Jazz Articles about Michael Occhipinti

Peter Campbell: Old Flames Never Die

by Dan Bilawsky
June 11, 2020

There's a “square peg, round hole" problem holding vocalist Peter Campbell back in the renown department. He doesn't fall into the resounding soul-stirrer category, à la Gregory Porter, the bop poet-philosopher niche, ruled by Kurt Elling, the pure experimentalist's camp, typified by Theo Bleckmann, the neo-soul realm, occupied by José James, the group-minded singer-songwriter space(s), elevated by artists like New York Voices' Peter Eldridge, or any number of other fairly clear-cut categories. The world of male vocalists is, perhaps, the ...

In Orbit: in Orbit

by Anya Wassenberg
February 4, 2019

In Orbit--the group, the song and the album--have a groovy 70s retro kind of feel, crashing chords, melody and dissonance, all to a disco beat. High on energy, with an emphasis on danceable grooves, In Orbit is a cross-border group with a core of Canadian guitarist Michael Occhipinti and American saxophonist Jeff Coffin, who shared composing duties on the album. Tom Reynolds adds tasteful and understated piano to the mix, with the strong combination of Felix Pastorius on ...

Michael Occhipinti: The Sicilian Jazz Project

by Raul d'Gama Rose
September 3, 2008

Michael Occhipinti The Sicilian Jazz ProjectTrue North Records2008 It is a fact of history that modern music can be traced to the seven-note diatonic scale (do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti)--solffeggio--that came into existence when the Benedictine monk, Guido of Arrezo created its scale. He did so ingeniously, by nominating syllables from the first verse of “The Hymn of St. John," written by Paulus Diaconus in the 8th century. But it is also true, though less known, ...

Michael Occhipinti: Creation Dream - The Songs of Bruce Cockburn

by Glenn Astarita
February 1, 2001

Canadian guitarist/composer and co-leader of the “NOJO” large ensemble, Michael Occhipinti pays homage to fellow countryman and celebrated folk singer, Bruce Cockburn on Creation Dream – the songs of Bruce Cockburn. With this release, the guitarist garners some additional support from frequent collaborator, clarinetist Don Byron, along with a sympathetic cast of top-notch Canadian jazz musicians, while Cockburn, strums his acoustic guitar on one track, (“Pacing The Cage”).

The musicians inject or perhaps transpose the themes and finely crafted lyricism ...