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Jazz Articles about Dustin Laurenzi
About Dustin Laurenzi
Instrument: Saxophone, tenor
Related Articles | Concerts | Albums | Photos | Similar ToPaul Dietrich: 5+4
by Jack Bowers
The concept for this latest album by Wisconsin-based trumpeter, composer and educator Paul Dietrich, his fourth as leader, can be found in its title, 5+4, wherein he employs a jazz quintet and four-member string section. It is to Dietrich's credit that neither one outshines the other; the quintet takes the lead on six of the album's eight numbers (all written by Dietrich), the strings on the others ("Out Here," “A Separation"). Indeed, the two components mesh so ...
read moreMatt Ulery: Mannerist
by Mike Jurkovic
There is a lilting magic to the music of Mannerist that is hard to deny or find fault with. The “Bridge" starts and the whole day changes, eliciting, perhaps, a feeling of being lighter on the feet, lighter in spirit and, most importantly, lighter in the head. Suddenly all the information they want you to swallow goes away and its just you and the music. It is a beautiful thing. It is something bassist/composer/bandleader Matt Ulery sets out to do ...
read moreDustin Laurenzi's Natural Language: A Time And A Place
by Mark Corroto
When Chicago tenor saxophonist Dustin Laurenzi dedicates a song “Albert" on A Time And A Place to the the Holy Ghost of the avant- garde, Albert Ayler, he doesn't follow what most impersonators do and scream “ALBERT" at you. He builds upon a simple melody pattern (Ayler-like) patiently magnifying the intensity and fervor. Unlike Ayler, whose music hinted he wouldn't live long (he died at 34), Laurenzi's invocation maintains an equanimity within the eruption. That's just Laurenzi being Laurenzi.
read moreMatt Ulery: Pollinator
by Mike Jurkovic
What a wonderful lift to an otherwise dismal year is Pollinator, Chicago based bassist Matt Ulery's unabashed revelry in swing jazz circa King Oliver and Jelly Roll Morton. Add a few pops, skips and other random surface noises to the sound of these eight unbridled, hothouse Ulery compositions and you'd swear you were sitting in and listening to the real thing. Because Pollinator sure sounds like your grandad's 78s. Those mysteriously heavy, black platters that set you on this beautiful ...
read moreJeremy Cunningham: The Weather Up There
by Jakob Baekgaard
The complex landscape of human emotions is still vastly uncharted, but every true work of art adds a little piece to the puzzle. This can be done in many ways, but it is rare that an album connects emotion with complex layers of memory, interpersonal relations, politics and societal structures. Nevertheless, this is what drummer and composer Jeremy Cunningham's album does. In a statement, Cunningham explains the background: “I wrote The Weather Up There to confront the ...
read moreDustin Laurenzi: Snaketime: The Music Of Moondog
by Mark Corroto
Many genius artists have been labeled as freaks or lunatics because they didn't conform to the standards of civil society, let alone the codes of behavior for musicians. Thelonious Monk, Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Sun Ra are obvious examples of brilliant creators whose music endures and is celebrated. Add to that list Louis Thomas Hardin (1916-1999) aka Moondog. The blind composer-musician could often be found on 6th Avenue in New York dressed as a Viking, selling his music and poetry. ...
read moreDustin Laurenzi: Natural Language
by Mark Corroto
The first thing you notice about saxophonist Dustin Laurenzi is that he is an old soul. Not that he's old, he and bandmates guitarist Jeff Swanson, bassist Mike Harmon, and drummer Charles Rumback, are the next generation in Chicago's creative jazz tradition. It's his music that fits within the definition of old soul. It is comfortably easy to inhabit while avoiding being mainstream, patient with far-reaching wisdom that exhibits compassion and a certain inner peace. Ok, I know this is ...
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