News & Updates — jazz

Happy birthday shout to one of the unsung tenor men of the second wave of US free jazz, "Freedom" Frank Lowe. His lyricism was not limited to the avant-garde as he cut some great, swinging records that touched upon free, post-bop, R&B and other influences. Memphis born and reared, he took lessons from Stax Records' saxophonist Packy Axton, as well as working in the label's record shop and studio. After school he moved to San Francisco for further studies with Bert Wilson and Sonny Simmons. Some encouragement from Ornette Coleman persuaded Lowe to move to NYC in the late '60s...

An underrated name in Latin jazz, Bronx-raised Bobby Paunetto (born to an Italian father and Spanish-speaking mother) only made a few recordings before Multiple Sclerosis disabled him around '79. He was a vibraphonist, heavily influenced by Cal Tjader, who started playing in 1961. After a military stint, he attended Berklee School of Music in Massachusetts, studying with Gary Burton. He played with Clare Fischer, Tito Puente, Buddy Rich, Mongo Santamaria, Armando Peraza, both the Palmieri brothers and his idol Tjader, who wrote "Paunetto's Point" in his honor. Bobby made recordings for Seeco, Roulette, Mardi Gras and his own Pathfinder label,...

Has anybody ever said a bad thing about Eric Dolphy? One of the most respected jazz artists, even if he is not exactly a household name to casual jazz fans, any serious jazz head loves him, as well as every single musician that ever came into contact with him. He was known to give his last dollar to struggling musicians in gestures of kindness and compassion. He even gave so much to the groups he worked in that his own career as a leader was woefully brief. He was an amazing composer, improviser, alto saxophonist, flautist and pioneered the use...

The great Kaw/Creek saxophonist Jim Pepper was born today in 1941. His career covered jazz, pop, R&B, psychedelic rock and indigenous music and he is best known to '60s pop music fans as the composer of "Witchi-Tai-To". He also played clarinet, flute, sang and tap-danced. Pepper grew up in Portland OR and his first band of note was the Free Spirits, a mid-'60s NYC-based group that was one of the very earliest to explicitly fuse rock and jazz. The group also had Larry Coryell, Bob Moses & Chris Hills as members. They made a killer album in 1967 for ABC...

A huge talent lost much too early, Angá was an ace Cuban percussionist who employed an army of congas, as well as timbales and other percussion instruments. A lifelong follower of Santería, he was born in Pinar del Rió, Cuba, to a musical family. He played professionally with jazz group Opus 13 while studying college before joining the greatest Cuban group of all time, Irakere, in 1987. He's worked with Buena Vista Social Club (and member projects), hiphop group Orishas, trumpeter Roy Hargrove, Afro-Cuban legend Tata Güines, progressive jazz pianist Omar Sosa, Malian jeli musician Baba Sissoko, avant-jazz/M-Base saxophonist Steve...