Joe Vanderford

Just on the Saturday side of midnight on the corner of 7th Avenue and 57th Street, I spied saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, the round-faced son of the legendary John Coltrane, excitedly rapping to a friend. A short glance a dozen paces to the east revealed another saxophonist, Lee Konitz, one of the last survivors of Miles […]

I’ve never been a fan of the Eagles’ lame hybrid of wimp-rock and pretend-country. Yet I’ve often admired the poetic zinger slung by former-Eagle Don Henley, the famous one inspired by a fleeting glimpse of a Grateful Dead bumper sticker on an aging Fleetwood. “Don’t look back,” he warned his fellow baby-boomers. “You can never […]

Q: When do they start playing Christmas music at the mall? A: “Oh, the day after Thanksgiving,” you state with certainty. And that’s right–if you were responding to the question in 1990. Savvy–some would say desperate–retailers of Century 21 are quicker to the starting line. As soon as the witches go beddy-bye on Halloween night, […]

Since the famous pianist Herbie Hancock rarely visits our li’l Triangle burg, it’s a bona fide lock that his upcoming Nov. 15 show in Durham will be special. The entourage of the eternally youthful 62-year-old king of the keyboard will include a royal band of thirtysomething improvisers, featuring whirlwind drummer Terri Lynne Carrington, big-toned saxophonist […]

Imagine a colorful chronology of jazz piano, starting in 1970 and concluding in the present day. Keith Jarrett marks square one: romantic, flamboyant, self-indulgent. Flash to 2002, where young Brad Mehldau combines experimentation with the genre-defying appeal of a budding pop star. Without apparent compromise, the adventurous Mehldau, just like Keith Jarrett a generation ago, […]

Once upon a time, John Scofield was the Peck’s Bad Boy of jazz, a cat who could rough up a polite bebop session with a smirk and a squealing six-string. His salty guitar-playing, flavored with fatback and steeped in deep blues, spiced up Miles Davis’ rollicking bands of the mid-’80s. Sco–that’s what his friends still […]

If you consider yourself a serious listener with a high-falutin’ notion that jazz is somehow governed by the tenets of good taste, well, sorry ’bout that. You’re wrong: Jazz ain’t nothin’ special. Accept the truth: The success of jazz in the marketplace is ultimately a booty thang. For example, when a jazz singer emerges with […]

Will Christmastime 2001 erase the memory of Sept. 11? Of course not. What the holiday will do, however, is allow America a moment to pause and catch its breath. Our families will gather, talk and touch. We’ll sing the blues, say a prayer and collectively sip from the cup of redemption. Accordingly, I propose a […]