On the Turntable — The “Best Of the ‘Best Of’” in 2024 jazz recordings
Our annual year-end compilation of jazz albums oft mentioned by a wide range of critics as being the best of 2024
...January 5th, 2025
on the turntable
On the Turntable — The “Best Of the ‘Best Of’” in 2023 jazz recordings
A year-end compilation of jazz albums oft mentioned by a wide range of critics as being the best of 2023
...January 8th, 2024
On the Turntable — The “Best Of the ‘Best Of’” in 2022 jazz recordings
A year-end compilation of jazz albums oft mentioned by a wide range of critics as being the best of 2022
...January 9th, 2023
On the Turntable — The “Best Of the ‘Best Of’” in 2021 jazz recordings
December has once again produced a large number of year-end “Best Of” lists, and the goal of this post is to present those albums oft mentioned by the critics. While these 21 albums hardly constitute a comprehensive assessment of the “Best Of the ‘Best Of’” lists, it does provide some guidance about 2021 recordings critics seemed to agree about, and suggest we check out more thoroughly.
...January 5th, 2022
On the Turntable: Keith Jarrett’s 1971 album Facing You
Fifty years ago today, November 10, 1971, the pianist Keith Jarrett recorded Facing You, his now historic debut album for the nascent ECM Records.
...November 10th, 2021
Playlist: A sampling of soprano saxophonists
. . photo by William Gottlieb/Library of Congress Sidney Bechet at Jimmy Ryan’s, New York, N.Y., ca. 1947 . …..I don’t know about you, but ever since Kenny G made himself known in the world of pop music, the soprano saxophone has been a challenge for me to enjoy. His “smooth” approach to the … Continue reading “Playlist: A sampling of soprano saxophonists”
...May 19th, 2021
On the Turntable — The “Best Of the ‘Best Of'” in 2020 jazz recordings
December has brought the tradition of year-end “Best Of” lists, and the consensus among critics is that – as difficult as it may be to understand given the challenging circumstances – 2020 was a banner year for new jazz recordings.
...January 2nd, 2021
On the Turntable — Wild is Love by Nat King Cole
One of the many rewards of reading Will Friedwald’s comprehensive and lively biography of Nat King Cole, Straighten Up and Fly Right, has been rediscovering gems within the great singer’s expansive catalog. Thanks to Friedwald, I am reminded of Cole’s 1960 album, Wild is Love, an ambitious, electrifying (and “hit”) recording that could best be described as a concept album about falling in love.
...August 11th, 2020
“On the Turntable” — Christian McBride’s The Movement Revisited: A Musical Portrait of Four Icons
Just as it did during the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War protests, music is playing an important political and inspirational role in the Black Lives Matter movement and the worldwide protests in support of it.
...June 8th, 2020
“On the Turntable” — The Music of Cole Porter
While preparing for an interview this week with Dominic McHugh. co-editor of The Letters of Cole Porter, I have immersed myself in Porter’s music, which has long been inspiration for a multitude of jazz recording artists.
...February 25th, 2020
On the Turntable: Buddy DeFranco and Oscar Peterson Play George Gershwin
. . The 1954 recording Buddy DeFranco and Oscar Peterson Play George Gershwin (Norgran) was produced by Norman Granz, and includes the guitarist Herb Ellis, the bassist Ray Brown, the drummer Bobby White, as well as Russ Garcia and His Orchestra . ___ . …..In his new book, Summertime: George Gershwin’s Life in Music, the … Continue reading “On the Turntable: Buddy DeFranco and Oscar Peterson Play George Gershwin“
...December 30th, 2019
On the Turntable: Diatom Ribbons, by Kris Davis
The New York Times’ top jazz album for 2019, as chosen by Giovanni Russonello, is one that I admit to having been smitten by for the past month – the New York pianist Kris Davis’ Diatom Ribbons.
...December 13th, 2019
Performance: Abdullah Ibrahim, 1968 — “Jabolani”
A recently released jazz album of significance is Abdullah Ibrahim’s The Balance (pictured), a distinctive and brilliant integration of contemporary exploration with the traditional nod to those who have influenced him over the years – in particular Ellington and Monk.
...August 30th, 2019
“On the Turntable” — Peter Furlan Project’s Between the Lines
In addition to being an accomplished saxophonist, composer, arranger, and leader of his own groups, New York-based Peter Furlan is an avid reader of contemporary literature.
...June 20th, 2019
“On the Turntable” — June, 2019 edition
. . . _____ . . New Jazz Music Recommendations . . While much of the listening for this month’s edition of “On the Turntable” took place, as always, while walking the sidewalks and paths of Northeast Portland neighborhoods and parks, much of it also took place during … Continue reading ““On the Turntable” — June, 2019 edition”
...May 31st, 2019
“On the Turntable” — May, 2019 edition
This month, a playlist of 19 recently released jazz recordings, including those by Branford Marsalis, Joe Martin, Scott Robinson, Allison Au and Warren Vache
...May 4th, 2019
“On the Turntable” — April, 2019 edition
This month, 22 recently released jazz recordings are recommended, including those by Chris Potter, Sons of Kemet, Joey DeFrancesco, Stephan Crump, Julian Lage, Antonio Sanchez and Brittany Anjou
...April 4th, 2019
On the Turntable — March, 2019 edition
A month of walking the dog around the (often frigid) park, ear buds in place, resulted in lots of interesting. discoveries from artists known and unknown (at least to me). This month, an eclectic blend of 18 recently released recordings from all over the globe.
