Monty Alexander commemorates 50 years of music with new album

SOURCE: SOMETHING ELSE!
S. Victor Aaron
via All About Jazz

Kingston, Jamaica's own Monty Alexander looms as large a figure in Jamaica's jazz world as Bob Marley does for its homegrown reggae. A virtuosic pianist in the Art Tatum and Oscar Peterson tradition, Alexander often melds Tatum and Peterson with the dancehall, calypso and reggae idioms from his homeland, and nobody does it better.

Regardless of the particular style of jazz he chooses, his piano playing lies at the heart of his artistry. He's truly a thrilling, joyful player with a flair for trills, block chord bombardments and amazing single note runs.

He avoids being overly showy due to the Peterson-like elegance in his playing style; he's a hard swinger and always respectful of tradition even when he branches away from it. This guy is a real legend.

Released March 8 ahead of his Birdland shows, Uplift, a collection of live recordings taken from assorted concerts between 2007 and 2010, isn't one of those tribute or stylistic exercise records he likes to make from time to time, and which are usually enjoyable excursions. Rather, it's straight up acoustic piano trio jazz containing a healthy mixture of standards and originals, which remains the best way to fully appreciate what a phenomenal player Mr. Alexander truly is.

Joining Alexander are Hassan Shakur on bass and either Herlin Riley or Frits Landesbergen on drums. These aren't household names, but they know well how to bolster the leader without competing for attention.

Reggae interpretation of Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue" released, musicians unknown

Reggae Interpretation of Kind Of Blue, a tribute to Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue, is an album too long in waiting of which California based reggae artist manager Issa Aryanpure dubbed “one of the most unique albums of its kind”.

According to Aryanpure, in 1981, a group of Jamaican musicians got together under the direction of New York University Prof. Jeremy Taylor, a jazz musician and educator, the result a masterpiece album. It is unfortunate, however, that Taylor passed away shortly after recording this album and it was never released until 2009.

Posthumously Secret Stash Records worked with the family of Prof. Taylor to turn this project into a reality. Prof. Taylor, who was fascinated by Jamaican music for a long time, traveled to the island several times to study the home-grown music with some of the best players of the time.

In his 1979 book, “A Space Between” Taylor wrote, “My first trip to Jamaica (May 1977) was the most eye-opening musical experience of my life. I met so many incredible players who had been brushed off by the snobby musical establishment…..I had to find a way to showcase their unparalleled talent in a different medium and this was the spark that lit the fire to create this reggae tribute to Miles Davis’ best selling jazz album of all times.

Kind of Blue put it in the hands of formidable Jamaican musicians result in the unparalleled Reggae Interpretation of Kind Of Blue. The album offers 5 tracks along with a dub of each one for a total of 10 tracks!

TRACKLIST
01.So What
02.Freddie Freeloader
03.Blue in Green
04.All Blues
05.Flamenco Sketches
06.So What Dub Version
07.Freddie Freeloader Dub Version
08.Blue in Green Dub Version
09.All Blues Dub Version
10.Flamenco Sketches Dub Version

Seretse Small: one passionate guitarist

Jamaica Observer story

Watching musician Seretse Small on guitar you wouldn't have the slightest idea that guitar was not his first love! But, according to Small he really wanted to play the saxophone and then go on to drums but his dad could afford neither

" I got caught, not with a guitar bug, but a music and culture bug in the 70's primarily from being with my mother as she innovated Caribbean theatre at the Cultural Arts Centre at UWI," recalled Small about his journey into music. Read more: Seretse Small

Dionne Warwick takes a walk on the jazz side

Among the myriad voices that surfaced throughout the 1960s, Dionne Warwick remains one of the most distinctive and most enduring. The first decade of a career that now spans 50 years was defined by a steady stream of million-selling hits custom-crafted for her by Burt Bacharach and Hal David.

In 1990, Warwick made her first recorded foray into jazz, crafting an album of Cole Porter standards for Arista under the direction of producer Arif Mardin. But Clive Davis, then head of Arista, deemed the original sessions too jazzy and the tracks were re-recorded.

Now, 21 years later, Warwick is revisiting jazzland, this time with 13 Sammy Cahn tunes on Only Trust Your Heart.

Prior to the album's release, the legendary singer discusses her new album, her appreciation for jazz, her 50th showbiz anniversary, and her work with such jazz legends as Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Joe Williams with JazzTimes’ Christopher Loudon @
Dionne Warwick jazz walk

Visually impaired Kamilia 'Candy' Isaacs deliver an Ella Fitzgerald-esque set at Gospel Jazz event

Jazz singer Myrna Hague takes 'First Cut' of reggae

Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer

Myrna Hague's Melody Life album is an unusual project for the lady who is much more easily identified with jazz than reggae. Among the tracks on the 1972 Studio One album are Melody Life, First Cut Is The Deepest, Our Day Will Come, How Could I Live, What About Me, Time After Time and On a Clear Day.

Hague tells The Sunday Gleaner that the album was not only her introduction to some of the songs but also singing reggae. More on Melody Life

Chamber Music Society tops Billboard Jazz Album Chart after Grammy awards

Chamber Music Society moves into #1 last week on the Billboard Jazz Album Charts following Esperanza Spalding bolt from the blue Best New Artist Grammy win.

Before the Grammy, Spalding’s third album, which is hailed among the US jazz community, peaked at #3 before put on a slide down the best-selling jazz album list. But, what a difference a Grammy makes in the life of a jazz bassist who only genre ficionados saw as the next big thing in jazz.

Still, Chamber Music Society was not nominated for a Grammy award and, including Spalding herself, almost none believed the little-known performer had a ghost of a chance to hold the statuette prize. No jazz artist as before won Grammy’s Best New Artist award.

Now a bemused music world not only is taking stock of jazz bassist and singer Esperanza Spalding but also is reaching out tangibly in making her the top-selling artist on Billboard over the fortnight and also placed the Heads Up CD at #34 – Billboard Top 200 (across genres), # 11 – Digital Album Chart (download), #16 – Tastemakers Album Chart (Independent Retailers), and moving up 42 positions to #5 on the based on listener's requests Jazz Week Radio Chart(see sidebar)

Twenty-eight weeks on chart, Chamber Music Society unseated the longstanding Crazy Love album (Michael Buble) at the top of the Billboard Jazz Album Chart. The Canadian’s latest album so far spent 73 on the US Chart.