Marian McPartland has become famous for hosting her Piano Jazz radio program since 1978, but she was a well-respected pianist decades before. She played in a four-piano vaudeville act in England and performed on the European continent for the troops during World War II. In Belgium in 1944, she met cornetist Jimmy McPartland and they soon... [+] Read More

Marian McPartland has become famous for hosting her Piano Jazz radio program since 1978, but she was a well-respected pianist decades before. She played in a four-piano vaudeville act in England and performed on the European continent for the troops during World War II. In Belgium in 1944, she met cornetist Jimmy McPartland and they soon married. Marian moved with her husband to the United States in 1946, where she sometimes played with him even though her style was more modern than his Dixieland-oriented groups. McPartland eventually had her own trio at the Embers (1950) and the Hickory House (1952-1960), which until 1957 included drummer Joe Morello. She recorded regularly for Savoy and Capitol during the 1950s and also made sessions for Argo (1958), Time (1960 and 1963), Sesac, and Dot. Although eventually divorced from Jimmy, they remained close friends, sometimes played together, and even remarried just weeks before his death. She formed her own Halycon label and recorded several fine albums between 1969-1977. McPartland also made three albums for Tony Bennett's Improv label during 1976-1977 before signing with Concord, where she has been since 1978. The Jazz Alliance label has made available over 30 CD's worth of material from Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz show, some of which are quite fascinating and significant. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide [-] Hide

Although they came out with a CD in 1993 under the title of "M-Base Collective," this particular "band" was always a loose grouping of like-minded musicians intent in finding a new way to improvise. M-Base (which stands for Macro-Basic Array of Structured Extemporizations) utilizes funky (but surprisingly unpredictable) rhythms, unusual interval... [+] Read More

Although they came out with a CD in 1993 under the title of "M-Base Collective," this particular "band" was always a loose grouping of like-minded musicians intent in finding a new way to improvise. M-Base (which stands for Macro-Basic Array of Structured Extemporizations) utilizes funky (but surprisingly unpredictable) rhythms, unusual interval jumps in the solos and a nonmelodic approach. M-Base originated out of a musicians referral service that served as a job bank for jazz players. The original players of the style were altoists Steve Coleman and Greg Osby, trumpeter Graham Haynes, guitarist David Gilmore, electric bassist Kevin Bruce Harris, drummer Marvin "Smitty" Smith and singer Cassandra Wilson among others; later practioners included tenor-saxophonist Gary Thomas, bassist Lonnie Plaxico, pianists James Weidman and Andy Milne and electric bassist Reggie Washington. The musicians often used each other on club dates and recording sessions and in particular the groups of Coleman (the Five Elements) and Osby helped spread the principles of M-Base. In time the players split apart with Wilson finding fame, drummer Smith playing a wide variety of music and Osby often appearing as a sideman. However in the improvising of Coleman, Osby and Thomas, the unusual M-Base style (which in some ways is an extension of the music of Ornette Coleman's Prime Time) lives on. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide [-] Hide

As with altoists Steve Coleman and Greg Osby, Gary Thomas has developed his own fresh approach to improvisation, avoiding bop clichés and taking solos that are consistently full of surprising twists and turns. Lots of chances are taken and, even if not everything works (the use of rap on one of his JMT albums is unfortunate), Gary Thomas' music... [+] Read More

As with altoists Steve Coleman and Greg Osby, Gary Thomas has developed his own fresh approach to improvisation, avoiding bop clichés and taking solos that are consistently full of surprising twists and turns. Lots of chances are taken and, even if not everything works (the use of rap on one of his JMT albums is unfortunate), Gary Thomas' music would never be called predictable. In the late '80s, Thomas gigged with both Miles Davis and Jack DeJohnette's Special Edition. He has also recorded frequently with Greg Osby, Michele Rosewoman, and Wallace Roney, in addition to leading his own sessions. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide [-] Hide

M-Base founder, composer, and alto saxophonist Steve Coleman hails from Chicago. His earliest years were spent playing in R&B and funk bands in emulation of his first hero, Maceo Parker. Coleman had heard all the greats in his hometown and changed his focus from R&B to jazz precipitating his move to New York. He gigged with the Thad Jones-Mel... [+] Read More

