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Maurice BottomleyFeaturesLove Unlimited: In Memory of Barry WhiteFrom Barry White's heyday in the mid-1970s to his recent reincarnation, courtesy of Ally MacBeal, the deep-voiced one has been the most instantly recognisable and most loved representative of unapologetic aural seduction in the music's history. [7 July 2003] Hip-Hop and the New Jazz FunkFor some reason (possibly the urban secularism of both forms) jazz and hip-hop have generally made sympathetic partners. [27 August 2002] The Singers and the SongsIt's a pretty good time to be a jazz vocalist -- particularly a female one. If your name is Diana Krall, it is of course even better. [5 August 2002] A Soul Spectrum SupplementAny one comp will give you a fair picture of the possibilities each scene has to offer. One or two will find their way into your lives, as perfect headphone or car driving accompaniment to your summer groove. [10 July 2002] Hard Hitting Blues: Champion Jack Dupree: Great Long Ways From HomeDupree's own life, as well as his music, provide a narrative that touched on so many aspects of the 20th century African-American experience that it at times beggars belief. [28 June 2002] Smooth Jazz Not Jazz Shock!The fact is that this saccharine child of our times [smooth jazz] bears no more relation to modern jazz than Glenn Miller's sound did to Count Basie's or George Shearing's to Bud Powell's. [13 March 2002] Mainstream VariationsIf a blues artist stays 'true' to the blues, it viewed as a plus. Jazz with its emphasis on innovation is less easily pleased. Hence the recent rows. The musician has to be both radically innovative and belong to an unproblematised lineage that stretches back to New Orleans. [18 February 2002] Reviews
Various Artists: HallelujahGospel has been part of dance music for a long time of course, though never so explicitly as in this current manifestation. [21 October 2001] 
Bubba Sparxxx: Dark Days, Bright NightsNeither Eminem nor Bubba Sparxxx actually raise that many real questions -- except about the importance of image and marketing in what is supposed to the form that represents the authentic voice of Now. 
Charlie Hunter: Songs from the Analog Playground'Songs from the Analog Playground' may horrify some in the jazz world and will undoubtedly be deemed too far out for Urban radio. What greater recommendation than that do you need?" 
Robert Pete Williams: self-titledThough we associate the folk and blues revivals with the 1960s, the movement has its origins much earlier. The interest in an 'authentic' folk as opposed to 'pop' music has a long history. [10 September 2001] 
Bud Powell: The Amazing Bud Powell—Vols 1 and 2That each generation of jazz pianists still marvels at and learns from Bud Powell is proof that these are so much more than historically interesting museum pieces. 
Pat Martino: Live at Yoshi’sMartino, whose career stretches right back to supplying rock ‘n’ roll licks for the likes of Chubby Checker and Bobby Darin, first made his mark playing with some of the ‘60s’ best known organ combos. Even the most nostalgically inclined will have to admit that this current line-up is the equal to any of them. But remember—PLAY IT LOUD. [21 June 2001]
Ella Fitzgerald: Cocktail HourElla Fitzgerald and Billie Holliday, apart from being the most important and best-known jazz singers of the last century, represent two sides of an interesting coin. [3 May 1999]
Surrealist Painters and Poets - An Anthology by Mary Ann CawsThis weighty volume has the potential to prove a significant milestone in the appreciation and understanding of that familiar yet much-maligned phenomenon, Surrealism. Beautifully produced, it works in the way the best anthologies should. Well-known pieces take on a new life when placed alongside unknown items and, vast as the collection is, you end up wishing for more. [1 January 1995] 
Race, Rock, and Elvis by Michael T. BertrandWhat is there to say about Elvis Presley that hasn't already been said? Well, how about calling him an 'organic intellectual'? I don't remember that one from my uncle's fanzine collection. 
Remember Me To Harlem: The Letters of Langston Hughes and Carl Van Vechten, 1925-1964 by Emily BertrWhen Hughes met Carlo (as he calls him), the older man held a unique position as the link between Harlem and the wider literary world. Within two years Van Vechten had made the fatal mistake of entitling his exotic novel of Harlem life 'Nigger Heaven'. It was to haunt him to the grave and beyond. 
The Late Great Johnny Ace And The Transition From R&B To Rock ‘n’ Roll by James M. SalemJohnny Ace's influence on the development of American music was, if not quite as seismic as Elvis Presley's, an essential element in the creation of the musical revolution of the mid-Fifties. 
Earl Hooker Bluesmaster by Sebastian DanchinPoverty, ill-health, endless one-night bookings, and little critical or financial reward characterised Earl Hooker's life. In the midst of all of this he established himself as Chicago's premier guitarist in a career of constant gigging and far too few recordings. This is a tale of art, barely recognised, blossoming in the face of hardship and suffering. This is the blues.
Earl Hooker Bluesmaster by Sebastian DanchinPoverty, ill-health, endless one-night bookings, and little critical or financial reward characterised Earl Hooker's life. In the midst of all of this he established himself as Chicago's premier guitarist in a career of constant gigging and far too few recordings. This is a tale of art, barely recognised, blossoming in the face of hardship and suffering. This is the blues. 
A Century of Films by Derek MalcolmGodard, Ray (both of them), Cassavetes, Fuller, Renoir, Eisenstein, Altman, Rohmer, Chabrol, Lang, Truffaut, Ozu, and so on. If that partial list already has you salivating then you know where Malcolm is coming from. If not, prepare to be educated. |
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