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Jazz Articles about Tom Beckham
Mike Neer: Steelonious
by C. Michael Bailey
Early in his musical career, pianist and composer Thelonious Monk was ordained the Hight Priest of Bebop." This sounds more like a disingenuous pronouncement by an overeager period critic than any credible music reportage. Monk's essential musical approach owed more to stride, blues, and swing than to Charlie Parker's and Dizzy Gillespie's bebop. Monk's technical brilliance, if one could call it that, was not geared toward the technique" of rapid and complexly rendered chord changes. Monk's brilliance lay somewhere much ...
read moreTom Beckham: Rebound
by Woodrow Wilkins
In the simplest terms, to rebound is to bounce back. Many people associate it with a statistic in basketball, or the recovery from heartbreak. Musically, it describes what happens when a mallet strikes a vibraphone, or the bouncing off of ideas during improvisation. Tom Beckham does both with Rebound. Beckham is a Maryland native and a graduate of the Berklee College of Music. A sideman for 20 years, he's performed with musicians such as Seamus Blake, Donny McCaslin, ...
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by Hrayr Attarian
Catchy tunes and intelligent soloing do not a masterpiece make, but they do create a memorable and enjoyable listening experience. Tom Beckham's third album as a leader finds him in sympathetic, although slightly overbearing, company of saxophonist Chris Cheek and a rhythm section led by pianist Henry Hey. Beckham has a unique approach to the vibraphone and does not sound like anyone else. He also composed all the pieces here--smartly crafted, varied and complex enough to be ...
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by Jerry D'Souza
Tom Beckham has a refreshing approach to the vibraphone. He plays it with a gentle ear for harmony and development, with ideas that are wrapped in crystalline notes. Beckham resides in New York where he teaches and plays. The latter has seen him as part of bands led by Michael Musillami and Sam Bardfield as well as in collaborations with artists including Ben Monder, Kurt Rosenwinkel and Michael Blake. Rebound is his third release as a leader.
The ...
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