Home » Jazz Articles » Luis Bonilla
Jazz Articles about Luis Bonilla
Russell Scarbrough: Fun Times
by Jack Bowers
Bandleader Russell Scarbrough has an intriguing motto: “If it's not fun, we're not doing it right!" He also had an intriguing way of recording his debut album, Fun Times, to which an entire review could be devoted. Suffice to say that the individual parts were taped in isolation owing to the Covid pandemic and sent to Scarbrough for inclusion on the album, sometimes taking up to a year to complete. Scarbrough “could afford to be patient," he writes, “as [he] ...
read moreVanguard Jazz Orchestra: OverTime: Music of Bob Brookmeyer
by Angelo Leonardi
Questo disco ci è giunto con un po' di ritardo ma va assolutamente segnalato. È infatti uno dei migliori dischi dell'anno nonchè un omaggio al genio orchestrale di Bob Brookmeyer. Forse non tutti sanno che lo storico trombonista, partner negli anni cinquanta di Stan Getz, Gerry Mulligan e Jimmy Giuffre, è stato uno di massimi orchestratori moderni: nel 1966 partecipò alla fondazione della Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, scrivendo decine di partiture, e nel 1990 ne divenne il direttore, quando la ...
read moreVanguard Jazz Orchestra: OverTime: Music of Bob Brookmeyer
by John Ephland
There's a richness, a depth, a density to his varied charts. And the soloists and ensemble passages inside those charts! Such has always been the case with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, then, and now. For real, gliding from the spirit of Thad Jones and Mel Lewis, this edition of the VJO now embraces another one of its own: trombonist/composer/arranger/pianist Bob Brookmeyer, with Over Time: Music Of Bob Brookmeyer. And what different sound comes from this grand aggregate of ...
read moreVanguard Jazz Orchestra: OverTime: Music of Bob Brookmeyer
by Jack Bowers
While it may be hard to believe, the reality is that the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra is nearing the end of its first half-century together. Formed in 1966 as the Thad Jones -Mel Lewis Orchestra, it continued on after Jones' departure as the Mel Lewis Orchestra, then as the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra after Lewis' death in February 1990. During many of those years, the ensemble was enriched by the compositions and arrangements of the renowned Bob Brookmeyer (1929-2011), a master craftsman ...
read moreThe Vanguard Jazz Orchestra: OverTime: Music Of Bob Brookmeyer
by Dan Bilawsky
Trumpeter Thad Jones and drummer extraordinaire Mel Lewis may have given birth to the band that's now known as The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, but the late Bob Brookmeyer gave the group artistic independence at a time when it was sorely needed. When Jones left the fold and departed for Europe at the tail end of the '70s, things could've gone a very different way for this storied outfit: it could've simply carried on as a pretty good ...
read moreLuis Bonilla, Terri Lyne Carrington, Tony Levin & Otis Taylor
by Martin Longley
The Luis Bonilla Quintet Dizzy's Club March 19, 2013 For two nights only, trombonist Luis Bonilla brought his quintet to Dizzy's Club. The first set on the first evening launched off into an assured blast of convoluted style amalgamation. Many might view Bonilla as a Latin jazz specialist because of his Costa Rican background, but the Californian 'bone man bandleader's version of jazz skirts many different zones, usually within each individual composition. Opening ...
read moreLuis Bonilla: Twilight
by Dan Bilawsky
I Talking Now! (Planet Arts, 2009) presented a brazen bonanza of trombone playing from Luis Bonilla. That high energy outing--filled with intense, outspoken instrumental wonders--contained great music that was, to some extent, one-sided in the way that it portrayed Bonilla and his quintet. Twilight, on the other hand, is a well-balanced feast for the aural senses. The majority of the personnel from his prior recording is kept intact--the only major roster shift coming at piano, with Bruce ...
read more
Giveaway
Days remaining: 5
