News & Updates — jazz

John Stubblefield was a talented and highly underrated reedsman who sounded great on so many classic records. From segregated Little Rock, he toured with Solomon Burke before settling in Chicago in the late '60s, where he joined up with the AACM. He moved to NYC in the '70s and worked with Mary Lou Williams, Anthony Braxton, Sam Rivers, Tito Puente, Miles Davis, McCoy Tyner, Nat Adderley and a stormy membership in the Charles Mingus band. At one point he was also director of the Jazzmobile. He recorded a few excellent albums under his own name and left the planet in...

Good news! Dave Noonan's new island-jazz ensemble is playing their third ever concert this Saturday at The Root Cellar, our Greenfield MA home base venue. We had the group for their debut concert as part of our Peace & Rhythm Presents weekly series last summer/fall and the results, musically and crowd-wise, have been quite pleasing for the first two shows. This group is a collection of some of the finest musicians in the region and their blend of Ernest Ranglin-inspired jazz, Marvin Gaye-inspired soul and roots reggae is quite a flavorful recipe. This time out they present a special Bob...

Nephew of the great Cachao, bassist for Buena Vista Social Club and an incredible musician on all fronts, Orlando "Cachaíto" López was part of the great López musical family in Cuba, son of composer Orestes López. He came from a lineage of over 30 bassists. He helped create the descarga in the '50s and played in Orquesta Riverside. Cachaíto made one classic self-titled record on World Circuit that mixed Cuban son with funk, descargas with Mingus, dub with jazz. Also hear his work he did on Angá Diaz's album Echu Mingua. Here's a short film shot for his album, produced...

One of my very favorite musicians, Ahmed Abdul-Malik fused North African and Middle Eastern music with jazz beginning in the late 50s. He grew up in musical Bed-Stuy with Randy Weston, Cecil Payne, Bilal Abduraman, Sam Gill and others (and Max Roach was in the neighborhood). He played bass on some great mid-'50's Thelonious Monk records before making his visionary albums Jazz Sahara (1958) and East Meets West (1960), masterly blends of Middle Eastern rhythms and bebop, mixing Arabic percussion, Abdul-Malik's oud and Johnny Griffin flyin' on top. They are essential early "world music" fusions. He continued making great albums...

Roy Eldridge was a great trumpet stylist with the swing bands, who always wanted to up the ante. He was one of the first black men to hold regular position in white orchestras, doing so with Gene Krupa (who has been arrested for defending Eldridge in racist environments), Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman. Consciously trying to play like a saxophonist, he was the Coleman Hawkins of the trumpet and was a huge inspiration to Dizzy Gillespie. He also played with Fletcher Henderson, Billie Holiday and was one of the protesting "Newport Rebels". If confronted, musically or otherwise, he may just...