Tag Archives: Down Beat

Gil Evans: The Answer to All Musical Problems

Posted on July 31, 2017 by

SKF NOTE: This weekend I re-read Gil Evans‘s 5/20/76 interview with Down Beat contributor Arnold Jay Smith, on the cusp of synthesizers’ broad use in jazz and other musics. Evans, creator of unique, acoustic sounds, was an early proponent of … Continue reading →

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Cherishing Morello’s Three-Star Album

Posted on June 29, 2017 by

SKF NOTE: Having once owned — and listened many times — to Joe Morello‘s Another Step Forward album, I think Jim Szantor’s 1970 review is fair. What is impossible to write about with accuracy is how Joe Morello sounds on … Continue reading →

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Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys Fillmore East Concert Review (1970)

Posted on June 13, 2017 by

SKF NOTE: I was barely sixteen years old when the first Jimi Hendrix Experience album was released. Jimi Hendrix on guitar/vocals, Mitch Mitchell on drums, and Noel Redding on bass. Theirs was such a great unique sound that stretched across … Continue reading →

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Buddy Rich Taking Care to Be Even More Precise (1978)

Posted on May 13, 2017 by

SKF NOTE: A March 28, 1978 Down Beat news item capturing one reporter’s eyewitness (and earwitness) account of Buddy Rich and his band at NYC’s The Bottom Line. Buddy packed the place with “patrons…young and old, …mostly drummers. “And Rich … Continue reading →

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Ed Shaughnessy Launches ‘Energy Force’ Big Band

Posted on May 1, 2017 by

SKF NOTE: An pre-internet example of how drummers kept up with news of our favorite players. This December 19, 1974 Down Beat magazine release about Ed Shaughnessy‘s “new 17-piece ensemble” Energy Force has a photo of Mr. Shaughnessy worth studying. … Continue reading →

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Ed Shaughnessy and Rogers Drums (1970)

Posted on April 15, 2017 by

SKF NOTE: Ed Shaughnessy was a role model for drummers aspiring to be all-around professional drummers. I always studied Ed with The Tonight Show band, and I even found two old jazz albums with Ed on drums when such albums were … Continue reading →

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Tony Williams: ‘The Joy Of Flying’ Four-Star Review

Posted on March 21, 2017 by

SKF: A piece of historical perspective this morning. Down Beat‘s 1979 four star review of Tony Williams’s The Joy of Flying album.

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