Few producers in the history of jazz have the name recognition – or the notoriety – that Creed Taylor (1929-2022) had and continues to have to this day. Perhaps listeners might recognize such jazz producers as Norman Granz (Verve, and, later, Pablo), Alfred Lion (Blue Note), Bob Weinstock (Prestige) or Orrin Keepnews (Riverside, and, later,…
Incorporated: CTI Records and the Genius of Creed Taylor 1969-1974 (2026)
By definition, “incorporated” is to be united in one body. The business use of the word is also represented by one of the initials in the acronym for CTI Records (the entity itself was actually “incorporated” in October 1966). Incorporated also serves as the initially-curious title to this terrific new compilation of CTI music produced…
Cal Tjader – “Last Night When We Were Young” (1975)
“Before I die,” Cal Tjader told Frank Strazzeri, “I want to do a New York [style] ballad album. I want you to write it for me.” That record turned out to be the “Cal Tjader with Strings” album Last Night When We Were Young. Strazzeri (1930-2014), who had joined Tjader’s band in August 1974, had…
Gábor Szabó 90
A pop-up exhibition celebrating the life and legacy of guitarist Gábor Szabó, during what would have been his 90th year, opened on September 10, at the Magyar Zene Háza (House of Music Hungary) in Budapest, Hungary. The exhibition – called Gabor Szabo: The Jazz Visionary – The Guitar Legend’s Journey from Budapest to Los Angeles…
Stanley Turrentine – “The Man with the Sad Face” (1976)
“Lookout Salsoul Orchestra!,” wrote DownBeat in its one-and-a-half-star review of the 1976 album The Man with the Sad Face (March 10, 1977), “Stanley Turrentine’s comin’ ta getcha! Yes folks, this may well be the most distinguished cast that ever bothered to lend its class to trash, spelled c-a-s-h. (…) As dubious consolation it must be…
Art Farmer with the Quincy Jones Orchestra – “Last Night When We Were Young” (1957)
Art Farmer (1928-99) was one of a number of great trumpeters who emerged in jazz during the 1950s. By the time he switched exclusively to flugelhorn in the early sixties, he had already become known for what journalist Leonard Feather described as “a style of rare lyricism” and a player whose “solos invariably show[ed] a…