This area deals with my life long love of music, in particular jazz. My father has a phenomenal reach and depth to his knowledge of jazz and brought me up on the stuff too. What follows is part of the journey....

Jazz Album of the Year

1. Sonny Rollins Road Shows, Vol. 1 (Doxy/Emarcy) 208.5 points (29 ballots)
2. Rudresh Mahanthappa Kinsmen (Pi) 118.5 (16)
3. Charles Lloyd Rabo de Nube (ECM) 115 (18)
4. Vijay Iyer Tragicomic (Sunnyside) 68 (11)
5. Wadada Leo Smith Tabligh (Cuneiform) 67 (13)
6. Cassandra Wilson Loverly (Blue Note) 64.5 (12)
7. Joe Lovano Symphonica (Blue Note) 63 (10)
8. Donny McCaslin Recommended Tools (Greenleaf) 59.5 (9)
9. Bill Frisell History, Mystery (Nonesuch) 57.5 (9)
10. Guillermo Klein Filtros (Sunnyside) 56 (10)
11. Martial Solal Longitude (Cam Jazz) 54 (10)
12. Lionel Loueke Karibu (Blue Note) 54 (9)
13. James Moody & Hank Jones Our Delight (IPO) 54 (8)
14. David Murray & Mal Waldron Silence (Justin Time) 52.5 (7)
15. Bennie Maupin Early Reflections (Cryptogramophone) 50 (7)
16. William Parker Petit Oiseau (AUM Fidelity) 49 (10)
17. Dave Holland Pass It On (Dare2/Emarcy) 49 (9)
18. James Carter Present Tense (Emarcy) 48 (9)
19. McCoy Tyner Guitars (Half Note/McCoy Tyner Music) 46.5 (10)
20. Brian Blade Season of Changes (Verve) 45 (8)
21. Mary Halvorson Dragon's Head< (Firehouse 12) 44 (8)
22. Dafnis Prieto Taking the Soul for a Walk (Dafnison) 44 (7)
23. Anat Cohen Notes From the Village (Anzic) 43 (7)
24. Mario Pavone Trio Arc (Playscape) 37 (5)
25. Carla Bley Appearing Nightly (WATT/ECM) 36.5 (7)
26. Vanguard Jazz Orchestra Mon Night Live Village Vanguard (Planet Arts)36 (7)
27. William Parker Double Sunrise Over Neptune (AUM Fidelity) 36 (5)
28. Various Artists Miles From India (Four Quarters/Times Square) 35 (6)
29. Bill Dixon 17 Musicians in Search of a Sound: Darfur (AUM Fidelity) 34 (5)
30. Miguel Zenon Awake (Marsalis Music) 33 (5)
31. Jenny Scheinman Crossing the Field (Koch) 33 (4)
32. Steven Bernstein Diaspora Suite (Tzadik) 32 (5)
33. Danilo Perez Across the Crystal Sea (EmArcy) 32 (4)
34. Mostly Other People Do the Killing This Is Our Moosic (Hot Cup) 30 (5)
35. Louis Moholo-Moholo & Marilyn Crispell Sibanye (We Are One) (Intakt) 29 (4)
36. Saxophone Summit Seraphic Light (Telarc) 28.5 (6)
37. Brad Mehldau Live (Nonesuch) 27 (6)
38. Pat Metheny Day Trip (Nonesuch) 26 (4)
38. Kurt Rosenwinkel The Remedy (ArtistShare) 26 (4)
38. Marcus Shelby Harriet Tubman (Noir) 26 (4)
41. Roberta Gambarini & Hank Jones You Are There (EmArcy) 24 (4)
41. Evan Parker Boustrophedon (ECM) 24 (4)
43. Bobby Previte Set the Alarm for Monday (Palmetto) 22.5 (4)
43. Scott Robinson Forever Lasting (Arbors) 22.5 (4)
45. Mike Reed Proliferation (482 Music) 22 (5)
46. JD Allen I Am I Am (Sunnyside) 22 (3)
46. Brotherhood of Breath Eclipse at Dawn (Cuneiform) 22 (3)
46. Ted Nash The Mancini Project (Palmetto) 22 (3)
49. Todd Sickafoose Tiny Resistors (Cryptogramophone) 21.5 (4)
50. Matana Roberts The Chicago Project (Central Control) 21 (4)*

*Totals for The Chicago Project include 7 (1) from 2007

Critics were asked to list 10 albums in descending order, with 10 points awarded for their #1, 9 for #2, etc. (On ballots where choices were listed alphabetically, each received 5.5 points.) The first number indicates total points; the number in parentheses is the tally of ballots on which a CD appeared, which was used as a tiebreaker.

