All artists filed by last name under Q, R and S :
In Memory of my Sister Mary Beth Roskos & of our friend & fellow poet Dave Church, a pure product of America. Front a back cover photos by Donald Eng. Other photos found at flea market. —David Roskos Continue reading
Luca Segala’s compositions are always a step beyond possible definitions. His sincere work and personal declination of music carry comtemporay flavors, classique elegance and sudden groove flashes. Here Luca delivers new fresh ideas leading a brilliant modern jazz quintet and featuring an original line-up. Continue reading
In the Dan Blacksberg Trio, the innovative and genre-defying trombonist brings an expansive and creative new vision to the cutting-edge jazz traditions of pioneers like Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry, and Albert Ayler. Blacksberg has penned a set of music that pushes at the technical and timbral limits of his instrument, opening up into far-reaching sounds worlds while maintaining a melodic rootsiness. Backed up by the powerful rhythm of Matt Engle (Shot X Shot) on bass, and Mike Szekely (Anthony Braxton Quartet) on drums, the Trio creates a driving mixture of noise, chromatic lyricism, and everything in between… Continue reading
Rodrigo Pinheiro – piano | Hernani Faustino – double bass | Gabriel Ferrandini – drums | Mattias Ståhl – vibraphone All music by Rodrigo Pinheiro, Hernani Faustino, Gabriel Ferrandini and … Continue reading
In 2005, Lewis Winn composed “Count Me In” after seeing a Basie band video. The fast-moving line that has him and Michael playing like a horn section pays homage to the swinging sound. There is an unusual element similar to a shout chorus where guitar and drums “solo” together, launching the remaining guitar solo. “So Near, So Far” had to be on my first CD because I tried but couldn’t get any band I’m in to play the tune. The guitar counter-melody is a joyous line against which to play the afro-cuban 12/8 rhythm, and the Joe Gilman lyrics gave new interpretations to the meaning of the title. Michael’s 2008 “Middle Side Topwise” uses the changes to a familiar standard as a vehicle for the bass and borrows a quote from the Simpsons for the title. Continue reading
BEST JAZZ CD 2013 NEW MEXICO MUSIC AWARDS The outcome of two years of concert performances and a sequel to the historically focused straight-ahead swinging tunes of Volume I, the new CD is perhaps more forward-looking in its theme of tributing the ideas of jazz. The original compositions are by each of the trio members, some in collaboration. They reflect both the further gelling of the trio in their dynamics and the conceptual growth of the group. Songs such as “Not So Easy” and “Horace-Play” have clear ties to styles heard in the music of Bobby Timmons and Horace Silver, but “Time” is a tribute to the flow in the changes of the great song, “Just In Time.” There is a worldly jazz concept in “A Time for Parting”. Volume II accurately displays the Tribute Trio musicians’ personal compositional styles, while still incorporating learnings from the legends. The range includes swing, ballads and some unique odd-meter tunes. Continue reading
BEST JAZZ CD 2012 NEW MEXICO MUSIC AWARDS The original compositions in this Tribute Trio debut CD were inspired by the melodies, styles, rhythms, and arrangements of some of the 11 composers tributed in the 2010-2011 concert series. Pianist and prolific composer John Rangel dedicates compositions to Oscar Peterson, Bud Powell, Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner and Bill Evans. Bassist Michael Glynn composed two pieces dedicated to Lennie Tristano. The composer notes inside the CD jacket give insight into the connection between the tributed composer and the inspired composition. The music showcases the depth of individual musicianship and extraordinary combined dynamics of the trio gained from a solid year of delving into and performing concerts of complex works by jazz pianist/composer legends. Continue reading
Violently, this album begins violently, it’s unavoidable, even though the music itself can never be as violent as the subject matter it evokes, it creates the similar effect Frantz Fanon aimed at in “The Wretched of the Earth”……Introducing pianist Orrin Evans is recalling he studied with Kenny Barron, amongst others, before playing with an array of talents from Bobby Watson to Mos Def. Introducing bass player Eric Revis is recalling he studied with Ellis Marsalis, amongst others, before playing with an array of talents from Branford Marsalis to Ken Vandermark. Introducing drummer Nasheet Waits is driving the rhythm compass wild. It is remembering the son of drummer great Freddy Waits (who played with Bill Dixon and Ella Fitzgerald, Stevie Wonder and Pharaoh Sanders), sponsored at a very young age by Max Roach and Ed Blackwell, acquired power by playing with indomitable leading figures: Andrew Hill, Jason Moran, William Parker, Tony Malaby, Peter Brötzmann… A trio capable of a metamorphic energy, developing itself into a myriad of shimmering shapes, this time with guitarist Marc Ducret, the raging master of brightening and darkening, and with saxophone player Oliver Lake, with his misconduct and turndowns, both embodying/summoning the other, the alteration, as it were with Fanon. Tarbaby and its guests of honor offer a music which is constantly born, it breaks free of its chains, it exacerbates and alters itself, it gives analogical value to the necessary but unclassifiable distinctions, to impressionism and expressionism, to thinking and acting, to order and disorder, it is the music of another possible world, it redistributes wealth as it produces it.… Alexandre Pierrepont, excerpt from the liner notes Continue reading
The three free sessions of Free Jazz Art, in duo with Alan Silva, came out in one go (with Christophe Hauser, sound engineer and subtle arranger). Alan knew all the procedures in advance having lived through the same experience with Dixon though at a different period. It was easy, because he and I are old friends, having so often played together and so often wandered in the hectic New York of the sixties. Already at that time, he had found his remarkable style of bowed double bass. — Jacques Coursil, excerpt from liner notes Continue reading
After two decades of trios with various international musicians, this is Frode Gjerstads first all-Norwegian trio. And it is a significant move towards a Nordic improvised sound. In the past, he has played in trios with Hamid Drake, William Parker, John Stevens, Johnny Dyani, Kent Carter, Wilber Morris and Rashid Bakr, John Edwards and Mark Sanders. This trio has made 8 recordings so far: “Last First” on the US label, Falcata-Galica. A studio-recording from November -99 when the group was quite fresh. Then came a live recording from September 2000 in Oslo, “The Blessing Light” on Cadence Jazz Records. This CD is dedicated to the late British drummer, John Stevens. “Sharp knives cut deeper” with Peter Brøtzmann on the Italian label Splash came in-03, “St.Louis” is a live recording from our 2002 US tour that came out on FMR in -04 and in 2005 we recorded “mothers & fathers”. In 2007 we recorded “Nothing is forever” at a concert in Oslo. Then there is “MIR” recorded in 2010 at cafe MIR, Oslo. This was the first try out for the new trio. And the “East of West” was recorded in April 2011. The trio has so far toured and/or played festivals in Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Poland, Germany, Slovenia, Kroatia, Italy, New Zealand, Russia, England, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, USA and Canada. Continue reading