Hello everyone–
Due to the success of this website, I have been offered a number of free-lance gigs, including editing a book, and writing artist bios and CD liner notes. To make time for these substantial projects, I’ve decided to change the publishing frequency of this site from monthly to approximately every six weeks. Please be assured that I am still committed to this website, and I wish to improve it in the coming months. To that end, I plan to make each issue larger with more reviews, and additional special features (Sidetracks, Profiles, Historical Essays). That plan starts with this issue, which includes six new articles.
In the past fortnight, I’ve heard new music from two outstanding ensembles, Ryan Keberle’s Catharsis and John McNeil’s Hush Point. Early this month, Keberle brought his group to Denver for the first time and they played a marvelous set full of improvised counterpoint and simultaneous improvisation (no, they’re not quite the same thing). You can check out my Concert Review here. Hush Point just released their third CD, and like Keberle’s group, they combine the sounds of cool and progressive jazz. I review this disc along with albums by Steve Slagle, Miguel Zenon, Gary Smulyan, and the Jensen sisters (Ingrid and Christine) in this month’s Instrumental CD reviews. The Vocal CDs reviewed this month feature widely varied repertoires from Theo Bleckmann, Double Bass Double Voice (featuring Emily Braden and Nancy Harms) and Duchess (with Amy Cervini, Hilary Gardner and Melissa Stylianou). A long-awaited documentary on Bill Evans arrived last week, and details on this well-made film can be found in our DVD Review section. A new study on the loft jazz scene is the subject of this month’s Book Review, and I spotlight another of my favorite Blue Note albums, Sonny Clark’s “Cool Struttin'” in a new Retro Review.
Jazz History Online’s Facebook page continues to gain members. If you are not yet one of over 1900 fans, please go to www.facebook.com/JazzHistoryOnline and like us! To be sure you get our Facebook messages, hover over the “liked” button on our Facebook page, and click the top two selections (“Get Notifications” and “Following”). If you’d like a monthly e-mail update of new articles (no, we won’t sell your addresses to anyone else), or would like to communicate with me, please write to [email protected]
Best,
Thomas Cunniffe