Robin Lloyd

Local Latin Jazz Forecast

Robin Lloyd — Thu, 16 May 2013 19:00:00 +0000

Two upcoming not-to-be missed performances of Latin jazz, Seattle-style:

Jazz Caliente salutes 2013 JJA winners

Robin Lloyd — Thu, 02 May 2013 23:55:00 +0000

The Jazz Journalists annual awards for musicians were announced yesterday, May 1.

Jazz Caliente celebrates Latin Jazz winners Luciana Souza (Best Female Vocalists), Bobby Sanabria (Best Percussionist), and Edmar Casteneda (Player of Instruments Rare in Jazz of the Year).

Jazz April Birthday #30: Percy Heath

Robin Lloyd — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 17:18:51 +0000

Best known for his work with the Modern Jazz Quartet for its entire run (1952-1974), Percy Heath had only been playing bass for about four years when he joined the band.

Heath also recorded with most of the leading musicians in modern jazz, including Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman.

Jazz April Birthday #29: Duke Ellington

Robin Lloyd — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 17:46:54 +0000

One of the most influential figures in American music and one of the twentieth century's best known African-American personalities, pianist, composer and bandleader Duke Ellington was, to use one of his signature phrases, "beyond category."

Jazz Caliente celebrates Jazz April, part 2

Robin Lloyd — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 19:00:00 +0000

Jazz April birthday celebrations continue on Jazz Caliente!

Jazz April Birthday: Ella Fitzgerald

Robin Lloyd — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 17:00:00 +0000

The "first lady of song" Ella Fitzgerald was the most popular female jazz singer in the U.S. for more than half a century. In her lifetime, she won 13 Grammy awards and sold more than 40 million albums.

Jazz April Birthday: Joe Henderson

Robin Lloyd — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 17:00:00 +0000

Influenced by Lester Young initially, then by Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane, Joe Henderson created his own unique sound.

Jazz April Birthday: Charles Mingus

Robin Lloyd — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 17:00:00 +0000

Charles Mingus was a virtuoso bass player, accomplished pianist, bandleader and composer. Influenced both by church choirs and Duke Ellington, he studied double bass and composition with classical masters.

Jazz Caliente celebrates Jazz April

Robin Lloyd — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 19:00:00 +0000

We've been celebrating Jazz April (Jazz Appreciation Month + International Jazz Day April 30) by posting birthday remembrances of the legendary jazz artists who were born this month.

Latin Jazz innovators, percussionists and bandleaders are well-represented in April too:

Jazz April Birthday: Buster Williams

Robin Lloyd — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 17:00:00 +0000

Bassist Buster Williams is a living legend of jazz,who has worked with Miles Davis, Count Basie, Herbie Hancock, Art Blakey, Chet Baker, McCoy Tyner, Woody Shaw, Benny Golson, and Kenny Baron, Sarah Vaughan, and Nancy Wilson.

Jazz April Birthday: Herbie Mann

Robin Lloyd — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 17:00:00 +0000

Herbie Mann was among the first jazz musicians to specialize on the flute and was jazz music's preeminent flautist during the 1960s, an early pioneer of the fusion of jazz and world music.

Jazz April Birthday: Bessie Smith

Robin Lloyd — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 17:00:00 +0000

Bessie Smith started out as a street musician in Chattanooga. She was mentored in traveling shows and vaudeville by Ma Rainey.

By the early 1920s she was one of the most popular Blues singers in vaudeville.

Jazz April Birthday: Herbie Hancock

Robin Lloyd — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 17:00:00 +0000

Pianist, bandleader, composer and producer Herbie Hancock has had a career that's lasted five decades and garnered 14 Grammy® Awards.

Cuban guitar master Manuel Galbán's music lives on

Robin Lloyd — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 19:00:00 +0000

Ry Cooder called him a "guitar wizard."

Jon Pareles of The New York Times wrote in 2003: “Mr. Galbán was one of the wonders of Cuban music in the 1960s. His playing pulled together two almost contradictory approaches: the floating reverb of surf guitar and the percussive, snapping sound of the tres, the small guitar that’s a fulcrum between rhythm and melody in Cuban son groups.”

Jazz April Birthday: Joey DeFrancesco

Robin Lloyd — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 17:00:00 +0000

The incredibly talented organist Joey DeFrancesco comes from a musical family, brought up in the rich Philadelphia jazz scene: his grandfather played reeds, his dad Papa John DeFrancesco is a fine jazz organist. Joey went to jazz clubs with his father and learned the piano and the B-3, and by age 6, he was sitting in on his father's gigs.