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Tag: Duke Ellington

Roll Call: January 14, 2022

Published 10 January, 2022 By John Chacona
Roll Call: January 14, 2022Roll Call

I get a lot of music for my consideration, already more than 80 new releases in 2022. Almost all of them are notable for something, and I’d like to give them their due. So, when I’m not previewing live events in Northeast Ohio (like now when there aren’t too many of those), I’ll offer hot takes on the week’s new releases.

For a certain subset of the jazz fandom multiverse, a simple personnel list would be sufficient to arouse intense interest in John Hébert’s “Sounds of Love” (Sunnyside Records).

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Roll Call: 20 August, 2021

Published 21 August, 2021 By John Chacona
Roll Call: 20 August, 2021Roll Call

I get a lot of music for my consideration, more than 350 new releases in 2021. Almost all of them are notable for something, and I’d like to give them their due. So, every week, more or less, I’ll offer hot takes on the releases of the preceding seven days.

 

Pittsburgh-born bassist Leon Lee Dorsey has had a busy 2021. In January he released “Thank You Mr. Mabern,” a trio date  that may well be the late pianist Harold Mabern’s final session. Now comes “Freedom Jazz Dance” on Dorsey’s own Jazz Avenue 1 imprint.

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Edward Kennedy Ellington, April 29, 1899-May 24, 1974

Published 29 April, 2021 By John Chacona
Edward Kennedy Ellington, April 29, 1899-May 24, 1974Duke Ellington Orchestra 1928

Duke Ellington Orchestra 1928

This is the most valuable object I own, a photo of the Duke Ellington Orchestra given by Ellington to my father after one of the three engagements my dad presented in Erie, PA between 1931 and 1933. I can’t tell you how much it means to me that my dad knew Ellington, and that I have touched this object that was once touched by the hand of genius.
Today, on the 122nd anniversary of his birth and every day, Ellington is forever.

 

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Roll Call: September 4, 2020

Published 4 September, 2020 By John Chacona
Roll Call: September 4, 2020

I get a lot of music for my consideration, more than 345 new releases so far this year. Almost all of them are notable for something, and I’d like to give them their due. So every week, I’ll do quick hits on the releases of the preceding seven days. it’s a great writing exercise, and a lot of fun, too.

Trumpeter Michael Sarian was born in Toronto to Armenian parents, grew up in Buenos Aires and has lived in New York since 2012. Yet his sound is closest to lyrical European players such as Enrico Rava, Tomasz Stanko and Kenny Wheeler.

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