M-Base founder, composer, and alto saxophonist Steve Coleman hails from Chicago. His earliest years were spent playing in R&B and funk bands in emulation of his first hero, Maceo Parker. Coleman had heard all the greats in his hometown and changed his focus from R&B to jazz precipitating his move to New York. He gigged with the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis big band, followed by Sam Rivers' All-Star Orchestra and, eventually, Cecil Taylor's big-band project. He began working with other leaders as well: David Murray, Abbey Lincoln, Michael Brecker. But Coleman was restless; he began listening to other music, particularly that of West Africa (he later traveled to Ghana to study). His music evolved and he continued to play side gigs, honing his sound and compositions -- he has a totally original alto tone -- by playing in the street. Coleman's first band, the Five Elements, would be formed of street cats, including Graham Haynes. The band came up with the M-Base concept in 1985 ("macro-basic array of spontaneous extemporization") and signed with the European JMT label. Others in the M-Base crew include Gary Thomas, Geri Allen, Greg Osby, Robin Eubanks, and Cassandra Wilson. Coleman developed complex musical theories about integrating the rhythms of funk, soul, world music, and jazz. He eventually signed with BMG and started three other bands, Mystic Rhythm Society, Metrics, and Council of Balance. He was also a member of Dave Holland's quartet for a time and has continued to play and record with his three groups as well as other artists, both M-Base and not. In addition to issuing over 20 records under his own name, he is a sought-after producer. Steve Coleman is a renaissance man for the left wing of jazz. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide [-] Hide

Although her recording career has been somewhat erratic, Cassandra Wilson became one of the top jazz singers of the '90s, a vocalist blessed with a distinctive and flexible voice who is not afraid to take chances. She began playing piano and guitar when she was nine and was working as a vocalist by the mid-'70s, singing a wide variety of... [+] Read More

Although her recording career has been somewhat erratic, Cassandra Wilson became one of the top jazz singers of the '90s, a vocalist blessed with a distinctive and flexible voice who is not afraid to take chances. She began playing piano and guitar when she was nine and was working as a vocalist by the mid-'70s, singing a wide variety of material. Following a year in New Orleans, Wilson moved to New York in 1982 and began working with Dave Holland and Abbey Lincoln. After meeting Steve Coleman, she became the main vocalist with the M-Base Collective. Although there was really no room for a singer in the overcrowded free funk ensembles, Wilson did as good a job of fitting in as was possible. She worked with New Air and recorded her first album as a leader in 1985. By her third record, a standards date, she was sounding quite a bit like Betty Carter.

After a few more albums in which she mostly performed original and rather inferior material, Cassandra Wilson changed directions and performed an acoustic blues-oriented program for Blue Note called Blue Light 'Til Dawn. By going back in time, she had found herself, and Wilson has continued interpreting in fresh and creative ways vintage country blues and folk music up until the present day. During 1997 she toured as part of Wynton Marsalis' Blood on the Fields production. Traveling Miles, her tribute to Miles Davis, followed two years later. For 2002's Belly of the Sun, she drew on an array of roots musics -- blues, country, soul, rock -- to fashion a record that furthered her artistic career while still aligning well with trends in popular music. Glamoured, released in 2003, posed a different kind of challenge; half the material was composed by Wilson herself. Unwilling to stand still, Wilson gently explored sampling and other hip-hop techniques for 2006's Thunderbird. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide [-] Hide

The struggle is apparent on saxophonist and composer Gary Thomas' 1991 album, The Kold Cage, reissued in 2004 as part of label auteur Stefan Winter's remastering of his JMT label titles. Thomas is a consummate tenor man and flutist. His frustration with what had become standard jazz discourse in light of the new, influential (very narrow-minded)... [+] Read More

The struggle is apparent on saxophonist and composer Gary Thomas' 1991 album, The Kold Cage, reissued in 2004 as part of label auteur Stefan Winter's remastering of his JMT label titles. Thomas is a consummate tenor man and flutist. His frustration with what had become standard jazz discourse in light of the new, influential (very narrow-minded) traditionalism ushered in a decade earlier by Wynton Marsalis and cultural conservative Stanley Crouch is obvious here. Thomas employs everything from turntables to electric guitars, synthesizers, and even rap to combat the stasis, while remaining a jazz player. From his knotty forceful compositions "Threshold" and "Gate of Faces," which open the album, Thomas engages extrapolated notions of jazz harmonics and contrapuntal considerations while relying heavily on electronic keyboard textures, and electric guitars (courtesy of Kevin Eubanks and Paul Bollenback) to stretch the margin of that engagement. But on "Intellect," the tension cracks and splinters. Here Thomas' flute and saxophone are shored up by pianist Mulgrew Miller's funky modal statements while rapper Joe Wesson pops along the synth basslines and indicts everything around him in old-school Sugarhill style -- likewise on "Infernal Machine," where Michael Caine's synths paint an off-kilter basis for baseline rhythms to underscore and jump off of. Wesson's tough street rap about faltering neighborhoods, dope, and the strength of the "black mind" introduces a chillingly futuristic series of overdubbed horn lines in the gaps. And on it goes for the rest of the hour, feinting and darting before active confrontation with the myth and magic of jazz in an attempt to make it speak outside of its historical truth and into the current cultural one. It's an exhausting but compelling and rewarding listen. It messes with those classicists in a big way by sitting on their shoes while, at the same time, pulling the tradition into the current vernacular for its validation and assertion as popular music. Far from academic, this is fire-breathing music, one that forces not only confrontation but, from any open-minded music listener, a reexamination of the jazz terrain as a once, present, and future music. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide [-] Hide

