Jul 9, 2024 11:35 AM
Trumpeter, Educator Jim Rotondi Dies at 61
Jim Rotondi, a renowned hard-bop trumpeter, composer and educator, died suddenly on July 7 at a hospital in France. He…
Drummer Foreststorn “Chico” Hamilton will release Twelve Tones of Love April 14 on Joyous Shout! Adding to his 50-plus discography, Twelve Tones of Love celebrates Hamilton’s lifelong romance with music. Composed for and performed with an enlarged ensemble, the album offers a glimpse into Hamilton’s interpersonal relationships both past and present.
Hamilton will appear at a free in-store performance and album April 30 at the Columbus Circle Borders bookstore in New York to promote the new album.
Opening and closing Twelve Tones Of Love are bookend tracks “A Piece Of Music” and “The Alto Of Kelso,” featuring one of Hamilton’s oldest friends, multireedist Jack Kelso. On “Steinway,” Hamilton reminiscences about his younger days, as he wrote it for his childhood friend Gerald Wilson, with whom Hamilton fooled around on the Steinway in a local shop in their shared L.A. neighborhood.
Hamilton attempts to capture Charlie Parker’s melodic playing in “The Charlie Parker Suite.” “In my thoughts of Bird, it seemed to me that today’s sax players are aware of Bird’s rhythmic sophistication in terms of his solos, but have forgotten how beautifully Bird would play the melody, and play off of the melody in his solos,” he said. “Like Trane, they’ve missed Bird’s melodic sophistication.”
“The Charlie Parker Suite” was commissioned by and premiered at the 15th annual Charlie Parker Festival in New York in 2007.
Jim Rotondi was acclaimed for his wide, round trumpet tone, remarkable virtuosity and assured swing.
Jul 9, 2024 11:35 AM
Jim Rotondi, a renowned hard-bop trumpeter, composer and educator, died suddenly on July 7 at a hospital in France. He…
Charles Lloyd, seen here at the 2024 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, makes DownBeat Poll history!
Jul 11, 2024 12:23 PM
The incomparable Charles Lloyd swept the 72nd Annual DownBeat Critics Poll, becoming the first artist ever to earn…
“Being president of Blue Note has been one of the coolest things that ever happened to me,” Was said. “It’s a gas to serve as one of the caretakers of that legacy.”
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The Century Room in downtown Tucson, Arizona, was born in 2021.
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“She reminds me of my childhood and makes we want to cry,” Cécile McLorin Salvant, pictured here with writer Ashley Kahn, said of Dianne Reeves.
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Italy’s Umbria Jazz Winter is one of those rare annual festivals that not only coincides with a major holiday —…
