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It’s a shame when life gets in the way of your blogging. This has been the case with me ever since the holidays, but I’ll be back soon with some projects and interesting ideas to share.

In the meantime, I highly recommend listening to 23 Standards by Anthony Braxton. The entire album is amazing, but as a guitarist I was immediately impressed with the performance of Kevin O’Neil. His sense of timing and phrasing is completely original, entirely different from the funk sensibilities of my old favorites such as Grant Green or Melvin Sparks. Rather than constraining his improvisations to the “in the pocket” feel that most guitar players stick to, he manages to push, pull, and destroy the groove more like an avant-guard tenor sax player.

He also shreds with incredible speed and persistence throughout the entire range of the guitar. I have this image in my mind of him having to buy a new guitar every few years or so after wearing down the fretboard on the one he currently owns. It’s probably not true, but his playing sounds that sick.

Give it a listen until you hear from me next. You won’t be disappointed.

Tags: anthony braxton, Grant Green, guitar, Jazz, kevin o'neil, melvin sparks, standards

Recently I sat down to do something I haven’t done in a long time. Make a MixTape for a friend. After hearing No Room For Squares by Hank Mobley, my friend admitted that she was much more knowledgeable on the subject of vocal jazz as opposed to instrumental jazz. So, I offered to make her a MixTape of some songs that she might like.

These are the tracks that I decided on. By no means is this a list of tracks I feel to be the most important or most influential in the jazz genre, but rather a compilation of tracks that I enjoy or find unique for a particular reason. Please feel free to leave comments on any of the tracks that I mention, or ones that you feel should have been included.

The Real McBop Live at the Blue Note by Arturo Sandoval

• Recorded June 10-11, 2004 at the Blue Note, NY
  Arturo Sandoval (Trumpet)
  Dennis Marks (Bass)
  Felipe Lamoglia (Saxophone)
  Rene Toledo (Guitar)
  Tomas Cruz (Percussion)
  Alexis Arce (Drums)
  Phil Magallanes (Piano)

This album includes a DVD of the performance as well as the CD version. Well worth the money, especially since halfway through the performance Arturo plays an imaginary Acoustic Bass and does some extended vocal solos that are better appreciated seen than just heard. The DVD also includes some interviews with Arturo Sandoval as an added bonus. The opening track, The Real McBop, is a fast Bebop tune pushed along by Afro-Cuban rhythms. I love this sound, and clearly nobody is doing it better these days than Arturo Sandoval.

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Tags: album reviews, Alice Coletrane, Arturo Sandoval, Charles Mingus, Elvin Jones, Grant Green, Horace Silver, Irakere, Jazz, jazz music, Joey DeFrancesco, KCSM, Larry Young, MixTape, music reviews, Woody Shaw, yusef lateef