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Rich Halley: Fire Within
by Troy Dostert
The cover and title of Rich Halley's latest, Fire Within, have a menacing edge, alerting us to the incendiary qualities that are always a part of the tenor saxophonist's music. But one of the remarkable things about Halley's output is that it is never one-dimensional; there are abundant nuances and surprises to keep a listener engaged, with plenty of rhythmic fervor and lyricism even amidst the more anarchic moments. And as he is united once again on his third outing ...
read moreRich Halley: Fire Within
by Mike Jurkovic
The name of free form saxophonist and raconteur Rich Halley may not roll off the tongue or be a secret G7 password, but he sure kicks up a lot of dust. Put him in the same room as piano slaying Matthew Shipp, bassist Michael Bisio, and drummer Newman Taylor Baker and rest assured all hell will break loose. And when all hell breaks loose it sounds hydrogen-charged and animated like Fire Within--a runaround Hail Mary with a post-rock punch and ...
read moreRich Halley: Boomslang
by Mark Corroto
Jazz has, to some extent, always been about making connections and pointing out interrelations. Ever since Buddy Bolden blew his cornet in New Orleans around the start of the twentieth century, listeners have been playing connect the dots, linking Bolden's innovations to King Oliver and Oliver's to Louis Armstrong, likewise Buck Clayton to Dizzy Gillespie and Kirk Knuffke, and so on. Jazz has both an oral and aural tradition that contextualizes innovation within the traditions but maybe more importantly allows ...
read moreHalley-Clucas-Reed-Halley: Boomslang
by Dan McClenaghan
Rich Halley has a thing about snakes. Those on the receiving end of a postal delivery from the Portland, Oregon-based saxophonist are likely to find a serpent coiled in the upper right hand corner of the envelope--a stamp featuring scarlet king snake, perhaps. Or maybe some sort of pit viper. And speaking of pit vipers, Halley released Requiem For A Pit Viper (Pine Eagle Records) in 2011. A thing about snakes... Not surprising, since Halley “was ...
read moreRich Halley: The Shape Of Things
by Hrayr Attarian
Accomplished saxophonist Rich Halley has an easily recognizable style which is marked with his brassy, rough-hewn tone, innovative ideas and simmering passion. After starting his own Pine Eagle label, in 2010, Halley added eleven stimulating albums to his discography, featuring bassist Clyde Reed and his son, drummer Carson Halley. In 2019 Halley started fronting the equally distinctive Matthew Shipp Trio. The fiery and captivating The Shape of Things is the quartet's second collaboration and expands on the themes explored on ...
read moreRich Halley: The Shape Of Things
by Troy Dostert
One thing is certain when approaching a Rich Halley recording: it's likely that you will hear the history of the saxophone in his playing. He's as capable of filling the room with fractured sound as he is in gently ruminating over a haunting phrase, and bop licks are as common as noisy abstraction on his albums; indeed, one might find all of these traits within the same piece. On his latest, The Shape of Things, he's fortunate to have the ...
read moreRich Halley, Matthew Shipp, Michael Bisio, Newman Taylor Baker: The Shape Of Things
by Karl Ackermann
In 2019, with almost two-dozen albums as a leader, Rich Halley broke his twenty-year streak of recording without a pianist as part of his various formations. It was Matthew Shipp who altered the saxophonist's course on Terra Incognita (Pine Eagle Records) which featured Shipp's trio with bassist Michael Bisio and drummer Newman Taylor Baker. That successful project leads to The Shape of Things, which picks up and moves forward from where that stimulating and satisfying album left off.
read moreRich Halley: The Shape Of Things
by Dan McClenaghan
Nobody rips it up like Portland, Oregon-based tenor saxophonist Rich Halley. Whether he is playing with his West Coast crews on sets like The Literature (Pine Eagle Records, 2018) or The Outlier (Pine Eagle Records, 2016), or recording with his New York City compatriots on Terra Incognita (Pine Eagle Record, 2019). And now we have--with, again, the New Yorkers--The Shape of Things, where Halley continues to prove he can be counted on to shake the walls and rattle the windows ...
read moreRich Halley: Terra Incognita
by Jerome Wilson
On paper this is a very promising match-up: uninhibited tenor saxophonist Rich Halley backed by the relentless force of pianist Matthew Shipp and his current trio. For the most part, the resulting session delivers on its promise although at times Halley's playing is shoved so far to the front of the mix it drowns out everything else. This is especially true on the first track, “The Opening." Halley's long, steely lines are so overpowering that only the surface agitation of ...
read moreRich Halley: Terra Incognita
by Troy Dostert
In a musical career that stretches back to the 1980s, tenor saxophonist Rich Halley has stoutly maintained his independent path in creating jazz that is inspired by the freedom of the '60s avant-garde but which also draws liberally from the language of bop. You can hear both Albert Ayler and Sonny Rollins in his playing. But it's not just his distinctive voice on his instrument that stands out; it's also the effort he's devoted to maintaining a steady cadre of ...
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