This CD features many of the top players of the so-called "M-Base" idiom, a loose style of music related to the free funk of Ornette Coleman's Prime Time but making a greater use of space and uncrowded ensembles. The funky rhythms are unpredictable and creative while the highly original horn solos of altoists Steve Coleman and Greg Osby have... [+] Read More

This CD features many of the top players of the so-called "M-Base" idiom, a loose style of music related to the free funk of Ornette Coleman's Prime Time but making a greater use of space and uncrowded ensembles. The funky rhythms are unpredictable and creative while the highly original horn solos of altoists Steve Coleman and Greg Osby have developed beyond bebop and have their own inscrutable logic. The weak points to this often-abrasive music are the lack of memorable melodies and the difficulty in finding a role for Cassandra Wilson's voice. But in general this stimulating and fresh style offers jazz improvisers another choice besides revival hard bop and instrumental pop and is recommended to open-eared listeners. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide [-] Hide

Greg Osby, who has recorded in a variety of settings (sometimes using hip-hop rhythms and rap), sticks to acoustic jazz on this relaxed, dry and often melancholy set, performing seven originals and two standards. In addition to the basic quartet/quintet (which sometimes utilizes the vibes of Bryant Carrott), five other musicians (most notably... [+] Read More

Greg Osby, who has recorded in a variety of settings (sometimes using hip-hop rhythms and rap), sticks to acoustic jazz on this relaxed, dry and often melancholy set, performing seven originals and two standards. In addition to the basic quartet/quintet (which sometimes utilizes the vibes of Bryant Carrott), five other musicians (most notably the acoustic guitar of Marvin Sewell) add color to some of the ensembles. Osby (who also plays some fine soprano in a sound derived from Wayne Shorter) has long had a very original improvising style, and his subtle solos on the date are continually interesting, although pianist James Williams (in top form) sometimes steals honors. None of the originals have particularly memorable melodies, but this CD acts as a good introduction to Greg Osby's playing. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide [-] Hide

Genesis & the Opening of the Way is an ambitious effort from Steve Coleman, a double-disc concept album that was recorded by two separate bands: the Council of Balance and Five Elements. The Council of Balance was the large group, featuring a full horn section, guitar, bass, cello, violin, vello, aiola and percussion; the Five Elements is a... [+] Read More

Genesis & the Opening of the Way is an ambitious effort from Steve Coleman, a double-disc concept album that was recorded by two separate bands: the Council of Balance and Five Elements. The Council of Balance was the large group, featuring a full horn section, guitar, bass, cello, violin, vello, aiola and percussion; the Five Elements is a small group featuring alto saxophonist Steve Coleman, pianist Andy Milne, electric bassist David Dyson, guitarist David Gilmore, acoustic bassist Reggie Washington, percussionist Miguel "Anga" Diaz Zayas and drummer Sean Rickman. Both albums are distinctive, but share certain elements -- namely adventurous, unpredictable compositions that fuse worldbeat, new age, funk, fusion and post-bop in new, creative ways. It's a little hard to get through both albums in one sitting, but moments of each disc rank among Coleman's most inspired work. ~ Leo Stanley, All Music Guide [-] Hide

Cassandra Wilson has steadfastly refused to be pigeonholed or confined to any stylistic formula. Her highly anticipated Blue Note debut may stir renewed controversy, as she is once again all over the place. She begins the set with her intriguing version of "You Don't Know What Love Is." Then she moves from two Robert Johnson covers ("Come on in... [+] Read More

Cassandra Wilson has steadfastly refused to be pigeonholed or confined to any stylistic formula. Her highly anticipated Blue Note debut may stir renewed controversy, as she is once again all over the place. She begins the set with her intriguing version of "You Don't Know What Love Is." Then she moves from two Robert Johnson covers ("Come on in My Kitchen" and "Hellhound on My Trail") through rock compositions from Van Morrison and Joni Mitchell, her own title track, blues cut "Redbone," and a piercing version of "I Can't Stand the Rain" that can hold up to comparisons with Ann Peebles' classic. She doesn't have Johnson's menacing quality (who does?), but does invoke an equally compelling air. Wilson has great timing, pacing, and delivery, and certainly has blues sensibility in her sound. ~ Ron Wynn, All Music Guide [-] Hide