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Album Review

Roberto Magris: Love Is Passing Thru

Read "Love Is Passing Thru" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Love Is Passing Thru, by Italian pianist Roberto Magris and his quartet, was actually recorded almost two decades ago, in January and February 2005, shortly after a concert tour in the Far East, and was to be released on the Black Saint/Soul note label before it was sold and went under. Fast forward to 2024, and Magris, now with Kansas City's JMood label, decided that in light of the passing a year ago of drummer and percussionist Enzo Carpentieri, the ...

13
Album Review

Roberto Magris: Love Is Passing Thru

Read "Love Is Passing Thru" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Italian pianist Roberto Magris started his jazz journey on his home turf, notably with a trio of albums on the Soul Note label: Check-In (2005), Il Bello del Jazz (2006) and Current Views (2009). But his profile rose substantially when he got involved with JMood Records, beginning with Kansas City Outbound (2008). He offered his masterpiece on the label in 2020 with Suite! , a sumptuous double CD showcasing an artist who adheres very much to the tradition but who ...

37
Album Review

Roberto Magris & The JM Horns: High Quote

Read "High Quote" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Italian-born pianist/composer Roberto Magris, a paradigm of kinetic energy, records so many albums they can't seem to release 'em fast enough. Although High Quote, on which Magris leads the JM Horns (for JMood Records), was recorded more than a decade ago--in November 2012--its release date was for purposes unknown delayed until 2023. Whatever the reasons, it would be hard to believe they had anything to do with the quality of the music, which is by and large ...

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Album Review

Roberto Magris: Duo & Trio

Read "Duo & Trio" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Italian-born pianist Roberto Magris is a musician to whom the phrase “he could play the phone book and make it sound interesting" definitely applies--as it does to the late great Chicago-based saxophone maestro Mark Colby who met Magris in 2016, formed an instant bond and recorded one-half of this superlative album three years later, one year before Colby's untimely death from cancer. Magris and Colby recorded seven tracks in a Chicago studio and planned to record more--enough ...

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Album Review

Roberto Magris: Shuffling Ivories

Read "Shuffling Ivories" reviewed by Edward Blanco


Pianist Roberto Magris follows up his critically-acclaimed album Suite! (JMood Records, 2018) with a duet recording with Chicago-based bassist Eric Hochberg, whom he met while recoding Suite! . Returning to the windy city in November 2019 to promote the release of Suite! , Magris and Hochberg decided to make an album of their own while enduring one of the heaviest winter storms in the history of the city. Over his thirty-plus albums, Magris has often drawn inspiration from ...

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Album Review

Roberto Magris: Shuffling Ivories

Read "Shuffling Ivories" reviewed by Jack Bowers


In 2018, while he was in Chicago to record his ninth album, Suite!, for JMood Records, pianist Roberto Magris was introduced by tenor saxophonist Mark Colby to bassist Eric Hochberg, an artist with whom Magris formed an almost immediate bond. After performing together at Chicago's Jazz Showcase, Magris and Hochberg decided they should record together, and so they did, setting down Shuffling Ivories, wherein Magris pays tribute to a number of his pianistic heroes, from Eubie Blake to Oscar Peterson, ...

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Album Review

Roberto Magris & Eric Hochberg: Shuffling Ivories

Read "Shuffling Ivories" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


You cannot get a sound that is more dead-center-of-the-U.S.A than pianist Roberto Magris and Eric Hochberg's Shuffling Ivories. This makes sense geographically as the disc comes from Kansas City's JMood Records, the label that seems intent on recording everything that Magris has to offer, including the pianist's 2020 magnum opus, Suite. Born in Trieste, Italy, Magris has embraced American jazz with a passion, from his celebrations of pianist Elmo Hope, One Night with Hope and More, Volume 1 ...

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Album Review

Roberto Magris: Suite!

Read "Suite!" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


Roberto Magris, the Italian pianist who spends a good bit of time in the United States, records prolifically. His latest release is a 2CD set that covers a lot of ground, encompassing sparkling hard bop, spiritual jazz, solo piano work and soulful excursions that feature electric keyboards. For much of the CD Magris plays with a quintet featuring the late Mark Colby on tenor sax, Eric Jacobson on trumpet, Eric Hochberg on bass and Greg Artry on drums. ...

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Album Review

The MUH Trio: A Step Into Light

Read "A Step Into Light" reviewed by Jack Bowers


The “MUH" in the MUH Trio is an acronym depicting the surnames of its members, pianist Roberto Magris, bassist Frantisek Uhlir and drummer Jaromir Helesic. Magris is from Italy, Uhlir and Helesic from the Czech Republic. A Step Into Light isn't their first walk around the block; they've been working together on and off for years, and recorded an earlier album, Prague After Dark, also for JMood Records, in 2016. That experience pays dividends, as the trio's ...

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Album Review

Roberto Magris: Suite!

Read "Suite!" reviewed by Jack Bowers


When appraising a new recording by Roberto Magris, Rule No. 1 is always to expect the unexpected. On eighteen previous albums, the Italian-born pianist has produced tributes to Lee Morgan, Elmo Hope and Cannonball Adderley, welcomed guest artists Herb Geller, Sam Reed and Ira Sullivan, and led groups ranging from trio to septet, all for Kansas City's JMood Records. In that spirit, Magris' newest two-disc set, Suite!, isn't a suite at all; that is to say, it cannot be defined ...


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