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Jazz Articles about Rob Blakeslee
Rob Blakeslee Quartet: Last Minute Gifts
by Jim Santella
Creative improvised music flows directly from an artist’s personality. It’s entirely spontaneous and always new. In that respect, Rob Blakeslee has been warming up for 30 years. His search has taken him all over the U.S. Since he’s settled in Oregon, the trumpeter has remained active in free jazz circles. From 1988 to 1996, he chaired the Oregon State University Jazz Program. Blakeslee’s discography lists four previous albums as leader. His quartet proves bold and brassy in this August 2000 ...
read moreRob Blakeslee: Double Yellow
by Glenn Astarita
Double Yellow is a 1999 recording featuring Roper performing alongside some venerable West Coast modern jazz musicians. Here, percussion wunderkind Brad Dutz utilizes an arsenal consisting of gongs, cymbals, tablas, chimes and more as trumpeter Rob Blakeslee and trombonist Michael Vlatkovich mince accenting tonalities, with poignant interludes, modern jazz interplay and world beat grooves. Moreover, the band also partakes in sonorous extended note drones, subtly climactic passages, oscillating crosscurrents and indigenous rhythms. Basically, the musicians’ pursue some sort of transcendental ...
read moreRob Blakeslee: Waterloo Ice House
by Mark Corroto
Sometimes a jazz band will perform sans piano simply because the bar or hall doesn’t own one, or for a New Orleans funeral procession the reason is obvious. The choice not to record with an available piano is a conscious one. Take Ornette Coleman’s 1960 quartet, Sonny Rollins at The Village Vanguard 1957, or John Zorn’s Masada of the 1990s all elected to free themselves from the constraints of those black & white keys. I’m telling you this because Rob ...
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