Results for "Modal Jazz"

Nimbus Sextet

Active since: 2018

One of the most innovative groups in the new wave of UK jazz, Nimbus Sextet are bringing their electrifying blend of jazz, world and dance music to top venues and festivals across the UK and Europe. Performing in and selling out the likes of Ronnie Scott’s, New Morning (Paris) and Pizza Express Jazz Club, the Joe Nichols-led outfit have firmly established themselves as an increasingly major voice in the European jazz scene.

Nimbus Sextet’s albums – DREAMS FULFILLED (2020) and FORWARD THINKER (2022) – were both released on the legendary Acid Jazz label

Dave Solazzo

Born: December 21, 1972

Dave Solazzo has been a mainstay of Central New York's music scene for over two decades. Much in demand as a soloist and sideman, Dave has worked with artists from a wide mix of genres - jazz, fusion, R&B and beyond. He has performed and recorded with major jazz figures like Chuck Mangione, Larry Coryell, Joel Frahm, Dick Oatts, Jerry Weldon and Joe Magnarelli at venues like The Flatiron Room (NYC), Troy Music Hall, the Savannah Jazz Festival and the Syracuse Jazz Fest.

In addition to his work as a sideman, Dave leads his own trio, playing modern interpretations of jazz standards and original compositions in the spirit of Oscar Peterson, Keith Jarrett and Brad Mehldau.

Dave was educated at Berklee College of Music and SUNY Purchase College

Aarni Häkkinen

Lisa B aka Lisa Bernstein

Born: September 28

Lisa B (Lisa Bernstein) is a unique combination: award-winning literary poet and riveting singer, performer, and recording artist.

HER LITERARY POETRY is featured in her second book God in Her Ruffled Dress (10/23, What Books Press), her most recent full-length record "Reverberant" (Piece of Pie Records), her first book The Transparent Body (Wesleyan University Press), the chapbook Anorexia (Five Fingers Poetry), and 60+ literary magazines and anthologies, including Antaeus, Caliban, City Lights Review, Field, Kenyon Review, Lilith, Ploughshares, Poetry International, Tikkun, and Zyzzyva. 

Fee Aaij

Born: October 15, 2004

Ascetic

Active since: 2019

Ascetic is a band founded in 2019 on the initiative of clarinetist and saxophonist Mateusz Rybicki, accompanied by Tomasz Kaczmarek (piano), Ju Ghan (double bass) and Jan Słowiński (drums). "After years in which the main area of my musical search was free improvisation and free jazz, I felt the need to explore simplicity and tonality. It also overlapped with the time of my spiritual search. I wanted the music I play to draw from those experiences, bring peace and solace to the audience and was a form of contemplation and prayer. I invited musicians who's sound and personality were the most suited to this concept" - recalls the musician. The sound of Ascetic is very characteristic, in the band's work you can hear the fascination with many genres and the desire to create music clearly going beyond the jazz idiom. "I think that the main direction and the underlying idea of this music is a certain self-limitation in striving for maximum mindfulness and searching for a deep, spiritual charge. This is true both at the level of our intentions and purely formal procedures - most of the songs are based on modal scales and trancy repetitive grooves. We also wanted a certain universalism and reaching the widest possible audience," the artist continues. The group's main inspirations include the John Coltrane quartet, the music of Hildegard of Bingen, Gregorian chant, American minimalists such as Steve Reich and Terry Riley, as well as the band The Necks. Most of the songs on Ascetic's debut album grew out of ideas and sketches proposed by Rybicki, but the final shape of the composition is the result of intensive work of the entire line-up: "I am very grateful to my bandmates for their commitment and the possibility of such systematic and in-depth work both on the arrangement and sound level. We put a lot of work and time into the creation of this material, looking for different forms of expression and testing arrangement solutions. There are also several songs on the album that were born during improvisation in the studio" - sums up the musician.

Tomba

He learned to play the electric bass as an autodidact and moved to Berlin after attending a seminar at the Jazz School in St. Gallen. After training as an audio engineer, Tomba also works as a composer and producer.

