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Jazz Articles about Ralph Lalama
Ralph Lalama: A Disciple, Not a Clone
by Lionelle Hamanaka
Ralph Lalama has absorbed the great legacy of the masters while carving his own name on the jazz tree. His distinguished career has seen him play with many jazz greats. The Pennsylvania-born, New York-based tenor saxophonist has found his own sound with an incisive style that reflects the spirit of our times. The son of a steelworker, Lalama was raised in a musical family. His work has gained recognition throughout the jazz world and is living proof that the American ...
read moreJohn Richmond with Special Guest Ralph Lalama
by David A. Orthmann
John Richmond with Special Guest Ralph Lalama The Turning Point Cafe Nyack Jazz Week 2021 Piermont, NY July 26, 2021 What's so special about a special guest artist? While stints in name bands or a track record as a leader may be sufficient to get the booking and fill some seats, in the end, credentials and the expectations that accompany them don't mean much when the band hits and the artist faces the ...
read moreVanguard Jazz Orchestra: OverTime: Music of Bob Brookmeyer
by Angelo Leonardi
Questo disco ci è giunto con un po' di ritardo ma va assolutamente segnalato. È infatti uno dei migliori dischi dell'anno nonchè un omaggio al genio orchestrale di Bob Brookmeyer. Forse non tutti sanno che lo storico trombonista, partner negli anni cinquanta di Stan Getz, Gerry Mulligan e Jimmy Giuffre, è stato uno di massimi orchestratori moderni: nel 1966 partecipò alla fondazione della Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, scrivendo decine di partiture, e nel 1990 ne divenne il direttore, quando la ...
read moreMark Hagan's Jazz Salon At The Old 76 House
by David A. Orthmann
Mark Hagan's Jazz Salon The Old 76 House Tappan, NY January 7, 2015 While the outside temperature plummeted to single digits and everyone groused about the bitter cold, tenor saxophonist Ralph Lalama--undeterred by the circumstances--calmly suggested “Winter Wonderland." The seasonal favorite was the second selection by an ad hoc group assembled by bassist Mark Hagan, as part of his Wednesday night Jazz Salon series at The Old 76 House in Tappan, NY. A rewarding ...
read moreVanguard Jazz Orchestra: OverTime: Music of Bob Brookmeyer
by John Ephland
There's a richness, a depth, a density to his varied charts. And the soloists and ensemble passages inside those charts! Such has always been the case with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, then, and now. For real, gliding from the spirit of Thad Jones and Mel Lewis, this edition of the VJO now embraces another one of its own: trombonist/composer/arranger/pianist Bob Brookmeyer, with Over Time: Music Of Bob Brookmeyer. And what different sound comes from this grand aggregate of ...
read moreVanguard Jazz Orchestra: OverTime: Music of Bob Brookmeyer
by Jack Bowers
While it may be hard to believe, the reality is that the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra is nearing the end of its first half-century together. Formed in 1966 as the Thad Jones -Mel Lewis Orchestra, it continued on after Jones' departure as the Mel Lewis Orchestra, then as the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra after Lewis' death in February 1990. During many of those years, the ensemble was enriched by the compositions and arrangements of the renowned Bob Brookmeyer (1929-2011), a master craftsman ...
read moreThe Vanguard Jazz Orchestra: OverTime: Music Of Bob Brookmeyer
by Dan Bilawsky
Trumpeter Thad Jones and drummer extraordinaire Mel Lewis may have given birth to the band that's now known as The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, but the late Bob Brookmeyer gave the group artistic independence at a time when it was sorely needed. When Jones left the fold and departed for Europe at the tail end of the '70s, things could've gone a very different way for this storied outfit: it could've simply carried on as a pretty good ...
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