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Roy McCurdy

Roy McCurdy will probably always be best-known for his important contributions to Cannonball Adderley’s Quintet (1964-1975), but he has been a tasteful and stimulating participant in many other sessions through the years. Early on, he worked with Chuck and Gap Mangione in the Jazz Brothers (1960-1961). McCurdy gained recognition for his playing with the Jazztet (1961-1962), Bobby Timmons, Betty Carter (who was fairly obscure during his stint with her in 1962-1963), and Sonny Rollins (1963-1964) before joining Adderley. The supportive drummer was flexible enough to evolve with Cannonball’s popular group during the decade of change. After Adderley’s death, McCurdy relocated to the Los Angeles area, where he has played and recorded with the top local musicians ever since.

Roy McCurdy is one of the best known and most highly regarded drummers in Jazz. He remembers playing around with his own, home-built drum sets at age six and he started formal drum lessons at eight. He attended the Eastman School of Music from sixteen to eighteen, and was playing professionally in local clubs at sixteen. Famous trumpeter Roy Eldridge heard him at this point; he played with Eldridge at sixteen and with Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson at seventeen. In 1960 he joined the Art Farmer Benny Golson Jazztet and remained for two years.

McCurdy counts among his influences Louie Bellson, Shelly Manne, Sam Woodyard, Buddy Rich, “Papa” Jo Jones, Philly Joe Jones and the bands of Duke Ellington, Jimmy Lunceford and Lionel Hampton. He’s performed on between 150 and 200 recordings but, almost unbelievably, none as leader. The list of greats that McCurdy has played with includes Count Basie, Wes Montgomery, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Carmen McRae, Joe Williams, Herbie Hancock, Milt Jackson, Oscar Peterson, and Bud Powell among 100s. Roy has also played with Art Pepper, John Heard, Ron McCurdy, Jackie Ryan, Joe Zawinal, Blood, Sweat and Tears, etc.

Roy McCurdy is healthy, happy, looks and plays like a much younger person and continues to grow and mature as a musician and as a gentle, compassionate human being.

He accompanied Sarah Vaughan through the 1970s and later played with Sonny Stitt and Nat Adderley. Cobb’s style of drumming is in the classic hard-bop tradition of Philly Joe Jones, Max Roach, and Art Blakey. As an accompanist he plays forcefully, aggressively, and slightly ahead of the beat; as a soloist he uses the entire drum set in a quasi-melodic fashion.

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31
Album Review

Ray Vega & Thomas Marriott East West Trumpet Summit: Coast to Coast

Read "Coast to Coast" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Coast to Coast is the third East West Trumpet Summit recorded by Ray Vega and Thomas Marriott in a musical partnership that has spanned nearly three decades. The years have been kind, and when it comes to playing persuasive jazz, neither Vega nor Marriott appears to have lost a step. Marriott, a native of Seattle, and Vega, New York-born and bred, first met in 1995, and the mutual admiration and respect was immediate. Their first two albums as co-leaders were ...

10
Album Review

Ray Vega & Thomas Marriott East West Trumpet Summit: Coast to Coast

Read "Coast to Coast" reviewed by Paul Rauch


For some people, the whole notion of an east-west summit of anything in jazz brings up the perceived differences over time between American west coast jazz and its east coast counterpart. The basic premise is that jazz on the American west coast is a cousin to the cool jazz movement, a calmer, less soulful part of the tradition that relies more on composition and arrangement than the playing of individual improvisers. East coast jazz is seen more as hard driving, ...

33
Album Review

Doug MacDonald: Overtones

Read "Overtones" reviewed by Jack Bowers


The term “all-star" is not one to be used lightly. Be that as it may, the appellation fits guitarist Doug MacDonald's Los Angeles-based octet as snugly as a glove; he and his colleagues are among the finest, most experienced and in-demand musicians on the West Coast. On Overtones, recorded in September 2021, the ensemble shows its mastery by gracefully skating through seven of MacDonald's upbeat themes and one standard, Ram Ramirez' ardent “Lover Man." Three of MacDonald's ...

4
Album Review

Doug MacDonald: Overtones

Read "Overtones" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci


Some of you may well remember Arthur Conley's 1967 chart-topper, “Sweet Soul Music." The lyrics began with the imperishable line, “Do you like good music?" That may resonate with listeners of a certain age, because Overtones: Doug MacDonald and the L.A. All Star Octet certainly qualifies as “good music." What is it about West Coast stuff inflected with Birth of the Cool? It somehow never gets old, even when a listener thinks, “Hmm. There may not be anything new here, ...

8
Album Review

Doug MacDonald: Overtones

Read "Overtones" reviewed by Edward Blanco


Los Angeles-based guitarist Doug MacDonald just happens to be one of the most active recording musicians in the country, with three releases in 2021 alone and at least two more dating back to 2019. Add to that list, this 2022 recording of Overtones and you can understand MacDonald's devotion to producing music as evidenced by his large discography. A prolific composer, MacDonald's eight-track repertoire consist almost entirely of original compositions, with the only exception being a fine rendition of Ram ...

31
Album Review

Doug MacDonald and the L.A. All-Star Octet: Overtones

Read "Overtones" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Doug MacDonald's mind is as active as his fingers. The Los Angeles-based guitarist divides his time between writing and playing, and he writes as well as he plays, which is impeccably. Overtones, on which he leads an All-Star Octet (we checked, and all-star is precisely the proper term), is MacDonald's fourth album in the last year or so and twentieth-plus over-all. As is generally the case, most of the songs are his (seven of eight), and they are consistently bright ...

11
Album Review

Will Lyle: L.A. Source Codes

Read "L.A. Source Codes" reviewed by Kyle Simpler


For computer programmers, a source code is a piece of computer language, which they are able to read and transfer and put to use in a practical way. With his debut album, L.A. Source Codes, bassist Will Lyle makes a connection between this concept and jazz. As with computer programming, jazz has its own language, and learning the language of jazz can be somewhat challenging. A skilled player, however, can take musical “source codes," such as chords, scales and arpeggios, ...

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Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Burnin’ in...

Elemental Music
2024

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Live in Montreal May...

Liberation Hall
2024

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Poppin In Paris: Live...

Elemental Music
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Overtones

Self Produced
2023

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Coast to Coast

Origin Records
2023

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East West Trumpet...

Origin Records
2023

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One Day at a Time

From: East West Trumpet Summit: Coast...
By Roy McCurdy

Forasteira

From: L.A. Source Codes
By Roy McCurdy

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