154 Results for "tommy rockwell"

Tommy Dorsey was world-renowned for two things: his beautiful tone on the trombone and his ability to lead a series of versatile and satisfying big bands, particularly in the 1930s and '40s. His orchestra's repertoire included heated swing instrumentals, romantic vocal ballads,...

In 1957, the greatest year for recorded music including modern jazz, Detroit was a hot spot, a centerpiece to many hometown heroes as well as short-term residents like John Coltrane and Miles Davis. It was here that Trane connected with pianist Tommy Flanagan, subsequently headed for the East...

A Steady Date With Tommy Sands omits his most enduring track, "The Worrying Kind," but otherwise presents an adequate glimpse at the music of this teen idol. The recordings range from teen-oriented novelties ("Ring My Phone") to quasi-big band vocal material. One of the best...

Recorded just ten months after Thelonious Monk's death, pianist Tommy Flanagan's tribute features eight of Monk's compositions plus Flanagan's own "Thelonica." Assisted by bassist George Mraz and drummer Art Taylor, Flanagan does not sound at all like Monk but he...

Pianist Tommy Flanagan's playing seems to be more direct, edited and stronger as he gets older; certainly his reemergence in the mid-'70s as a solo artist produced his strongest work. Giant Steps, was a Feb. '82 tribute to John Coltrane with super backing from bassist George Mraz...

Blind Pig closes out their four-album Tommy Castro association with this adequate collection of his recorded highlights for the San Francisco-based label. Not the best guitar slinger in town, Castro compensates by writing tunes that mix good-time soul, R&B, funk, and oots rock together with...

The first of two volumes (both double LPs) in a 1971 series from RCA Victor, This Is Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra, Vol. 1 provided a response to the many ig-band recreations making the rounds during the late '60s and early '70s. The album presented proof of the Dorsey band's...

When this set was recorded, pianist Tommy Flanagan had spent so much time as Ella Fitzgerald's accompanist (the past seven years, plus two before that) that many jazz followers had forgotten how strong a soloist he was. In a trio with bassist Keter Betts and drummer Bobby Durham on this...

Pianist Tommy Flanagan (in a trio with bassist George Mraz and drummer Al Foster) mostly sticks to lesser-known material (with a few exceptions such as "More than You Know" and

This studio session represents one of Tommy Flanagan's earliest dates as a leader, recorded while he was in Stockholm, Sweden. Bassist Wilbur Little and a young Elvin Jones on drums provide strong support, but the focus is on Flanagan's brilliant piano. The brilliant opener is a potent...

Piano duets have the potential danger of getting overcrowded and a bit incoherent, but neither happens on this rather delightful set. Hank Jones and Tommy Flanagan, two of the four great jazz pianists (along with Barry Harris and Roland Hanna) to emerge from Detroit in the '40s and...

This is a bit of an unusual outing for Phil Woods, as Tommy Flanagan and Red Mitchell are his only musical partners for these 1981 sessions. The lack of drums enables the musicians to take a few extra liberties as they respond to one another. Woods is in top form, engaging his partners in a...

There's a clean San Francisco sheen to Tommy Castro's second album for Blind Pig, and it's not just the glossy production work of Jim Gaines (Santana, Huey Lewis and Stevie Ray Vaughan) that's responsible for it. Castro and his band have long been local favorites of the Bay...

Young guitar slinger Tommy Castro came back with his third Blind Pig album in early 1999, again produced by veteran Jim Gaines (Stevie Ray, Santana, Huey Lewis, etc.), and it's another bid for mainstream lues-rock success. From the opening notes of the kickoff tune, "Lucky in...

Few vocalists were better poised to toast Tommy Dorsey than Jo Stafford, who spent several years in the great bandleader's ranks and took leads or harmonies on several of his biggest hits. Better yet, this 1963 LP includes charts by a pair of the Dorsey band's best arranging acolytes,...

This is a typically flawless trio set from the tasteful and swinging op-based pianist Tommy Flanagan. With the assistance of bassist Keter Betts and drummer Jimmie Smith on this CD reissue, Flanagan plays his original title cut and jazz originals by Thad Jones ("Bird Song"), Tadd...

Though he has shown a mastery and affinity for both electric and acoustic axes, Tommy Emmanuel's Higher Octave debut, Midnight Drive, finds him focusing almost exclusively on warm yet frequently aggressive acoustic melodies, complemented here and there by the raw, plugged-in energy of...

During the late '70s, drummer Ronnie Bedford was the rhythmic leader for the band led by Benny Carter. Bedford also graced recording sessions by numerous other jazz luminaries in the New York area. Bedford left the Big Apple in 1986 for the bucolic surroundings of Wyoming, where he teaches...