|
Traveling The Spaceways
''Traveling the Spaceways'' is an album by trumpeter Ahmed Abdullah. A tribute to his former employer, Sun Ra, it was recorded on February 27, 2004, at Clinton Studios in New York City, and was released later that year by Planet Arts Records. On the album, Abdullah is joined by members of the band known as Dispersions of the Spirit of Ra: saxophonists Salim Washington and Alex Harding, trumpeter Owuor Arunga, trombonist Craig Harris, violinist Billy Bang, guitarist Masujaa (Hugh Riley), vocalists Miles Griffith and Monique Ngozi Nri, bassist Radu Oluwu Ben Judah (Richard Williams), and drummer Cody Moffett. Reception In a review for AllMusic, Alain Drouot wrote: "''Traveling the Spaceways'' is as beautiful an homage to Sun Ra as it gets... The music sways with style, and the voicings are often enthralling... With this remarkable outing, Abdullah outdid himself and achieved remarkable results that should not be overlooked. Back on Saturn, the master can be proud of this tribute." ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ahmed Abdullah
Ahmed Abdullah (born Leroy Bland; May 10, 1946) is an American jazz trumpeter who was a prominent member of Sun Ra's band. Biography He began playing the trumpet at age 13 in his native New York City. One of the first groups he performed with was the Master Brotherhood. By the 1970s, he was performing in New York's loft scene with various groups including the Melodic Art-Tet (Charles Brackeen, Roger Blank and Ronnie Boykins, later William Parker) and joined the Sun Ra Arkestra. Ahmed Abdullah formed his own band in 1972 ,and joined the Sun Ra Arkestra in 1975, working there on and off until 1993, when Sun Ra died. He stayed on with the Arkestra after Sun Ra's demise working under the leadership of John Gilmore and then Marshall Allen. During his time with the Arkestra, Abdullah participated in more than 25 recordings and traveled extensively with Sun Ra.Ahmed Abdullah with Louis Reyes Rivera"Excerpts from A Strange Celestial Road (Traveling the Spaceways)" Ahmedian.com; accessed M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Free Jazz
Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians during this period believed that the bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz that had been played before them was too limiting. They became preoccupied with creating something new and exploring new directions. The term "free jazz" has often been combined with or substituted for the term "avant-garde jazz". Europeans tend to favor the term "free improvisation". Others have used "modern jazz", "creative music", and "art music". The ambiguity of free jazz presents problems of definition. Although it is usually played by small groups or individuals, free jazz big bands have existed. Although musicians and critics claim it is innovative and forward-looking, it draws on early styles of jazz and has been described as an attempt to return to primitive, often re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Planet Arts Records
Planet Arts Records is a Grammy and ASCAP award-winning record label and arts organization. Started by Tom Bellino, they are a not-for-profit 501(c) 3 company dedicated to working with artists, educators, and cultural organizations on the development, production and documentation of culturally important projects related to jazz and art music. Most notably they have produced CDs from the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra which have been nominated for Grammys and won for Best Large Ensemble Album in 2009. Initiatives and recordings The Planet Arts DoAM (Documentation of American Music) initiative focuses on large ensemble projects, documenting important American music compositions of established, mid-career and emerging composers. While independent and large-scale projects are often overlooked by major and independent record labels, the Planet Arts Recordings mission has provided an outlet for artists to document their work. Numerous projects have been recorded under this initiative to inclu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Live At The Vision Festival
''Live at the Vision Festival'' is an album by American jazz saxophonist Jemeel Moondoc, which was recorded live at the 2001 Vision Festival and released on Ayler Records, a Swedish label founded by Jan Ström and Åke Bjurhamn.''Live at the Vision Festival'' at Ayler Records It was the second recording by the Jus Grew Orchestra, a large ensemble founded by Moondoc in the early 80s. Reception The review states "Despite some fine soloing, including a typically joyous flight of fancy from Moondoc himself and several impressive features for tenor saxophonist Zane Massey, it's a relatively no-risk affair, underpinned by a rhythm section that seems at times ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tara's Song
''Tara's Song'' is an album by trumpeter Ahmed Abdullah. It was recorded on May 10, 2004, at Loho Studios in New York City, and was released in 2005 by TUM Records. On the album, Abdullah is joined by members of his band Ebonic Tones: saxophonist Alex Harding, violinist Billy Bang, bassist Alex Blake, and drummer Andrei Strobert. Reception In a review for AllMusic, Scott Yanow wrote: "This is a surprising date, one that rewards repeated listenings." Jeff Stockton of ''All About Jazz'' called the album "marvelous," and described Ebonic Tones as "a supergroup, like when Eric Clapton played with Stevie Winwood in Blind Faith." He stated: "One can only imagine how joyous this band is live." Writing for ''JazzTimes'', Chris Kelsey commented: "Abdullah... is a wonderfully lyrical, spirited improviser and gifted arranger. Remindful of pianist Abdullah Ibrahim's various small groups, this band exudes an authentically joyful intelligence." The authors of ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz Rec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sun Ra
