176 articles
Steve Voce
Steve Voce began writing for Jazz Journal around the late 1950s and contributed monthly columns for decades under various incarnations, including "It Don't Mean a Thing", "Scratching the Surface" and latterly "Still Clinging to the Wreckage". He died in November 2023, as reported here.
Dick Collins And The Runaway Herd/His Orchestra: Horn Of Plenty
Trumpeter Collins plays perfectly well on this mid-50s collection, but the album is made by the arrangements of Al Cohn and Nat Pierce
Quincy Jones: Early Years
Q, along with Manny Albam and Neal Hefti, helped preserve the big band format in the 1950s as well as providing a platform for major soloists
Dexter Gordon: Copenhagen Coda
Standout 1983 Copenhagen session by a sometimes unreliable player, featuring Kirk Lightsey, David Eubanks and Eddie Gladden
Chris Connor: Sings Lullabys For Lovers
The singing is efficient, the backing good, but commercial pressure to follow a stereotype may have stunted London's individuality
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John Coltrane: Plays The Blues
The saxophonist's blues-titled 1960 album had an attractive and atypical restraint and didn't always sound like the blues
Kenny Burrell: Four Classic Albums
The virtuoso of quiet guitar is heard on the albums Earthy, Kenny Burrell, On View At The Five Spot Café and A Night At The Vanguard
Erroll Garner Trio: The Most Happy Piano
The pianist's 1956 album is combined with He's Here! He's Gone! He's Garner in a unflagging parade of dynamism and invention
Various: The Birth Of Bop
Reissue of box of five 10" LPs is an exact replica of the late 40s issue on Savoy and contains a wealth of long unavailable material
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Kid Ory: Creole Trombone
The New Orleans trombonist is heard here 1922-59, leading his own bands and as sideman with such as Armstrong, Oliver, Dodds and Morton
Phil Woods: Bird With Strings … And More
Of the two ways to spoil good jazz (the other being playing your own tunes) altoist Woods opted principally in 2005 for string backing
Harry Edison, Lester Young: Going For Myself
Reissue of Lester Young in 1957/58 is testament to his final incompetence, where willpower and invention are defeated by shortage of breath
Various: Classic Jazz At The Philharmonic – Jam Sessions (1950-1957)
Despite the critical rancour provoked by rabble-rousers like Flip Philips and Illinois Jacquet, JATP produced a host of great performances
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