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Jazz Articles about Pete McCann
Dan Pugach Big Band: Bianca
by Jack Bowers
Dan Pugach is an Israeli-born, New York-based drummer who doubles (quite well) as composer and arranger on Bianca, his second recording for Outside In Music. Pugach anchors a splendid big band comprised of some of the New York area's finest musicians on an album whose subtitle is “Music for Paws and Persistence." The “paws" were those of the Pugach family's rescue pit-bull, Bianca, who passed away in 2019 and left a gaping hole in their lives, as ...
read moreJohn 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 moreAnthony Branker & Imagine: What Place Can Be for Us? - A Suite in Ten Movements
by Angelo Leonardi
L'avventuroso post-bop del compositore Anthony Branker, ben espresso dall'album Beauty Within del quintetto Imagine, trova nuovi e più articolati sviluppi in questo What Place Can Be for Us?. Il gruppo conferma il chitarrista Pete McCann e la coppia Fabian Almazan e Linda May Han Oh ampliandosi fino a un medio organico con alcuni dei massimi giovani strumentisti di New York: il trombettista Philip Dizack, i sassofonisti Walter Smith III e Remy Le Boeuf, il batterista Donald Edwards e la vocalist ...
read morePete McCann: Without Question
by Jack Bowers
Guitarist and composer Pete McCann pulls out all the stops on Without Question, his seventh album as leader, unveiling his singular talents on everything from burners ("Without Question," “Trifecta") to ballads ("I Can Remember," “January," “Lost City"), blues ("Blues for O.M."), burlesque ("Conspiracy Theory"), biting commentary ("Erase the Hate") and borrowed themes ("Lovely Thing"). McCann, a native of Wisconsin who has been a fixture on the New York scene for more than thirty years, is also smart--smart enough, that is, ...
read moreBill Stevens: Lema Sabachthani
by Bill Stevens
In 2003 I recorded the album Dedication, my fifth independently released CD, which in the liner notes I detailed a brief musical history. Dedication bridged a 14-year gap between recordings, as well as a documented move from jny: Seattle, WA. to jny: New York City. In 2004 I formed the Bill Stevens Quintet and in 2005 we recorded the CD Full Circle. Full Circle detailed a specific moment in time and musical direction. In the liner notes I stated, “I ...
read moreAnthony Branker: What Place Can Be for Us? - A Suite in Ten Movements
by Michael Ambrosino
Ma Rainey channeled music as her ritual of “singing to understand life." Congressman John Lewis leveraged music towards the “good trouble" he created fighting for civil rights in an uncivil land. Anthony Branker understands music as the calculus of his life's work—the art of weaving words and sound into transcendent tapestries that explore the rich, complex, and nuanced aspects of intolerance, beauty, prejudice, spirituality, gender, equality and social justice. The composite of this artistry exists within the remarkable ...
read moreSpin Cycle: Spin Cycle III
by Mark Corroto
The quartet we know as Spin Cycle delivers III, the band's follow up to Assorted Colors (Sound Footing Records, 2018). Here, the compositional partners Scott Neumann and Tom Christensen exercise their omnivorous tastes on a broad --ranging spectrum of sound. Like their previous two albums, the pair employ guitarist Pete McCann and bassist Phil Palombi, two über sidemen to accomplish their insatiable need to explore multiple genres and eras. There is something here for everyone. The opening track ...
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