202 articles
Bruce Crowther
For many years he wrote books and 49 had been published by the end of 2022. More than half of these were crime fiction; the non-fiction books were mainly on cinema and jazz. Long ago there were a few television plays and a stage play. For a number of years he worked with Colin Larkin on his Encyclopedia of Popular Music and the BTOE, contributing 5-6000 entries to these projects. His first Jazz Journal article was in the mid-1970s, record reviews beginning a decade later. His jazz books include a biography of Gene Krupa and three books in collaboration with Mike Pinfold: The Jazz Singers, The Big Band Years and Singing Jazz. Other than jazz, he enjoyed the blues, opera, old country, gospel, R&B, and popular songs of the 1930s and 40s. Bruce Crowther died in August 2023 as reported here.
Hank Williams: Lovesick Blues – His 58 Finest, 1946-1952
Williams was strictly a country singer, but his music featured swinging rhythms, solo breaks, improvised backgrounds and top-quality musicians
Flamenco Passion: A Tribute To Paco De Lucia
Danish guitarists, percussionists, fiddler and harmonicist latch on to the passion of flamenco, a sound still exotic for northern climes
Wilma Baan: Look At Me Now!
Dutch singer, a former nurse, does standards in a set produced by Claire Martin and including Graham Harvey, Nat Steele and Nigel Price
Antonio Adolfo: Bossa 65
Brazilian pianist Adolfo and friends pay jazz tribute to Carlos Lyra and Roberto Menescal, two key but less often cited bossa nova pioneers
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Julius Wechter: Quartet & Quintet 1956-1957
Two-album set revives the West Coast vibist who wrote Herb Alpert's hit Spanish Flea before largely disappearing from jazz into the studios
Tom Ollendorff: Open House
The British guitarist leads a trio with guest saxophonist Ben Wendel in a set combining baroque-style solo etudes with bop-derived episodes
Sloane: A Jazz Singer
Songbook devotee Sloane was acclaimed at Newport in 1961 but then faced the onset of 60s pop, which she defied with typical tenacity
Ellie Martin: Verdant
University of Toledo jazz prof sings a set of her own songs, predominantly reflective in style but with Latin and hard-bop episodes
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Monika Ryan: Playfully
Expressive NYC-based singer, a graduate of the city's New School, gets to the heart and soul of a set of originals
Jazz Fiction: Take Two
Jazz has often featured in coming-of-age tales and less convincingly in crime fiction, its arcaneness chiming with the outsider narrative
Viper’s Dream
The stuff of Jake Lamar's novel might be stereotypical - jazz, crime and drugs in NYC - but the writing is compelling and entertaining
Reuben James: Champagne Kisses
The Birmingham-born singer (or his publicist) might be stretching the word jazz, but his mixture of pop, R&B and soul is alluring
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