Freddie Hubbard, the Grammy-winning jazz musician whose blazing virtuosity influenced generations of trumpet players and who collaborated with such greats as Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins, died a month after suffering a heart attack at the age of 70.



Hubbard died at Sherman Oaks Hospital in Los Angeles and had been in hospital since suffering the heart attack on November 26.
A towering figure in jazz circles, Hubbard played on literally hundreds of recordings in a career dating to 1958, the year he arrived in New York City from his hometown of Indianapolis.

Soon he had hooked up with such jazz legends as Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderley, Rollins, Coltrane and others.
Frederick Dewayne Hubbard was born in Indianapolis on April 7, 1938. He grew up playing mellophone, trumpet and French horn.
In 2006, he was named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master, the nation's highest jazz honour.
Hubbard is survived by his wife of 35 years, Briggie Hubbard, and his son, Duane.

Press Association
Complete discography here

My review on All About Jazz Published: January 11, 2003


By Brent Wheeler

The accepted authority on Trane and the authoritative analysis is Professor Lewis Porter’s John Coltrane: His Life and Music, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1998. His is a splendid and immaculate celebration but one leaning toward strict musical analysis and written within an academic tradition. Mr Kahn brings a different perspective in part because his focus is obviously on one work (A Love Supreme) but also because his purpose is somewhat different.

For many the album A Love Supreme.....

» Read More

This has long been a favourite off Gaucho. This version - while an amateur creation - is notable for the great brass at the beginning - featuring the late Cornelius Bumpus on soprano.....

Glamour Profession

Also of relevance (moderately so) is the content which seems, bearing in mind that imputing stories into Becker Fagan lyrics is obligatory. to focus on drug running out of Bogata into LA. I have just read "Killing Pabl" - a horrific documentary on super criminal Pablo Escobar written by Mark Bowden, which details how "the Glamour Profession" works.

An extract from Wikipedia has Escobar painted thus....

» Read More

There have been a number of attempts to embed jazz and jazz sentiment into films. For the most part these have been somewhat unsatisfactory. For the jazz buff many are simply irritating pictures over great music. Rating myself at the lowly end of the film spectrum I hesitate a little but conjecture at least the reverse applies as well. Not quite so with the BBC (Scotland) film "Misterioso"....


The music is derived from the Monk album Misterioso as is the recurrent theme of the film.

» Read More

I have been watching "The Universal Mind of Bill Evans" - a relatively short video in which Bill Evans discusses the nature of jazz, issues in teaching and learning jazz and his own learning experience with his brother.


I found it illuminating. His brother - a music teacher - has him "walk" through the classic Star Eyes starting with the straight melody, then adding rhythmic improvisation alone to straight harmony and melody, then adding harmonic improvisation and finally melodic improvisation.

the result is a very clear view of the way jazz differs at the most fundamental level from other forms of music. Composition - given this treatment - is concerned with creating a framework - but it is more than an excuse for technical sophistry or a "vehicle for technical wizardry" as is often written of many pieces. The framework does define at least some of the possibilities.

A final point that struck me was that Evans made a great deal of the importance of authenticity and being "real". What he means - he explains - is that it is much better to be very simple with material you know exactly what you are doing with than to generate "style" or similar in an attempt to give a generalised impression. These generalised impressions of, say bebop or any other style, do not carry authenticity and to the extent that they are an artificial construct, are not "real".

The video is available through Amazon

Great review here from the very jazz knowledgeable Paul Robertz.

I'm waiting to hear what others thought of Sonny's free performance
tonight in the Pritzger Pavillion in Chicago's Millennium Park. I'm
now at home with a warm glow from the concert.



This was the 4th time...

» Read More

Tenor sax Johnny Griffin


has passed away aged 80. Griffin's speed and sheer technical ability was unsurpassed and he never failed to surprise with his dazzling skills. Griffin played with all the greats reinforcing the deep bank of talent which was brought to bebop and beyond.

Two favourites were his work with the Johnny Griffin Lockjaw Davis Quartet and the Johnny Griffin Sextet featuring Kenny Drew, Donald Byrd and Philly Joe.

More about Johnny Griffin.

"Symphony Sid " Torin was active as a jazz DJ and also hosted late night live broadcasts in New York City in the 1940s and 1950s. His airchecks were frequently recorded by a private collector named Boris Rose and they are often the source for live dates such as the Charlie Parker sets from the Royal Roost, most recently heard in Charlie Parker : The Complete Live Performances on Savoy . Torin's hip language and often wild commercial ad-libs, including one for a funeral home, are amusing. Torin retired to Florida and died in 1984."

from Ken Dryden www.allaboutjazz.com



Symphony Sid also broadcast from a studio near the Apollo Theatre in Harlem, NYC. His sponsors......

» Read More