Le Sony'r Ra (born Herman Poole Blount, May 22, 1914 – May 30, 1993), better known as Sun Ra, was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, and poet known for his experimental music, "cosmic" philosophy, prolific output, and theatrical performances. For much of his career, Ra led "The Arkestra", an ensemble with an ever-changing name and flexible line-up. Born and raised in Alabama, Blount became involved in the Chicago jazz scene during the late 1940s. He soon abandoned his birth name, taking the name Le Sony'r Ra, shortened to Sun Ra (after Ra, the Egyptian god of the Sun). Claiming to be an alien from Saturn on a mission to preach peace, he developed a mythical persona and an idiosyncratic credo that made him a pioneer of Afrofuturism. Throughout his life he denied ties to his prior identity saying, "Any name that I use other than Ra is a pseudonym." His widely eclectic and avant-garde music echoed the entire history of jazz, from ragtime and ea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Owuor Arunga
Owuor Arunga is a jazz trumpeter. He was born in Kisumu in Kenya and moved to New York in the early 2000s, where he studied in The New School's Jazz & Contemporary Music Program. Some of the artist he's played amongst or apprenticed with include Charlie Persip, Candido Camero, Billy Bang, The Cadillacs, Robert Glasper, Louis Reyes Rivera, Olu Dara, Jimmy Owens, and Chico Freeman. In 2005 he recorded with Ahmed Abdullah. He was given the nickname of 'The Pied Piper' by his elder musicians. Arunga has also played with Seattle hip hop acts including Macklemore ('' The Heist''), The Physics, and Black Stax. From his origin as a member of the Garfield High School Jazz Band, Owuor has since played around the United States and toured around the world, including Canada, Europe and South Africa. Discography * 2004: Ahmed Abdullah - ''Traveling the Spaceways'' * 2012: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Macklemore & Ryan Lewis are an American hip hop duo from Seattle, Washington, formed in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Craig Harris
Craig S. Harris (born September 10, 1953) is an American jazz trombonist, who started working with Sun Ra in 1976. He also has worked with Abdullah Ibrahim, David Murray, Lester Bowie, Cecil Taylor, Sam Rivers, Muhal Richard Abrams, and Charlie Haden. He has recorded since 1983 as leader for India Navigation, Soul Note and JMT. For the latter he recorded with two groups. The Tailgater's Tales was a quintet with clarinetist Don Byron, trumpeter Eddie Allen, Anthony Cox on double bass, and Pheeroan akLaff on drums. His large ensemble Cold Sweat was a tribute to the music of James Brown. He is a graduate of the music program of State University of New York at Old Westbury, and was influenced by its founder and director Makanda Ken McIntyre. Harris's move to New York City in 1978 established him with trombonists Ray Anderson, Joseph Bowie, and George E. Lewis. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billy Bang
Billy Bang (September 20, 1947 – April 11, 2011), born William Vincent Walker, was an American free jazz violinist and composer. Biography Bang's family moved to New York City's Bronx neighborhood while he was still an infant, and as a child he attended a special school for musicians in nearby Harlem.Hull, Tom.Billy Bang Is in the House, The Village Voice, published October 3, 2005, accessed July 17, 2007. At that school, students were assigned instruments based on their physical size. Bang was fairly small, so he received a violin instead of either of his first choices, the saxophone or the drums. It was around this time that he acquired the nickname of "Billy Bang", derived from a popular cartoon character.Kelsey, Chris. " Billy Bang – Biography, Allmusic, accessed July 17, 2007. Bang studied the violin until he earned a hardship scholarship to the Stockbridge School in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, at which point he abandoned the instrument because the school did not ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the database was first made available on the Internet in 1994. AllMusic is owned by RhythmOne. History AllMusic was launched as ''All Music Guide'' by Michael Erlewine, a "compulsive archivist, noted astrologer, Buddhist scholar and musician". He became interested in using computers for his astrological work in the mid-1970s and founded a software company, Matrix, in 1977. In the early 1990s, as CDs replaced LPs as the dominant format for recorded music, Erlewine purchased what he thought was a CD of early recordings by Little Richard. After buying it he discovered it was a "flaccid latter-day rehash". Frustrated with the labeling, he researched using metadata to create a music guide. In 1990, in Big Rapids, Michigan, he founded ''All Music Guide' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
All About Jazz
''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near You'', about local concerts and events. The Jazz Journalists Association voted ''All About Jazz'' Best Website Covering Jazz for thirteen consecutive years between 2003 and 2015, when the category was retired. In 2015, Ricci said the site received a peak of 1.3 million readers per month in 2007. Another source said that the site has over 500,000 readers around the world. Ricci was born in Philadelphia. He heard classical and jazz from his father's music collection. He played trumpet and went to his first jazz concert when he was eight. With a background in computer programming, he combined his interest in jazz and the internet by creating the ''All About Jazz'' website in 1995. The website publishes reviews, interviews, and articles pe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
JazzTimes
''JazzTimes'' is an American magazine devoted to jazz. Published 10 times a year, it was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1970 by Ira Sabin as the newsletter ''Radio Free Jazz'' to complement his record store. Coverage After a decade of growth in subscriptions, deepening of writer pools, and internationalization, ''Radio Free Jazz'' expanded its focus and, at the suggestion of jazz critic Leonard Feather, changed its name to ''JazzTimes'' in 1980. Sabin's Glenn joined the magazine staff in 1984. In 1990, ''JazzTimes'' incorporated exclusive cover photography and higher quality art and graphic design. The magazine reviews audio and video releases concerts, instruments, music supplies, and books. It also includes a guide to musicians, events, record labels, and music schools. David Fricke, whose writing credits include ''Rolling Stone'', '' Melody Maker'' and ''Mojo'', also contributes to the magazine. Web traffic JazzTimes.com was redesigned in 2019. Among its most popular s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.jpg "Click for more on -> Sun Ra")
