Cover
Esperanza Spalding
In Full Orbit
By Dan Ouellette
Esperanza Spalding buoys with moxie-plus, high-octane ebullience, spirited determination and respectful humility in the face of the monumental jazz legacy that she’s tapping to inform her next steps. Her recent ascent has been meteoric, based on the small but substantive body of work she’s developed so far and her buzz-worthy marquee performances. Even so, the rising-star bassist/vocalist is in no danger of becoming a meteorite. Instead, she’s in full orbit with her own solo endeavors as well as playing co-starring roles in bands led by Joe Lovano and McCoy Tyner.
Features
Danilo Pérez
Code Of Adventure
By Ted Panken
The globe-trotting pianist stresses the importance of preparing for the unknown and letting “providencia” take place.
Al Di Meola
Worldwide Seduction
By Ken Micallef
With his World Sinfonia ensemble, guitarist Di Meola has integrated a wide palette of world music influences, from Africa to Argentina, into his basic template of Latin rhythms, complex arrangements and largely acoustic instrumentation.
Artie Shaw
Begin The Beguine
By Tom Nolan
An excerpt from the book Three Chords For Beauty’s Sake: The Life Of Artie Shaw (W.W. Norton & Co.) reveals the Swing Era clarinetist at a critical point in his controversial career. Shaw would have turned 100 this year.
Billy Childs
Timbres In Motion
By Kirk Silsbee
The pianist and composer’s innovative Chamber Jazz Ensemble takes the jazz-meets-classical format to a new summit.
Players
Aaron Goldberg
Georgia Anne Muldrow
Stanton Moore
Joel Forrester
Blindfold Test
Trumpeter Steven Bernstein was tested on the following tracks for the “Blindfold Test”:
- Wynton Marsalis: “School Boy” from He And She (Blue Note)
- Wallace Roney: “Miles Run The Voodoo Down” from Miles In India (Times Square)
- Terence Blanchard: “Levee” from A Tale Of God’s Will (A Requiem For Katrina) (Blue Note)
- Art Ensemble Of Chicago: “Malachi” from Non-Cognitive Aspects Of The City: Live At Iridium (Pi)
- John Zorn: “Ash-nah” from Masada: 50th Anniversary, #7 (Tzadik)
Also In This Issue
Indie Spotlight, Creative Music Studio Archival Selections, Nikki Yanofsky, Bill Dixon Remembered, European Scene, New York CareFusion Jazz Festival Caught, Clean Feed Festival Caught, Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey Caught, Mat Marucci Master Class, Clifford Brown Solo Transcription, Hacettepe University Jazz Degree Program, Dozens of CD Reviews, Product Reviews and much more!