Great Live Moments - Abbey Lincoln

April 8, 2008. Posted by Joshua Jackson.

Add new comment | Filed under: aaron walker, abbey lincoln, anna marie, bassist, carmen, diva, drummer, gaby, Iridium, Jazz Alive, lincoln, Listening Post, Live Music, marc cary, max roach, moseka, pianist, poet laureate, professional names, proof, singers, vulnerabilities, wbgo

Abbey Lincoln is proof that a rose by any other name smells as sweet. The reigning diva of jazz has had more than a few names over the years. She was born Anna Marie Wooldridge. Her earliest professional names include Gaby Wooldridge and Gaby Lee. For eight years, she was legally Mrs. Max Roach. The cultural minister of Zaire bestowed the name Aminata Moseka.
Abbey Lincoln has certainly earned the right of the great singers in our music, those who need only one name. Billie. Sarah. Ella. Carmen. Betty. Abbey.
For decades, Ms. Lincoln has also been the poet laureate of jazz. Her songs have expressed the essential components of a life unfolding, the sum of our strengths and vulnerabilities. That which makes us human. What's right and what's wrong with us. What we have done. What we can do better.
WBGO recorded Abbey Lincoln at Iridium in New York, October 1996. Marc Cary is the pianist, Michael Bowie the bassist, Aaron Walker the drummer.

Listen to Abbey Lincoln sing "Bird Alone," from the WBGO Archives.
-Josh

© 2008 WBGO

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Great Live Moments - Harold Mabern

April 7, 2008. Posted by Joshua Jackson.

Add new comment | Filed under: ahmad jamal, american museum of natural history, bassist, citicorp center, dizzy gillespie, drummer, gant, george coleman, gil fuller, harold mabern, heyday, history check, jamil nasser, Jazz Alive, Listening Post, Live Music, memphis native, museum of natural history, pianist, quartet, ray brown, veteran, wbgo

It's a Memphis Monday, courtesy of Harold Mabern. WBGO has recorded pianist Harold Mabern as a member of George Coleman's quartet. We've also recorded Mabern's own quartet at American Museum of Natural History.
Check out this version of Harold Mabern's trio, recorded in 1984 at Citicorp Center in New York. Bassist Jamil Nasser (like Mabern, a Memphis native) and drummer Frank Gant, two veteran trio performers (check out those Ahmad Jamal records!) make the trio. They play "Ray's Idea," a song composed by bassist Ray Brown and Walter "Gil" Fuller during the heyday of Dizzy Gillespie's big band.
-Josh

© 2008 WBGO

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Great Live Moments - Michel Camilo

April 4, 2008. Posted by Joshua Jackson.

Add new comment | Filed under: april 24, art tatum, bassist, Birthdays, drummer, happy birthday, Iridium, jazz blog, jazz record, latin heat, lincoln, lincoln goines, Listening Post, Live Music, michel camilo, native dominican republic, night in tunisia, pianist, piano trio, tea, trio sound, wbgo, wbgo blog

Happy birthday today to pianist Michel Camilo.
WBGO recorded Michel's trio at Iridium on April 24, 1997.
Michel Camilo, Bassist Lincoln Goines and drummer Cliff Almond had a killer piano trio sound. Listen to "A Night in Tunisia" from the WBGO Archives.

And do you know what inspired Michel Camilo to play jazz? Hearing Art Tatum play "Tea for Two." When Camilo was 14, he heard that jazz record in his native Dominican Republic. Since you cannot see Art Tatum magic on a record, and you can no longer see him play, you'll have to check out this re-performance of "Tea For Two."
-Josh

© 2008 WBGO

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