Roy Hargrove's Crisol: Grande-Terre

by Chris May
October 21, 2024

Increasingly and with growing momentum, right up until he died at the young age of 55 in 2018, Roy Hargrove was a standard bearer for a new kind of African American jazz. The recipe embraced a variety of styles--jazz, Afro-Cuban music, funk, hip hop and soul--and it influenced a generation of musicians in jazz and beyond. But Hargrove never abandoned jazz, the foundation stone of his style. Instead he regarded other genres as part of a rainbow ...

Larry Willis: I Fall in Love Too Easily

by Jack Bowers
July 20, 2020

I Fall in Love Too Easily is subtitled “The Final Session at Rudy Van Gelder's," as it is not only descriptively but literally the last recording session by veteran pianist Larry Willis, who died at age seventy-six in September 2019, one year after the album was completed at the renowned Van Gelder studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. The occasion also represented a homecoming of sorts for Willis who launched his six-decades-long career at that same studio in 1965, cutting ...

Larry Willis + Tomeka Reid, Ghost Horse, Matana Roberts & Other New Releases

by Ludovico Granvassu
November 5, 2019

This week we remember pianist Larry Willis (1942—2019) who passed away in September, followed by the perusal of a pile of exciting new releases and re-relases building jazz bridges between North America and Europe, featuring Midnight Lilacs (i.e. Chris Speed, Marc Ribot, Danilo Gallo and Zeno De Rossi), Ethan Iverson Quartet with Tom Harrell, Simone Graziano, Tomeka Reid, Ghost Horse, Matana Roberts, Alban Darche and more. Happy listening! Ben Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. ...

Larry Willis: Reaching and Teaching

by Russ Musto
May 1, 2010

In a career spanning five decades, Larry Willis has amassed one the most impressive resumes in jazz, including tenures with Jackie McLean, Hugh Masekela, Joe Henderson, Woody Shaw, Stan Getz, Carla Bley, Roy Hargrove, Jimmy Cobb's So What Sextet and Jerry Gonzalez and the Fort Apache Band, testifying to the high esteem in which he is held by his peers. Yet despite a substantial discography including scores of sideman appearances and over twenty dates as a leader, the gifted pianist/composer ...

Larry Willis: The Offering, Excursions & Expose

by Francis Lo Kee
January 10, 2009

Larry Willis The Offering HighNote 2008 Paul Murphy/Larry Willis Excursions Wicked Chops 2008 Paul Murphy/Larry Willis Expose Murphy 2008

Pianist Larry Willis leads a full, interesting musical life. From these two projects that span three CDs we hear Willis the rock solid post-bop ...

Larry Willis: The Offering

by John Barron
April 27, 2008

New York native Larry Willis has had a distinguished career performing with artists as diverse as Jackie McLean, Blood, Sweat & Tears and Woody Shaw. Although he's not nearly as well known as he should be, the veteran pianist has established himself in the upper echelon of modern jazz recording artists. The Offering finds Willis in the all-star company of bassist Eddie Gomez, drummer Billy Drummond and, for three tunes, saxophonist Eric Alexander.

The six-note ostinato bass line on the ...

Larry Willis: Blue Fable and Alter Ego

by Donald Elfman
October 6, 2007

Larry Willis Blue Fable High Note 2007 Tony Pancella Alter Ego Mapleshade 2007

Larry Willis is one of those musicians whose name should always be remembered when the subject of terrific and, alas, sometimes forgotten pianists comes up. He has been on the scene for over 40 years -- from his ...