Post-bop jazz has produced only a few first-rate composers of larger forms; Carla Bley ranks high amongst them. Bley possesses an unusually wide compositional range; she combines an acquaintance with and love for jazz in all its forms with great talent and originality. Her music is a peculiarly individual type of hyper-modern jazz. Bley is... [+] Read More

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Elliott Sharp began playing the piano at six. According to Sharp, he was performing concerts by age eight. Sharp claims that his parents wanted him to be both a concert pianist and a scientist. He gave up piano, first in favor of the clarinet and then the guitar. His interest in science led him to build his own effects boxes for the instrument.... [+] Read More

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A virtual reincarnation of Ornette Coleman's first ensembles, the cooperative Old and New Dreams brought together trumpeter Don Cherry, tenor saxophonist Dewey Redman, bassist Charlie Haden, and drummer Ed Blackwell to reinterpret the master's early repertoire. By the time their first album was released in 1978, ECM's Old and New Dreams, all... [+] Read More

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Initially conceived as entertainment for a downtown New York art community (which, at the time, was knee-deep in no wave), the Lounge Lizards spent more than a decade with various lineups playing so-called fake jazz with pop and avant-garde rock tendencies. The band's initial incarnation was led by saxophonist John Lurie, with brother Evan on... [+] Read More

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A jazz/rock group consisting of guitar, bass, drums, keys, and some sax, their songs are average from a musical standpoint. The highlight here is on the guitarist, Dudley Brooks, who possesses a high level of musicality. ~ Paul Kohler, All Music Guide

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Probably the first of several saxophone-only ensembles who proliferated in jazz after 1975, the WSQ is unquestionably the most commercially (and, arguably, the most creatively) successful. Of course, commercial success is a relative thing in jazz, especially when one is speaking of an avant-garde group. But unlike most free jazz artists, the WSQ... [+] Read More

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