...March 5th, 2019
On the Turntable, February, 2019
Recommended listening…20 recently released jazz tunes by, among others, Brad Mehldau, Matt Penman, Ethan Iverson/Mark Turner, Ben Wendel, Julian Lage, and Don Byron
...February 5th, 2019
On the Turntable — “Sophisticated Giant,” by Dexter Gordon
I will soon be interviewing Ms. Maxine Gordon, author of Sophisticated Giant: The Life and Legacy of Dexter Gordon, whose biography of her late husband is a creatively and beautifully told account of the essential mid-20th century saxophonist.
...January 22nd, 2019
On the Turntable — January, 2019 edition
. . . . I am having time to listen to new music more regularly these days, and finding great pleasure in many of the “grooves.” (Full disclosure…investing $10 per month in a Spotify account — while not the sensual experience of laying the needle on the vinyl — effortlessly gets your ears to … Continue reading “On the Turntable — January, 2019 edition”
...January 7th, 2019
“It’s Too Darn Hot”
In June of 2017, the American president chose to leave the Paris climate agreement because, he said at the time, it is an agreement that “disadvantages the United States to the exclusive benefit of other countries.” It seems that climate change knows no borders, and nobody benefits from our dear leader’s willful ignorance — witness the record heat and fires across the U.S., and indeed now all over the globe.
Oh well, we too can willfully ignore climate change today by finding a cool corner of our world and cranking up Cole Porter’s “It’s Too Darn Hot,” a song written for the Broadway musical “Kiss Me Kate” in 1948, and made famous by
...August 9th, 2018
On the Turntable — Miles Ahead
I have been fortunate – thus far – to have avoided the many summer colds going around this season, but I have been afflicted, once again, by “Miles Fever.” Every so often, I am struck by an irresistible urge to dig into the catalog of this artist so present during virtually every season of my life, and rediscover the thrill of his sound, and of his cultural significance.
I contracted the virus this morning, and spent the morning (in bed, of course) listening to Miles Ahead, the 1957 recording featuring Miles Davis and 19 musicians under the direction of Gil Evans – his first collaboration with Miles since the Birth of the Cool sessions of 1950, and one of his earliest recordings for Columbia Records. An early example of
...July 23rd, 2018
“Kenny Dorham: Be-Bop royalty from East Austin”
Being retired allows the occasional opportunity to lay around and revisit favorite music. Today was such a day…
My key takeaway from today is a reminder that the late trumpeter Kenny Dorham’s music absolutely smokes! For evidence of this, revisit his 1961 album Whistle Stop (including Hank Mobley on tenor) which jazz critic Gary Giddins calls “one of the great jazz albums,” and Una Mas from 1963, featuring the recording debut of tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson.
In the midst of all this listening, I ran across a colorful and short web biography of Dorham, a native of Austin, Texas. Written in the late-2000’s by
...August 15th, 2017
“Peace Piece” — for musical escape
To understate the obvious, our world has not been the same since January 20. Science has become fiction, democratic institutions are being threatened, global relationships that have been nurtured for generations are devalued and misunderstood, and our world is in complete turmoil. Like Hillary or not (and God, how I liked her – her grace, intelligence, experience, resilience, strength, and compassion – all qualities we are starved for today), it is tough to argue with what is now clearly the most honest assessment of Donald Trump during the campaign, when she said, “A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons.” Alas, this most basic and obvious warning — which should have elicited a major national conversation before the election — got lost in the noise of campaign coverage more concerned with her oh-so-scandalous emails!
So this is where we are, living on the brink of catastrophic war due to our man-child president’s narcissism, his endless lies, and his addiction to
...August 10th, 2017
Revisiting “One For Daddy-O”
I’ve been revisiting some favorite recordings this week, among them the classic 1958 Cannonball Adderley-led session Somethin’ Else, with Hank Jones, Art Blakey, Sam Jones, and, in a rare appearance as sideman, Miles Davis. The tune I have been stuck on is “One For Daddy-O,” a blues written by Cannonball’s brother Nat that features a flawless blues solo by Miles.
I dug into the liner notes and was reminded of how the critic Leonard Feather used this particular solo as a platform on which to describe the essence of the “deeper and broader blues of today,” refuting a “misinformed” Ebony piece of the era that suggested that
...November 5th, 2015
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The Sunday Poem
“Jazz clouds under the undulating sky of Riga while digging the Epistrophy of Thelonious Monk” by Namaya
The Sunday Poem is published weekly, and strives to include the poet reading their work....
Namaya reads his poem at its conclusion
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