E. Doctor Smith's Blog

Last October, I was in New York City to see the only U.S. appearance of British drummer Bill Bruford's Earthworks at the Iridium Jazz Club. His latest group features the incendiary Tim Garland on saxophones, the ever stable Lawrence Cottle on bass and the marvelous young Gwilym Simcock on piano. Apparently, I wasn't the only Californian in attendance; a certain jazz writer from Santa Rosa had seen all ten shows of Bruford's five day stand! After the show, I spoke to Bruford about a possible return to Yoshi's, and the status of any future recordings. Bruford explained that he would be releasing no new CDs, but rather a two volume DVD anthology; one featuring the current band, and the other featuring the original Earthworks line-up with Django Bates, Iain Ballamy and Tim Harries. Wait no longer, these fantastic DVDs are now here. Bill Bruford’s Earthworks, a uniquely British institution, have been turning heads on the international jazz scene now for 20 years...

Energized and fiercely talented, both Hiromi Uehara and Robert Glasper are redefining jazz piano. The 32-year-old Glasper, will be sharing the bill this Saturday with Hiromi, appearing with his quartet and artfully combining post-bop with alternative hip-hop grooves. 2009 has been a banner year for Glasper, who helped take both soul singer Maxwell and rapper Mos Def to the Top 10 of the Billboard chart. His new Blue Note 2-CD set, "Double Booked", has been hailed as one of the finest releases of the decade. The bio from Glasper's website tells it all, "One artist, two distinct but interwoven concepts: this is the captivating logic behind Double-Booked, pianist Robert Glasper's third album for Blue Note, following up Canvas (2005) and In My Element (2007). An artist who "unfailingly gets the feeling right" (New York Magazine), Glasper has made waves throughout the music world as leader of both the acoustic Robert Glasper Trio and the electr...

I first saw guitarist John Scofield back in the late '70s, replacing guitarist John Abercrombie in Billy Cobham's band, featuring the Brecker Brothers and again later with the incredible "Billy Cobham-George Duke Band" with bassist Alphonso Johnson of Weather Report. It was one of the most brilliant fusion quartets I'd ever seen, with searing solos and ridiculous prestidigitations; Scofield more than held his own. I would next see Scofield touring with the legendary Miles Davis at the Newport Jazz Festival in '84 and actually had the pleasure of working with him during his tour in support of his "Bump" album in 2000. Scofield returns to Yoshi's in Oakland this weekend for a series of shows along with Mulgrew Miller (piano), Ben Street (bass), Kendrick Scott (drums). On his website, John Scofield is "considered one of the 'big three' of current jazz guitarists - along with Pat Metheny and Bill Frisell. His influence began ...

I first met Stanley Adler in 1980, during those heady days in NYC while performing with the art-rock group "The Same" and their mentor, Brian Eno. Amazingly talented, Adler would go on to audition for King Crimson, perform with Madonna, tour with the Crazy World of Arthur Brown and dozens of equally influential and creative musicians. These days, Adler makes his home in France, moving from electric and acoustic bass to his Steinberger 5 string electric cello, recording and performing with the "Symphony of Wrong", a delightfully French avant garde combo that must be seen to be believed. I caught up with Adler a year or so ago in Cannes, as he prepared to enter the studio to record this wonderful new solo album, " Arias Under Curves ". According to Adler, "Arias Under Curves" is the result of musical ideas spanning some 30 years, now arranged for multiple over-dubbed cello and released on the French Wriggly Pig label. The opening tune,...