AltWeeklies Wire
The Baghdad/Seattle Suite: An Iraqi / American Musical Collaborationnew
Iraqi oud player Rahim AlHaj collaborates with American guitarist Bill Frisell and violist Eyvind Kang in a performance of The Baghdad/Seattle Suite.
Weekly Alibi |
Mel Minter |
03-30-2010 |
Music
Jazz Singer Claudia Acuna Opens a New Door in Her Charmed Careernew
With her debut for Marsalis Records, she's focused on a personal sound, singing primarily Latin American songs she's known from her youth, plus two originals. Because of its introspective quality, En Este Momento gives up the gifts of its fragrant sensuality only to attentive listening.
Weekly Alibi |
Mel Minter |
11-03-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Alto Saxophonist David Binney Paints New Sounds on a Moving Canvasnew
Complicated or not, Binney's jazz compositions also reflect a wide variety of influences. Both as a composer and player, Binney has drawn from many sources to create a highly expressive, highly individual oeuvre.
Weekly Alibi |
Mel Minter |
10-06-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Unclassifiably Original 17 Hippies Merges East and West in Dance Grooves Galorenew
When you slide Heimlich, the latest CD from 17 Hippies, into the computer, the disc obligingly gives up the expected data: album name, track titles, artist, etc. It's all pretty straightforward until you get to "genre."
What you get isn't even "other"; it's "unclassifiable."
Weekly Alibi |
Mel Minter |
09-23-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: 17 Hippies, Heimlich
New Orleans Legend Allen Toussaint Crowns the First Week of the 2008 New Mexico Jazz Festivalnew
It's hard to turn a musical corner just about anywhere in American pop, rock 'n' roll, R&B or funk from the late '50s onward without encountering the influence of Toussaint--composer, producer, arranger, pianist, singer, sideman and 1998 Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame inductee.
Weekly Alibi |
Mel Minter |
07-22-2008 |
Music
A Chat with Wynton Marsalisnew
Over the years, music director, trumpeter and gentleman Wynton Marsalis has maneuvered several smaller craft—a quartet, a quintet and a septet—through jazz waters. Currently, he’s docking a quindectet.
Weekly Alibi |
Mel Minter |
02-05-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Greg Ruggiero’s 'Balance'new
Warm and liquid, the music of jazz guitarist Greg Ruggiero slides into the ear so easily, you don’t notice until it’s already had its way with you.
Weekly Alibi |
Mel Minter |
12-18-2007 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Balance, Greg Ruggiero
Dafnis Prieto's Quintet Mixes Jazz, Latin and Classical Texturesnew
Alongside the equipment commonly found in a jazz drum kit -- toms, snare, kick drum, wood blocks, high hat, cymbals -- Cuban-born drummer/composer Prieto mounts an unorthodox percussive instrument: a frying pan.
Weekly Alibi |
Mel Minter |
11-06-2007 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Absolute Quintet, Dafnis Prieto
Luciana Souza Gets Personalnew
Every so often, the right song meets the right singer at the right time, producing a transcendent performance that marries them forever. Souza found it with Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Waters of March."
Weekly Alibi |
Mel Minter |
10-30-2007 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Luciana Souza, The New Bossa Nova
Hillary Smith Quartet Brings Standards and More to the Outpostnew
In-demand vocalist emphasizes her jazzy self with new group.
Weekly Alibi |
Mel Minter |
04-10-2007 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Hillary Smith Quartet
