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John Lang: Earotica
by Jack Bowers
There's something special about a nonet: small enough to have its own personality, yet large enough to sound at times akin to a full-size big band. Bassist John Lang leads a first-class nonet on Earotica, his fourth album as leader. Having given Lang's last disc a rather lukewarm appraisal almost two years ago, it is a pleasure to note that his new album is superior in every respect. Gone are the desultory funk and rock beats, replaced ...
read moreAndy Farber and His Orchestra: Early Blue Evening
by Jack Bowers
Saxophonist Andy Farber's New York-based orchestra came together and cut its teeth as the onstage band for three hundred performances of After Midnight, a Broadway revue that paid tribute to Jazz Age nightclub luminaries from Duke Ellington, Jimmie Lunceford and Count Basie to Harold Arlen, Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh. As one might presume from the orchestra's provenance, echoes of Ellington and Basie can readily be discerned on its first recording since After Midnight closed in 2014--but Farber, who wrote ...
read moreFour Quartets
by Patrick Burnette
Dry the pool, dry concrete, brown edged, And the pool was filled with water out of sunlight, And the lotos rose, quietly, quietly, and said shooby dooby doo—er, well, maybe not according to T. S. Eliot, but those aren't the four quartets we're talking about. Instead, we've got a mix of progressive and nostalgic takes on a jazz combo format as old as time and much, much hipper than “Cats." Playlist Discussion of Michael Marcus, Joe McPhee, Jay ...
read moreBruce Harris: Soundview
by Pierre Giroux
Cory Weeds, who is the executive producer of Soundview, is also the major domo behind The Cellar Music Group. This Vancouver, B.C. entity is committed to providing black artists with the opportunity to record and showcase their talent under the guidance of well-known trumpeter Jeremy Pelt. This initial release features trumpeter Bruce Harris and provides him with the launch pad to pay tribute to his family and community in the Bronx.Accompanied by pianist Sullivan Fortner, bassist David Wong, ...
read moreBruce Harris with the John Toomey Trio at Attucks Theater
by Mark Robbins
In 1990 Spike Lee's movie, Mo Better Blues, was released. A young Bruce Harris watched the film about the turmoil surrounding a jazz trumpeter and his quintet and in the next 129 minutes his love of the trumpet was born. From performing in the “Essential Ellington" jazz band competition while in high school to a BA and Masters in Jazz Performance from the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College to stints at Smalls, Smoke Jazz Club, Dizzy's Club ...
read moreBruce Harris: Beginnings
by David A. Orthmann
Beginnings sounds as if it's guided by an old hand instead of someone relatively new to the demanding art of leading a band. The debut recording of trumpeter Bruce Harris captures a coherent, homogeneous group sound, while utilizing several different combinations of instruments. Harris ties together material ranging from Harold Arlen, to Bud Powell, to Prince, as well as his own originals, and judiciously employs the assorted voices of several soloists who effectively express themselves in only a chorus or ...
read moreBruce Harris: Beginnings
by Dan Bilawsky
Many a debut album receives a largely positive critique before being cut down to size with a qualifier. It's simply a jazz journalist's nature to paint newcomers as nascent talent in need of seasoning, players showing signs of potential, or artists taking a good first step with a first record. But sometimes a debut album is simply a strong statement with no need for journalistic hedging. Such is the case with Beginnings. If you haven't heard trumpeter ...
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