RIP:Alice Coltrane
January 16, 2007
Alice Coltrane Love Supreme
In September Mrs. Coltrane and her son Ravi gave an inspired performance at the University of Michigan’s Hill Auditorium to mark John’s 80th birthday. Her Baptist church meets celestial organ-playing accompanied by Ravi’s torrent of notes, Charlie Haden’s fluent bass and Roy Hayne’s urbane drumming completed a stately jubilee for the man who took modal jazz as far as it could go. A spiritual force in her own right she maintained John’s legacy and continued her growth as a musician.
Anyone paying attention to the upper echelon of soul music’s ever changing face knows the name Incognito. More than the moniker of a great band, Incognito is a brand – a guaranteed one-stop for sophisticated, uplifting U.K.-spun soul-jazz, stamped by a cavalcade of top-notch vocal talent, sweeping arrangements for rhythm section, horns and strings, substance-fueled lyrical content and the unflagging leadership of guitarist/songwriter Jean-Paul Maunick, affectionately known as “Bluey.”
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RIP Jay McShann
December 12, 2006
Jazz Films
December 10, 2006
There are a lot of jazz films and now that Don Cheadle is bringing Miles Davis to the screen I thought I would post a few titles to pay homage to the better ones. This is not a definitive list but a conversation starter for a genre of film that seemingly only gets cultish attention. JazzonFilm.com has a nice listing of films that are connected to the music.
Shadows
John Cassavete’s autonomous feature debuted in 1960 and gets credit for heading the independent film movement in America. The director initially touted the film as a living example of the jazz aesthetic by letting the actors spontaneously create their lines. He admitted later that much of the movie was scripted. But it is worth the view for its individualism and the mostly Charles Mingus’s soundtrack.
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Don Cheadle To Play Miles Davis
December 6, 2006
Actor Don Cheadle is confirmed to direct and act in a film about jazz great Miles Davis. Cheadle is a fine actor who will have the challenge of presenting Davis’s complex character that drove the musician to create six different styles of jazz, defy the police, survive heroin addiction and after all that declare jazz dead. He believed Prince was the future of pop music and never stopped exploring new sounds. If only the planned collaboration with him and Jimi Hendrix had materialized. Fans think his life is too tough for film and better suited for a book. The film will speak for itself but Quincy Troupe’s read more book with Miles is a good way to get started.
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Natalie Cole Interview By Kelley Carter
October 30, 2006
On November 5th it will be the 50th anniversary of Nat King Cole’s television program that ended December 15th 1957 because no advertisers would pay for a show hosted by a Black man. Salt aside, Mr. Cole racked up a lot of pop hits without his innovative drummerless jazz trio. Bo Diddley even counts Cole as a major rock influence. Natalie Cole’s status as a performer is not overshadowed by her dad’s accomplishments as the many years worth of pop, soul and jazz recordings have shown. She has a new one now called “Leavin.” Kelley Carter of the Detroit Free Press had a candid talk with the singer that most people assume is a one-dimensional smooth jazz star. Cole makes clear her intentions to explore music first and a market secondary.
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Incognito: JazzFunk Fun
September 28, 2006
“People that make music feel transparent…”
Twenty-seven years ago Jean-Paul “Bluey” Maunick and friend Paul “Tubb” Williams changed their Light Of The World band into Incognito, a jazz funk group known as eminent players of London’s acid jazz scene. The music paid respect to the festive and funk elements of such masters as Earth, Wind, and Fire, Rufus and Herbie Hancock. Plush horns and rollicking rhythm arrangements could change into subtle grooves within the same song. After Maysa Leak’s sensuous delivery of “Still A Friend Of Mine” and “Deep Waters” the band attracted the reputation of being one of the best sources of the chill out. The Baltimore, Maryland singer’s deep unruffled tone and chemistry within the group draws comparisons to the classy melancholia of Sade. As much as the band articulates the awesomeness of cool pretention is never in the mix. It is the sum of cool, funk and soul that distinguishes them from as Bluey says “the smooth jazz crowd” as much as programmers want to throw them into that box. Dance music lovers constantly remix the Incognito catalog for deep house pleasure, a populist contrast to the wine-sipping crowd that is supposed to listen to their music.
Who’s A Genius?
September 19, 2006
Most people don’t think of the violin as a funky or even a jazzy instrument. That’s because they never heard Regina Carter play. The MacArthur Foundation DID hear her and have awarded their prestigious prize to this Motor City star.
