Jazz in the Times

The New York Times has a couple of new articles, the first one about some of the new CD's that have been released recently by Charles Lloyd, John Ellis and Happy Apple:

Happy Apple, a Minneapolis jazz group, dips into funk, too, but in a much harsher, more brutal way. The group has only three players - Erik Fratzke (electric bass), David King (drums) and Michael Lewis (saxophones and occasionally keyboards) - but it's a steamroller, something like a cross between Ornette Coleman's mid-60's group and the Minutemen.

The second is about the San Francisco Jazz Collective, and their emergence onto the west coast jazz scene.

As the name implies, the SF Jazz Collective is a cooperative band, with no leader. Onstage, the saxophonist Joshua Redman makes announcements between songs, because he is artistic director within the larger organization, its public face.

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