Home » Jazz Articles » Susan Alcorn
Jazz Articles about Susan Alcorn
Michael McNeill: Barcode Poetry
by Hrayr Attarian
Pianist Michael McNeill approaches music like an abstract painter. Thus his work is dynamic, multi-hued, and textured. The captivating Barcode Poetry, his fourth album as a leader, finds him expanding his palette with unorthodox instrumentation. His quartet includes, in addition to trumpeter Dave Ballou and percussionist Shelly Purdy, innovative pedal guitarist Susan Alcorn whose passing a few months after this music was recorded adds poignancy. “Timeigrant" opens with McNeill's percussive chords in a dramatic tone. Ballou echoes the ...
Continue ReadingSteve Coleman, Matthew Shipp and RIP Susan Alcorn
by Jerome Wilson
This show features a tribute to the late pedal steel master, Susan Alcorn. It also includes music from Matthew Shipp, Mehmet Ali Sanlikol, and Steve Coleman among others. Playlist Henry Threadgill Sextett “I Can't Wait Till I Get Home" from The Complete Novus & Columbia Recordings of Henry Threadgill & Air (Mosaic) 00:00 Itamar Borochov “Bayat Blues" from Arba (Greenleaf Music) 00:53 Mehmet Ali Sanlikol “Estarabim" from Turkish Hipster (Dunya) 5:48 Host Speaks 13:28 Dizzy Gillespie “Theme from ...
Continue ReadingSusan Alcorn, Damon Locks, Allison Miller, Avishai Cohen and Yuval Drabkin
by Hobart Taylor
New music from Allison Miller, Damon Locks, Avishai Cohen with Yuval Drabkin and remembering pedal steel guitarist Susan Alcorn.Playlist Allen Lowe & the Constant Sorrow Orchestra “Dance of the Occupiers" from Louis Armstrong's America (ESP-Disk) 0:00 Mafalda Minnozzi “ Telefone" from Riofonic (Musica Populare Italiana) 2:51 Jimmy Farace “Hours Fly, Flowers Die" from Hours Fly, Flowers Die (Shifting Paradigm) 7:08 Allison Miller “ Potomac" from Big and Lovely (Royal Potato Family) 15:19 Host Speaks 22:40 Harry Drabkin “Ishfahan" ...
Continue ReadingRemembering Susan Alcorn: Bucking The Trends
by Ian Patterson
All About Jazz is saddened to learn of the passing of Susan Alcorn--pedal steel guitarist extraordinaire. She died on January 31st of natural causes. Perhaps more than any other pedal steel guitarist before her, Alcorn took her instrument into musical terrain not usually associated with it. She played country music for twenty years, but she also brought her instrument to bear on contemporary classical music, folk music, jazz and more experimental music. Born in Allentown, PA ...
Continue ReadingMichael McNeill: Barcode Poetry
by Troy Dostert
Pianist Michael McNeill has pursued a number of projects since his debut release, Passageways, in 2013, each of which has defined his distinctive niche as a musician informed by both avant-garde and conventional jazz. On Barcode Poetry, it is the former impulse that prevails, as McNeill and his esteemed colleagues--Susan Alcorn on pedal steel guitar, Dave Ballou on trumpet, and Shelly Purdy on vibes and percussion--engage in lengthy studies in texture and abstraction rather than straightforward melodic expression.
Continue ReadingSusan Alcorn: Nueva Canción on Pedal Steel
by Lawrence Peryer
Today, the Spotlight shines On the innovative pedal steel guitarist Susan Alcorn.While Susan got her start playing in country & western bands in Texas, she has taken the pedal steel into new and uncharted territories, exploring 20th-century classical music, improvisational jazz, and various world musics.On her latest project, CANTO (Relative Pitch Records), Susan explored Chilean folk music and nueva canción, which translates as “new song" and refers to an intertwined musical and leftist social movement so ...
Continue ReadingSusan Alcorn, Patrick Holmes and Ryan Sawyer: From Union Pool
by Troy Dostert
The inimitable pedal steel guitarist Susan Alcorn seemingly knows no bounds when it comes to the range of textures, tones and timbres she can coax out of her instrument. She is also a consummate improvisational partner, whether working in free or composed contexts. And she has forged a terrific partnership with Relative Pitch Records, which has now released four albums with Alcorn featured prominently--the most recent being her outstanding Pedernal, from 2020. Here she is part of a free-improv trio, ...
Continue Reading