Tombajazz

Tombajazz the funky jazz project from Munich

Bassist Tomba has selected well-known musicians from the Munich jazz scene. The project started in 2020 and the idea was to bring together a selection of great jazz musicians from Munich. The first single „The Senate“ (Miles Davis,Foley) was created in collaboration with Grammy-nominated artist and rapper Kokayi (USA) and was released in January 2021 as part of the BLM movement. The album was supposed to be released in the same year, but Corona and the Ukraine war that finally began put all that on hold.
The forthcoming album Recollections is musically very different and offers a broad spectrum of funk, jazz and chillout. The tracks were recorded in different formations. „Sweet Dreams“ and „Recollections“ were performed live in a studio session. In the videos recorded for this purpose, it is not difficult to imagine the full potential of what the band still has. In „Sweet Dreams“ Evan Tate begins with a cool, expressive solo in the middle part and Thorben Schütt (Jazzrausch) rounds it all off with unbelievable power and emotion at the end that you think he’s floating in other spheres.
„Recollections“ along with „Guinnevere“ always impressed me on Miles Davis‘ album „Bitches Brew“. Of course it’s very difficult to interpret this song fairly in its way. But I think we managed it quite well The tempo change throughout the song also gives it a bit of a boost.
The theme of „Pink Panther“ had inspired me with a funky bassline and starts with the modified theme followed by the horn section. Bastien Rieser improvises the trumpet in different parts and styles with cool effects at the end of the song.
With his synthesizer solo in „Mars Attack“ Hansi Enzensperger (ex. Organ Explosion) sets a special note and highlight. He plays everything on his large collection of vintage analogue synthesizers, on which he also creates the alien sounds. The song begins with a bass riff loop that runs through the themes, followed by an effects-infused bass solo.
The album, mostly original, features funky beats with catchy, catchy themes. The songs are consistently modal, which leaves plenty of room for improvisation.

Tim Bruer

Born: November 29, 1957

Tim Bruer is a Sydney based pianist and composer. He performs regularly around the Sydney area, playing solo piano, and with various bands. He also teaches piano and a number of other subjects at The Australian Institute of Music.

Over a career spanning more than 40 years, Tim has performed with many of Australia’s finest musicians including James Morrison, Dale Barlow Jackie Orzarsky, Carl Orr, Steve Hunter, and Elana Stone. He holds both a Bachelor of Music and a Masters of Music degree in jazz performance, and has studied extensively with Mike Nock. Tim has also been featured on a number of recordings by artists such as The Acca Daiquiris, Guy LeClaire, Max Sharam and Hammerhead, and 2007 saw the release of his first CD under his own name. “The Tim Bruer Quartet” finds him collaborating with some of his favourite players, and reflects his many years of playing jazz, funk and r&b

Career Highlights

• 1980-85 - Support gigs for Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard and Johnny Griffin; performed with Don Burrows and James Morrison at Adelaide Festival Theatre; toured with Adelaide University Big Band and performed at Manly jazz festival. Graduated with Bachelor of Music degree from Adelaide University.
• 1985-91 – Finalist in the inaugural Wangaratta jazz award; fronted own bands at Soup Plus; toured with Jive band "The Anthill Mob" and appeared on many TV shows.
• 1992-96 - Arranger /pianist for Nielsen Gough; supported Ronnie Jordan; featured on Max Sharam's top ten single "Be Firm"; recorded with Guy LeClaire; Musical Director/pianist for Delilah.
• 1997-2002 - recorded in London with Gene Calderazzo; recorded at Hillcrest Coachman jazz festival with Kate Swadling.
• 2002-2007 - graduated with Masters Degree from Sydney Conservatorium of Music; released self titled CD.

Dave Scheffler

Born: November 23, 1956

Dave Scheffler is a pianist/keyboardist, composer and producer living in Joshua Tree, California.  The son of an aerospace engineer who worked on the Saturn rocket at the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama in the 1960s, Scheffler grew up predominantly in Charlotte, North Carolina. After high school, he played keyboards in a local fusion band called Spectrum, which opened for such names as Ramsey Lewis, Hubert Laws and the Dregs (formerly the Dixie Dregs), before attending the prestigious Berklee School of Music in Boston, where he graduated with honors.  

Relocating to Los Angeles in the md-’80s, he found work in the commercial music world – arranging, producing, and recording a diverse range of artists encompassing R&B, hip-hop, pop and world music. His successful production music library, Drama King, licenses music worldwide. Since moving to the otherworldly desertscape of Joshua Tree in 2014, Scheffler has returned to his jazz roots, channeling this meditative existence into an album of original compositions influenced by the cool modal jazz of the late ’50s/early ’60s (Miles Davis, Bill Evans) and fusion greats of the ’70s (Weather Report, Return to Forever), and on into the solo work of Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter. His modal approach to melody and harmony compositions falls under the rubric of 21st Century Modern Jazz.