Jazz Articles about Reg Schwager

The Schwager/Oliver Quintet: Senza Reza

by Edward Blanco
July 20, 2023

Canada became the first country beyond the USA to have developed its own vibrant jazz scene. What do major jazz artists like Oscar Peterson, Maynard Ferguson, Gil Evans, Rob McConnell and Diana Krall have in common? They're all Canadians, like the players of The Schwagger/Oliver Quintet presenting their debut on Senza Resa, an Italian phrase meaning “No Surrender," which conveys the approach to the music from five of Canada's most exciting award-winning jazz musicians. The album represents the ...

Richard Whiteman: Very Well & Good

by Edward Blanco
February 9, 2021

One of the finest jazz musicians on the Canadian jazz scene, Toronto-based pianist / bassist Richard Whiteman lays down what he considers, perhaps, his best recording to date on the audacious Very Well & Good. A long established pianist for decades, Whiteman picked up the double bass in 2004 and has not put it down since. On this sparkling album the pianist performs on the double bass, leaving the keys to Amanda Tosoff, and presents nine of his best compositions ...

Dave Young Quartet: Ides Of March

by Mark Corroto
December 21, 2020

Maybe the finest compliment you can bestow on an individual in our COVID-19 times is that he/she is a solid citizen, someone who takes it upon themselves to protect others from the dangers of this horrible virus. What does this have to do with the music of bassist/bandleader Dave Young? First, it is fundamental that all great jazz is built upon the foundation of a timekeeping bassist. Second, as evidenced by Young's Ides Of March, his solid hand upon the ...

Mario Romano: The Journey So Far

by Edward Blanco
November 5, 2020

Argentinian-born, Canadian-based pianist Mario Romano delivers his fourth album as leader with The Journey So Far, essentially a compilation project that takes tracks from previously recorded albums and presents them in new light. A successful real-estate developer with a strong musical background, Romano spent most of his life building a business career and after achieving uncommon success, returned to jazz after 2010. He has since become an integral part of the Canadian jazz scene and has created a high-profile with ...

Peter Campbell: Old Flames Never Die

by Dan Bilawsky
June 11, 2020

There's a “square peg, round hole" problem holding vocalist Peter Campbell back in the renown department. He doesn't fall into the resounding soul-stirrer category, à la Gregory Porter, the bop poet-philosopher niche, ruled by Kurt Elling, the pure experimentalist's camp, typified by Theo Bleckmann, the neo-soul realm, occupied by José James, the group-minded singer-songwriter space(s), elevated by artists like New York Voices' Peter Eldridge, or any number of other fairly clear-cut categories. The world of male vocalists is, perhaps, the ...

Al Muirhead's Canadian Quintet: Undertones

by Dan McClenaghan
September 17, 2018

Swing was the thing, until alto saxophonist Charlie Parker, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, and pianist Bud Powell helped give birth to bebop, and alto saxophonist Ornette Coleman set jazz free. Not that swing ever went away, it just got bumped into the back seat. So when “Confirmation" and “Dance of the Infidels" wailed on the dashboard radio, Johnny Hodges' alto sax sang sweet notes out of one of the back windows, Lester Young blowing them out the other. But ...

Reg Schwager & Don Thompson: Live At Mezzetta

by Jerry D'Souza
July 3, 2002

One of the joys of listening to music is to come upon an album that crystallizes the essence of a song. Reg Schwager and Don Thompson bring that trait to a fulfillment that suffuses the soul with its warmth and elegant beauty. That they do so is not surprising. They have been working together for several years and entwine musically in quiet eloquence, living each moment, breathing new life into every one.

This album came about by ...