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Jazz Articles about John Raymond
Buselli / Wallarab Jazz Orchestra: The Gennett Suite
by Dan McClenaghan
This is where music for mass consumption--recorded music--started, in Richmond, Indiana, in the 1920s, in a piano factory by the railroad tracks in a glacier-carved gorge. Established in 1887, in the beginning Starr Pianos' bread and butter was pianos, but they branched out to selling other instruments and eventually photographs and records--their own records, recorded in the piano factory, taking breaks in the process when a train came by. At first, they called their recording side of the business Starr ...
read moreKind Folk: Head Towards The Center
by Jerome Wilson
Kind Folk is a quartet consisting of trumpeter John Raymond, alto saxophonist Alex LoRe, bassist Noam Wiesenberg and drummer Colin Stranahan. They recorded their first album in 2018, then went their separate ways for various reasons. They finally reconnected in June 2021 and came up with the simmering blend of jazz, rock and folk sensibilities that makes up this album. Generally, there is a subdued but close-knit feel to this music. Tracks such as “Mantrois" and “Around, Forever" ...
read moreZacc Harris Group: Small Wonders
by Mike Jurkovic
Accompanied by the hugely conversant John Raymond on trumpet and flugelhorn, saxophonist Brandon Wozniak, Expressionism-steeped pianist Bryan Nichols and the fluid viscosity of rhythm brothers bassist Chris Bates and drummer JT Bates, Zacc Harris—whose tonal voyage could be immediately likened to that of John Scofield (if only Harris didn't harken and manage all his influences so damn well)—creates on Small Wonders a very lucid, warm and easy vibe one cannot help being explicably drawn to. It is a vibe many ...
read moreZacc Harris Group: Small Wonders
by Mark Corroto
There is a theme of currents to the music of Small Wonders, although it is not stated in the titles. Minneapolis guitarist Zacc Harris pours the music from this album into your ears, metaphorically speaking. At times it is a cascade, in other places just a trickle. Either way, listeners are encouraged to float along, and going with the flow is a natural reaction to this music. Small Wonders is the second release by the Zacc Harris Group, following The ...
read moreJohn Raymond and Real Feels: Live Vol. 2
by Peter J. Hoetjes
After releasing his album Joy Ride (Sunnyside Records) early in 2018, John Raymond took his band Real Feels on the road to experiment with the songs they created. Their philosophy seems to be predicated on the song rather than the instrument, as of utmost importance. Thankfully, none of the tunes they play here seem rigid or too tightly structured, as this approach can sometimes cause. Worth noting is that while Live Vol. 2 is a live recording, the audio quality ...
read moreKind Folk: Why Not
by Dan Bilawsky
Back in 2014, trumpeter John Raymond, alto saxophonist Alex LoRe, bassist Noam Wiesenberg, and drummer Colin Stranahan gathered in a tiny apartment in Brooklyn to test out their chemistry and let the music flow. Four years later, after some more sporadic get-togethers and a bump or two in the road, we have their debut. Opening with the buoyant and clear-headed Kenny Wheeler tune that serves as the name (and something of a directional beacon) for this collective ...
read moreJohn Raymond & Real Feels: Joy Ride
by Dan Bilawsky
There's something to be said for the centered and warm sound qualities born of a flugelhorn fronting a bass-less trio. Even when John Raymond ratchets up the intensity on his original compositions--the choppy title track in five, the circuitous “Follower"--there's a sense of sonic evenhandedness reflecting both the instrument's depth of character and the artist's depth of soul. Of course, it helps when you also have players of the caliber of guitarist Gilad Hekselman and drummer Colin Stranahan filling out ...
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