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by Troy Dostert
Since its inception, the Microscopic Septet has endeavored to uphold co-founder Phillip Johnston's motto to “break all the rules and respect all the saints." Coming out of New York's internecine jazz wars of the early 1980s, with avant-gardists and traditionalists each denying the other side's legitimacy, the Micros tried to bridge the divide: showing that respect for the jazz tradition could be combined with a healthy spirit of irreverence and risk-taking. That approach thankfully remains in effect today, as the ...
read moreMicroscopic Septet: Been Up So Long It Looks Like Down to Me: The Micros Play the Blues
by Karl Ackermann
Saxophonist Phillip Johnston founded The Microscopic Septet in 1980 when the group briefly counted John Zorn as one of its members. They recorded four albums and were a regular presence in New York's downtown scene before disbanding in 1992. In 2006 Cuneiform Records re-released the four albums leading to the reformation of the group and presently, to their new release Been Up So Long It Looks Like Down to Me: The Micros Play the Blues.Johnston and pianist Joel ...
read moreMicroscopic Septet: Manhattan Moonrise
by Vic Albani
Solo pochi anni orsono, quando mi trovai a scrivere di History of the Micros, i due straordinari capitoli summa summarum di questa band originariamente attiva dal 1980 al 1992 e tornata alle incisioni dopo più di un decennio di pausa creativa e produttiva agli inizi del nuovo millennio, mi trovai a raccontare delle classiche situazioni underground newyorkesi ove, formazioni del genere prosperano per anni nel più glorioso anonimato. Gli anni passano ma la situazione non cambia: l'onnivoro ...
read moreMicroscopic Septet: Manhattan Moonrise
by Glenn Astarita
In the 80s, the band engendered a cagey slant on mainstream swing and then morphed into the risk-taking New York downtown scene, eventually garnering widespread attention and sell-out crowds at the Knitting Factory and other hip venues. They regrouped in 2006, carrying the torch for what has become a singular sound, ingrained in classic jazz stylizations, bop, funk, and the free-jazz domain. Known for its quirky deviations, razor-sharp horns arrangements and melodic hooks, the septet's spunkiness and tightknit overtures align ...
read moreThe Microscopic Septet: Friday the Thirteenth: The Micros Play Monk
by C. Michael Bailey
If two creative star trajectories were ever meant to cross, it was those of pianist/composer Thelonious Monk and the Microscopic Septet. Sure, Steve Lacy and Mal Waldron had a pretty good Monk gig going, and Sphere was a great tribute band lead by Monk's longtime tenor saxophonist Charlie Rouse (followed by Gary Bartz). But, the Micros...here are seven guys who really have Monk under their skin. Documented on previous recordings, many sides reprised on Seven Men in Neckties (Cuniform 2006) ...
read moreThe Microscopic Septet: Friday the Thirteenth
by AAJ Italy Staff
Ormai da una ventina d'anni il repertorio standard del jazz ha acquisito la musica di Monk come fosse una cosa naturale. Non solo le prevedibili “'Round Midnight" o “Well You Needn't," rilanciate da Miles Davis negli anni '50 e diventate in qualche modo canoniche; ma soprattutto i brani più personali, irriducibili, ellittici, quelli che solo Coltrane o Lacy riuscivano a illuminare da altre angolazioni. In realtà le composizioni monkiane non si prestano granchè come canovaccio sul quale costruire assoli generici, ...
read moreMicroscopic Septet: Chance Meeting with the Future
by Gordon Marshall
The Microscopic Septet is all about swing, but swing in a sense extrapolated from the stale, dated pages of the past. Its take on the music of the '30s and '40s is too scholarly to fall off the map as retro, and too deeply felt to be dismissed as a dusty trove of museum pieces. The charts move at the speed of the Coney Island Cyclone, incorporating all that grew out of the world's first love affair with jazz, from ...
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