Home » Jazz Articles » Peter Madsen
Jazz Articles about Peter Madsen
Peter Madsen's CIA Trio: 88 Butterfly
by Mike Jurkovic
Veteran pianist & composer Peter Madsen, despite having accompanied or mentored such leading lights and legends as Chris Potter, Maria Schneider, Ravi Coltrane, Stan Getz, Roy Hargrove and Benny Golson, seems to prefer a career flying under the proverbial radar. But there is always something to write home about when his new music comes down the pike. 88 Butterfly, his second full outing with his CIA trio of double bassist Herwig Hammerl and drummer Martin Grabher is no exception.
read morePeter Madsen's CIA Trio: 88 Butterfly
by Dan McClenaghan
Many jazz artists find butterflies inspiring. Pianist Herbie Hancock recorded “Butterfly" for his Thrust album for Columbia Records in 1974. In 1993 guitarist Russell Malone released his Black Butterfly (Columbia Records), the title tune a rendition of a Duke Ellington/Irving Berlin composition; and the Chick Corea + Steve Gadd Band offered up the album Chinese Butterfly (Concord Music Group) in 2018. There are many more examples. Those three cited albums didn't immerse themselves in the butterfly; it was ...
read moreMichael Musillami, Peter Madsen: Pictures
by Alberto Bazzurro
Facciamo anzitutto un po' d'ordine: diciannove sono i brani complessivi di questo album; i dispari, tutti molto brevi (massimo 1'41"), sono altrettante libere improvvisazioni (nello specifico Promenades), sorta di intercapedini (nonché di prologo ed epilogo per quanto concerne le tracce 1 e 19) fra i brani pari, tutti intestati a un musicista specifico, pianisti (autore Peter Madsen) e chitarristi (autore Michael Musillami, ma confessiamo di non aver mai sentito nominare Robert Paris, né di averne trovato traccia sul web, almeno ...
read moreMichael Musillami and Peter Madsen: Pictures
by Troy Dostert
Guitarist Michael Musillami and pianist Peter Madsen have long traveled in the same circles, with Musillami's Playscape label showcasing both musicians in a number of their independently derived projects. But they don't often get to work side-by-side. Aside from Musillami's sextet record, Dachau (Playscape, 2006), the two have only appeared together previously on duo disc, Part Pitbull (Playscape, 2002). Their scintillating renewed partnership on Pictures shows the intervening years have done nothing to diminish their intuitive chemistry and first-rate technical ...
read morePeter Madsen: Curiouser and Curiouser
by Mike Jurkovic
There are times when star ratings don't tell or can't tell the whole story. Five stars, four, three, two, billions upon billions of stars. Veteran pianist Peter Madsen's Curiouser and Curiouser is just one of those times. It's a great listen but is it an essential one? Without being too harsh, no. Is it a disc with plenty of repeat listenings in it? For many yes, for others, probably not. Sorry, but the star system isn't going to work for ...
read morePeter Madsen's Storytellers: Curiouser and Curiouser
by Jerome Wilson
In 2018 Peter Madsen released Never Bet the Devil Your Head (Playscape), a fine CD by his jazz-classical hybrid group, the Seven Seas Ensemble, that was dedicated to the writing of Edgar Allan Poe. Now he brings the jazz half of the Ensemble together for another set of music based on classic literature, this time, Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. Given the subject, this music has an understandably brighter mood than the Poe project. The “Alice" theme itself ...
read morePeter Madsen's Storytellers: Curiouser and Curiouser
by Troy Dostert
After devoting a number of his recordings on the Playscape label to the songbooks of Thelonious Monk (Sphere Essence: Another Side of Monk, 2003), Billy Strayhorn (Satin Doll, 2017) and even Elvis Presley (Elvis Never Left the Building, 2014), pianist Peter Madsen has since sought out literary texts for inspiration. 2018 was a particularly fruitful year, as Never Bet the Devil Your Head investigated the macabre works of Edgar Allan Poe, while I Ching went in a more philosophical direction ...
read more
Giveaway
Days remaining: 14
