John White, Author at Jazz Journal

Nightmare In The Pacific: The World War II Saga Of Artie Shaw And His Navy Band

John White — Thu, 08 May 2025 12:13:46 +0000

Michael Doyle’s title is striking but also misleading. Ostensibly about the adventures (and misadventures) of Artie Shaw’s Navy Band 501, popularly known as Shaw’s Rangers, which saw active service in the South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand, it adds little to the putative title. Curiously, Shaw devotes only a few pages to his wartime musical […]

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Reviewed: Webster Young | Classic Vanguard Jazz Piano Sessions | Cannonball Adderley

John White — Thu, 08 May 2025 11:32:07 +0000

Webster Young: A Quiet Legend Live In Saint Louis 1961 (Fresh Sound FSR-CD 1158) Conspicuously absent from the reference books, the intriguingly named trumpeter and cornetist Webster Young (1932-2003), was born in South Carolina and raised by his mother in Washington, D.C. His first influence was Louis Armstrong, after seeing him perform in the all-black […]

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Reviewed: Bill Evans | Scott Hamilton | Art Pepper | Lluis Coloma & ‘Blue Lou’ Marini

John White — Fri, 18 Apr 2025 19:14:35 +0000

Bill Evans: Further Ahead, Live in Finland 1964-1969 (Elemental Records 5990451) This Bill Evans treasure chest is yet another “discovery/recovery” by the indefatigable Zev Feldman and his colleagues. These “lost” recordings were made during Evans’ Scandinavian tours in the 1960s. There are performances in Helsinki in 1964 with bassist Chuck Israels (who replaced the deceased […]

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Reviewed: Renee Rosnes | Doug MacDonald | Mon David DNA

John White — Mon, 10 Mar 2025 19:19:07 +0000

Renee Rosnes: Crossing Paths (Smoke Session Records SSR-2408) Canadian-born composer and pianist Renee Rosnes is widely respected for a series of small-group albums she made for Blue Note in the 1990s, including Ancestors, As We Are Now and Art & Soul. Her talented cohorts have included Nicholas Payton (t), Jack DeJohnette (d) and Christian McBride […]

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Reviewed: Louis Armstrong-Dave Brubeck | Miles Davis | B.B. King | Cliff Korman

John White — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 14:03:05 +0000

Louis Armstrong-Dave Brubeck: The Real Ambassadors (Jazz Wax Records JWR 4640) When this 1961 LP was reviewed in Jazz Journal in 1963 by then editor Sinclair Traill he was distinctly underwhelmed, judging it “a bit of a drag”. Although commending Dave and Iola Brubeck for their musical foray into jazz diplomacy, Sinclair felt that “the […]

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Reviewed: Richard Elliot | Grant Green | Oscar Peterson | Righteous Rooster

John White — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 20:36:12 +0000

Richard Elliot: Straight Up Down (Shanachie 5516) This is the 21st album by “smooth jazz artist” tenor and soprano saxophonist Richard Elliott, born in Scotland but raised in Los Angeles. As a teenager, he performed with Natalie Cole and the Pointer Sisters and in the 1970s with Smokey Robinson, The Temptations and the Four Tops. […]

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Obituary: Martial Solal

John White — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Born in Algiers to Algerian Jewish parents, Martial Solal was encouraged in music from an early age by his mother, an amateur opera singer. Largely self-educated, he was expelled from school by the Vichy regime in 1942 because of his Jewish ancestry but after studying classical music in school, and encouraged by a local bandleader, […]

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Reviewed: Classic V-Disc Small Group Jazz Sessions | Chet Baker | Kenny Barron & Buster Williams | Tina Brooks | Al Jarreau & NDR Bigband

John White — Fri, 06 Dec 2024 14:02:36 +0000

Various: Classic V-Disc Small Group Jazz Sessions (Mosaic MD11-279) This 11-CD set is a collection of 1943-1949 swing-era and early bop recordings originally made exclusively for the US armed forces during World War II. It consists of 220 tracks, nine of which have never previously been released, taken from the original V-Discs, air checks and […]

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Reviewed: Billie Holiday | Sarah Vaughan | Dinah Washington | Jimmy Smith

John White — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 17:37:37 +0000

Billie Holiday: Solitude Songs By Billie Holiday (Number One Essentials LP 291009) The ever-alert Norman Granz took over Billie’s (faltering) career in the 1940s, and featured her extensively in his early JATP concerts. This studio recording from 1952 (her first for Granz) set the pattern for her subsequent studio and “live” sessions for Verve. Solitude […]

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The Jazz Omnibus: 21st Century Photos And Writings

John White — Mon, 18 Nov 2024 17:37:47 +0000

Edited by David Adler – who contributes a piece of “self-confessed shameless promotion” in a prolix introduction to this massive compendium states “I’m proud of my two published books (Miles Ornette Cecil – Jazz Beyond Jazz and Future Jazz) and my unpublished ones.” The Jazz Omnibus is published and available in all formats at Amazon.com […]

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