Home » Jazz Articles » Black Art Jazz Collective
Jazz Articles about Black Art Jazz Collective
Black Art Jazz Collective: Ascension
by Ian Patterson
The name has obvious political resonance. Indeed, the raison d'être of the Black Art Jazz Collective, the sextet founded by Wayne Escoffery, Jeremy Pelt and Jonathon Blake in 2013, is to celebrate African American excellence on the one hand, and--not unrelated--to raise political consciousness on the other. The BAJC's debut album,Presented By The Side Door Jazz Club (Sunnyside Records, 2016) paid homage to W. E. B. Dubois and Barack Obama, while recalling, too, the history of slavery. Ascension plows a ...
read moreBlack Art Jazz Collective: Ascension
by Jack Bowers
On Ascension, the Black Art Jazz Collective, a like-minded sextet co-founded in 2012 by trumpeter Jeremy Pelt and saxophonist Wayne Escoffery to salute the artistry of their mentors and musical heroes while moving the idiom forward into the twenty-first century, is unbending in its allegiance to the straight-ahead canon espoused by the architects of modern jazz. It's a stance that gives rise to pluses and minuses. On the upside, this is splendid music, rhythmically and melodically pleasing, ...
read moreBlack Art Jazz Collective: Black Art Jazz Collective - Presented By The Side Door Jazz Club
by Maurizio Zerbo
Il nome del gruppo rispecchia paradigmaticamente gli intenti di questo CD. Tra omaggi a politici e jazzisti, le otto tracce proposte celebrano in chiave modern mainstream la composita cultura afroamericana del Novecento. Orientati sul versante postboppistico, gli assoli brillano per fluidità di fraseggio e tecnica sopraffina, riscattando ampiamente la rigidità del canone. Si impongono esposizioni avvincenti e soluzioni stilisticamente enciclopediche, grazie a musicisti di grande personalità. Sul piano dell'architettura musicale si avverte l'affettuoso rimando alla più recente ...
read moreBlack Art Jazz Collective: Black Art Jazz Collective - Presented By The Side Door Jazz Club
by Franz A. Matzner
Formed by a cross-section of contemporary jazz's leading voices, the Black Art Jazz Collective has a simple goal as political as it is salutary: create a platform for artists of the same generation to collaborate musically and promote the recognition of African- American cultural and political figures.Comprised of Wayne Escoffery (tenor sax),Jeremy Pelt (trumpet), James Burton III (trombone), Xavier Davis (piano),Vicente Archer(bass), and Jonathan Blake(drums), the BAJC hearkens back to similar creative groups established at various points in ...
read moreBlack Art Jazz Collective: Black Art Jazz Collective - Presented By The Side Door Jazz Club
by Budd Kopman
The Black Art Jazz Collective was founded in 2013 by saxophonist Wayne Escoffery, trumpeter Jeremy Pelt and drummer Johnathan Blake, with bassist Dwayne Burno added shortly thereafter, and further expanded by trombonist James Burton (III) and pianist Xavier Davis. The group's first performance was Dizzy's Club Coca Cola in April, 2013. Sadly, Burno died in December of that year, and was eventually replaced by Vicente Archer. The avowed purpose of the group is to celebrate Black culture, particularly jazz, but ...
read more
Giveaway
Days remaining: 5
