Jazz Articles about Paul Carlon

Schapiro 17: Human Qualities

by Jack Bowers
March 14, 2021

Following its splendid premiere recording, an exploration of Miles Davis' unrivaled album Kind Of Blue (Capitol Records, 1959), composer/arranger Jon Schapiro's 17-member ensemble broadens its horizons on Human Qualities, pairing seven of the maestro's astute and adventurous charts with the Roberta Flack best-seller, “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face." This time around, Schapiro proves that he need rely on nothing more than his own considerable experience as a jazz artist to create an album that expresses his point ...

Schapiro 17: New Shoes: Kind of Blue at 60

by Jerome Wilson
September 7, 2020

Miles Davis' album Kind Of Blue (Columbia, 1959) is the best-selling jazz album of all time and has been highly influential for the last 60 years. Most of its five tracks have become jazz standards and have been interpreted time and again. However it is rare to see the entire album reworked to the extent that Jon Schapiro and his big band, Schapiro 17, do here. The tracks undergo extensive retooling, expanding into big band arrangements that carry on the ...

Schapiro 17: New Shoes: Kind of Blue at 60

by Jack Bowers
April 10, 2020

2019 marked the sixtieth anniversary of the Miles Davis sextet's acclaimed album, Kind of Blue (Columbia). While the tributes didn't exactly pour in, New York-based composer / arranger Jon Schapiro took it upon himself not only to revisit that classic session but to re-orchestrate it for a large ensemble (the Schapiro 17) and flesh it out with half a dozen compositions of his own and another by pianist Roberta Piket. In keeping with the spirit of the occasion, all of ...

Paul Carlon Octet: Roots Propaganda

by Chris M. Slawecki
November 10, 2008

"I am interested in combining all roots music," explains saxophonist, bandleader, composer, and educator Paul Carlon. “Not necessarily to make a point, but because I love it all. So I'm trying to take these disparate elements and put them into a jazz context." Carlon continues, “That was the idea behind Roots Propaganda. We need some propaganda for this kind of music."

“This kind of music" boasts a uniquely powerful and genuine Afro-Cuban spirit thanks to its percussive rhythms, ...

The Paul Carlon Octet: Roots Propaganda

by Michael P. Gladstone
October 4, 2008

For his sophomore effort as a leader, multi-reed player Paul Carlon has found quite an interesting project. Roots Propaganda retains most of the musicians from his debut, Other Tongues (Deep Tone, 2006), and also the impression that each track represents a totally different shade of Latin jazz. Although only two albums have been released, the octet has been playing together for the past six years.

Grupo Los Santos: Lo Que Somos Lo Que Sea

by Michael P. Gladstone
March 18, 2008

A spirited group of Latin jazz players called Grupos Los Santos offers its brand of music on Lo Que Somos Lo Que Sea, which translates to What We Are What Will Be . The title of the group could also be loosely translated to mean that they are not playing a singular type of music but bring in many elements, tempo and cultural diversities.

When “Rumba in the Bronx" begins, it is with a percussive rumba ...

Grupo Los Santos: Lo Que Somos Lo Que Sea

by Ernest Barteldes
February 5, 2008

Grupo Los Santos is a New York-based group that successfully looks at Latin and Brazilian jazz from an American point of view. The result is a mixed sonic bag that allows influences from funk and East Coast jazz into the music without compromising the general sound and feel. At their CD release concert at New York's The Jazz Standard in January, 2008, they opened with “Boogie Down Broder," a tune by saxophonist Paul Carlon dedicated to the ...