Sep 18, 2021
One of the finest bass players of the past fifty years has passed away. George Mraz (1944-2021) had been seriously ill after surgery a few years back, and never truly recovered.
I was inspired to prepare this podcast after reading a Facebook comment by bassist Todd Coolman. He wrote:
“There is not much I can add to...
Sep 17, 2021
The New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) is beginning its live, in-person programming in the coming week (see Podcast for a preview) and in six weeks will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of the annual TD James Moody Jazz Festival, showcasing an all-star lineup of the country’s best musicians. Held in and...
Sep 17, 2021
Jazz supergroup The Cookers announce their return to the scene with their first album in five years, Look Out! The band is currently composed of Billy Harper (tenor sax), Cecil McBee (bass), George Cables (piano), Eddie Henderson and David Weiss (trumpet), plus two newly minted Jazz Masters from the National Endowment...
Sep 9, 2021
Kate McGarry’s 2018 collaboration with life and stage partner Keith Ganz, The Subject Tonight Is Love was a song cycle that addressed love in its many different forms and iterations. From Rodgers and Hart to the Beatles to their own tunes, the album was uniformly wonderful, and featured many of their long-time...
Aug 29, 2021
Podcast 841 is Part Two of my two-part conversation with saxophonist Kenny Garrett. His latest album, released August 27th on Mack Avenue Records, is entitled Sounds of the Ancestors, and as the title suggests, it’s a musical trip through Kenny’s past, as he digs into the sounds that have moved him in the past, and...