Jazz Articles

John Esposito: Blues For Outlaw Hearts

by Dan McClenaghan
March 10, 2024

Pianist John Esposito, the head honcho at Sunjump Records, has made part of his life's mission to feature underappreciated musicians. Guitarist Sangeeta Michael Berardi, who passed in 2024, was one of them. Berardi owed a big debt to saxophonist John Coltrane. This can be heard--leaving no doubt--on his Sunjump outing Earthship, released in 2008. In the mode of Coltrane, the music was soaring, seemingly divinely inspired. John Esposito held down the piano chair. No easy task considering the relentless uplift ...

Sangeeta Michael Berardi: The Mr. P Sessions

by Dan McClenaghan
February 9, 2014

In October of 1996, guitarist Sangeeta Michael Berardi went into Nevessa Studio in Woodstock, New York, and laid down the tracks for what would become two monumental recordings, Earthship (Sunjump Records, 2008) and Calling Coltrane (Sunjump Records, 2011). This is stunning music from a man who played with Alice Coltrane, Roswell Rudd, Rashied Ali, Archie Shepp--a resume that correctly suggests a free approach to music. Call the seventeen tunes from that session the new Testament of John Coltrane, circa 1965 ...

John Esposito / Ira Coleman / Peter O'Brien: Orisha

by Jakob Baekgaard
October 3, 2010

No matter the musical constellations he has worked in, deconstruction and reimagining of the jazz tradition has always been a crucial part of the art of pianist John Esposito. This is especially true when considering his take on the piano trio, one of the most tried and true formats in jazz. Back in 2006, Esposito released Down Blue Marlin Road on his own Sunjump label. It was a record that showcased his encyclopedic knowledge of tradition, from ...

Jayna Nelson: Bloom of Creation

by Jakob Baekgaard
February 3, 2010

While it is often recognized that music is a matter of both the head and the heart, few artists have taken the statement as literally as the flutist Jayna Nelson. Before the recording of a concert at the legendary Knitting Factory, she instructed her fellow players by handing out copies of a diagram showing the brain's division into two different parts; left and right, the idea being that the musicians would play different parts of the brain, thus achieving a ...

John Esposito / Jeff "Siege" Siegel / Jeff Marx: Inyo

by Jakob Baekgaard
September 30, 2009

Experiment with form lies at the heart of everything pianist John Esposito plays or composes. Whether he's exploring and redefining the language of the standard with his trio or writing for a large ensemble as on A Book of Five Rings (Sunjump, 2008), he has the ability to immerse himself completely in the form that's explored. This is also the case with Inyo, which is a collaboration with saxophonist Jeff Marx and drummer Jeff Siegel--both of whom played with Esposito ...

John Esposito: The Blue People

by Jakob Baekgaard
August 1, 2009

Blue is the color of the blues. It's the mood of sadness and tranquility. It's the freedom and infinity of the ocean and the open sky. It's the rhythm and roots of jazz. The future and the past coalesced into a moment of improvisation.

Pianist John Esposito's The Blue People seems to unite all the aspects of the color blue. The music on the album has the sweep of history while still being able to sound totally fresh. It's pure, ...

Second Sight: Flying With The Comet

by Warren Allen
July 28, 2009

Some jazz fans have come to look down on the '80s as a lost decade. A band like Second Sight shows just how wrong they can be, with the reissued Flying with the Comet (1986) thrumming with intensity.

The brainchild of pianist and composer John Esposito, the band refuses to choose between tradition and innovation. All the traces of the past greats who inspired this music show up clear and sharp as ever in the sound and spirit; that said, ...

Sangeeta Michael Berardi: Earthship

by Dan McClenaghan
November 21, 2008

There's a lot of talent vying for our ears in jazz, which translates to many top rate artists falling into the underappreciated category. Guitarist Sangeeta Michael Berardi (b. Sept. 2, 1939, in Waterbury, Conn.) is one of those singular musicians who hasn't gotten his due. Berardi, who was primarily based in Woodstock, N.Y. during his most productive years, has worked with Archie Shepp, Joe Diorio, Sonny Simmons, Perry Robinson and Roswell Rudd--something of a who's who in the ...