Without a doubt, drummer Otis Brown III is narrowing the divide that keeps jazz segregated from mainstream (read: marketable) recordings. Brown’s terrific debut, The Thought Of You, is a collaborative production from Revive Music and Blue Note and it’s a winner as fitting a release on the classic Blue Note label as anything they released in the ‘60s. The innovative drummer’s facility and outsized talent was already apparent backing Joe Lovano’s Us Five band, Terence Blanchard and Oliver Lake over the last few years. Continue reading
COUNTING BEATS
Reviews and Recommended Jazz by Nick Bewsey
Tag: Drummer
Drummer Jimmy Cobb, an historically important musician who duly received an NEA Jazz Master award in 2009, needs no introduction. If his only connection to jazz was through Miles Davis and playing on Kind Of Blue in 1959, his reputation would still be assured, but Cobb’s career includes deep connections to John Coltrane and Wes Montgomery as well as most every important leader and jazz group since his five-year tenure with Miles. At 85, Cobb is still making music, most of it very good and with his own bands (Jimmy Cobb’s Mob, “So What” Tribute band) often comprised of intensely creative, younger players. Continue reading
A TOP JAZZ RECORD OF 2014: Recently, there’s been no shortage of excellent, forward-looking jazz albums led by drummers. For jazz fans who put groove and swing in their plus columns, Grammy®-winner Terri Lyne Carrington, Kendrick Scott, Antonio Sanchez, Matt Wilson and Rudy Royston are taking music to new and satisfying heights. You can add Ulysses Owens, Jr. to this exceptional lineup – he’s a drummer determined to blaze his own trail with sonically inspired beats. Continue reading
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