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Jim Rotondi: Finesse
by Jack Bowers
Finesse is trumpeter Jim Rotondi's ninth recording as a leader but his first using a full orchestra including strings. The band and string section are from Austria, where Rotondi presently lives, performs, and teaches, and each one is quite good. As for Rotondi, besides playing superb trumpet--open or muted--he wrote every song on the album save for two brief “introductory" pieces by Jakob Helling who was the arranger on every number. As if that many instruments weren't ...
read moreOne For All: Blueslike
by C. Andrew Hovan
As the timeworn adage goes, sometimes the best things come from situations where one is asked to function in less than ideal circumstances. When you have little time to analyze things and go with pure instincts, there's an air of veracity and spontaneity to the results that is seldom arrived at by any other means. Although the hard bop collective One For Allhas forged a shared identity through regular gigs and a growing catalog of recordings for several labels, including ...
read moreOne For All: Live at Smoke Vol.1
by C. Andrew Hovan
Aside from the musical fireworks that make the enclosed sides noteworthy, there are additional factors that mark Live at Smoke as a major event. For one thing, this “on location" recording is one of the rare live dates to grace the Criss Cross catalog. Furthermore, it serves as a perfect summation up to this point of One For All's musical fortunes as heard in the same venue that fostered the ensemble's very formation. Back in the mid-'80s, drummer Joe Farnsworth, ...
read moreMike DiRubbo: Human Spirit
by C. Andrew Hovan
In an era that seems to more fully embrace the idea of the 'tough young tenor,' alto saxophonist Mike DiRubbo puts forth a singular voice that stands apart from the crowd. With exceptions such as Kenny Garrett, Steve Wilson, and Vincent Herring, DiRubbo is one of the few musicians of this generation to choose the alto horn as his main axe, although his sound and approach seems heavily rooted in the conventions of the tenor and its many historic practitioners. ...
read moreJim Rotondi: Dark Blue
by C. Andrew Hovan
Back in 1997 when Introducing Jim Rotondi announced that a major new trumpeter star was on the ascent, few could have predicted how important and prolific Rotondi would become to the mainstream landscape. A foremost stylist in the lineage of Freddie Hubbard and Wood Shaw, Rotondi quickly proved he had absorbed the legacy, only to jettison imitation in favor of innovation. Working regularly with his own groups and the hard bop ensemble One For All, Rotondi was a major force ...
read moreJim Rotondi: 1000 Rainbows
by Bruce Lindsay
1000 Rainbows swings beautifully, drawing together a few original tunes from trumpeter Jim Rotondi and some out-of-the-ordinary classics that are delivered in real style by a classy quintet. The New York-based Rotondi has been in the jazz scene for more than 20 years and has an extensive back catalog of recordings as a leader. This is his third Posi-tone release as leader, following Four Of A Kind (2008) and Blues For Brother Ray (2009). The musicians on ...
read moreJim Rotondi: 1000 Rainbows
by John Barron
On his third release as a leader for Posi-Tone Records, acclaimed trumpeter Jim Rotondi leads a stellar quintet of New York heavy-hitters on a straight-ahead presentation of original compositions and standard fare. Featuring the unremitting vibraphone work of Joe Locke, 1000 Rainbows swings hard through up-tempo burners, ballads and laid-back funk grooves. Rotondi and Locke are as like-minded as they come, unraveling shapely bebop- style lines full of vigor and surprise. The two, plus pianist Danny Grissett, ...
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