing alto, soprano and tenor saxophone, clarinet and bass…
“This is one of the great gifts that Coltrane gave us — he gave us a key to the cosmos in this recording,” says John McLaughlin.
Mar 18, 2025 3:00 PM
In his original liner notes to A Love Supreme, John Coltrane wrote: “Yes, it is true — ‘seek and ye shall…
The Blue Note Jazz Festival New York kicks off May 27 with a James Moody 100th Birthday Celebration at Sony Hall.
Apr 8, 2025 1:23 PM
Blue Note Entertainment Group has unveiled the lineup for the 14th annual Blue Note Jazz Festival New York, featuring…
“I’m certainly influenced by Geri Allen,” said Iverson, during a live Blindfold Test at the 31st Umbria Jazz Winter festival.
Apr 15, 2025 11:44 AM
Between last Christmas and New Year’s Eve, Ethan Iverson performed as part of the 31st Umbria Jazz Winter festival in…
“At the end of the day, once you’ve run out of differences, we’re left with similarities,” Collier says. “Cultural differences are mitigated through 12 notes.”
Apr 15, 2025 11:55 AM
DownBeat has a long association with the Midwest Clinic International Band and Orchestra Conference, the premiere…
