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Jonathan Kreisberg: Capturing Spirits - JKQ Live!
by Friedrich Kunzmann
Throughout his over 30 year-spanning career, Jonathan Kreisberg has made a name for himself that reaches beyond his reputation as a dexterous bop-guitarist that frames him as a leading composer of the modern jazz variety. Like any song from the sacrosanct repertoire of standards, Kreisberg's compositions reveal memorable heads with a cleverly wrought spin to them. His melodies exude as much ease as they do emotional depth and reappear in altered forms throughout a song--disguised as imitations or within sequences. ...
read moreJonathan Kreisberg: Wave Upon Wave
by Dan Bilawsky
Wave upon wave of praise has followed the release of each one of guitarist Jonathan Kreisberg's leader dates--small group affairs that are typically built with equal parts energy and taste; Wave Upon Wave, balancing fire with heart, stealth movement with direct engagement, and power with grace, is likely to garner some more. The fleet-fingered Kreisberg focuses on originals here, shifting between the mellow ("Being Human") and the charged ("Until You Know"). And through it all, regardless of ...
read moreJonathan Kreisberg: ONE
by John Kelman
The liner notes may say no overdubs or loops were used, but Jonathan Kreisberg might just as easily have included that “No guitars were harmed in the making of ONE." Beyond work with artists like vibraphonist Joe Locke on Sticks and Strings (Music Eyes, 2007) and organist Dr. Lonnie Smith on Spiral (Palmetto, 2010), the guitarist has slowly built a personal discography that includes the particularly impressive The South of Everywhere (Mel Bay, 2007) and Shadowless (New for Now, 2011). ...
read moreJonathan Kreisberg: Shadowless
by Raul d'Gama Rose
Jonathan Kreisberg's music sounds so fresh and new that it seems to have escaped from a parallel universe through a virtual door--assaulting the senses in the known one--where everything else exists in brain-numbing manner. From the first notes he strikes, the guitarist creates a jolting spark, starting an accelerating fire that lights up the taut voices of Will Vinson's stormy saxophone, Matt Penman's palpitating bass, the shifting rhythms of drummer Mark Ferber...even rushing Henry Hey's otherwise pensive piano. For his ...
read moreJonathan Kreisberg: Shadowless
by Glenn Astarita
A nascent modern day guitar hero, Jonathan Kreisberg's sixth solo effort, Shadowless, glistens with multihued rays of light amid memorable material and technical brilliance. With his band generating solicitous support and soling mechanisms, the proceedings soar into the jazz cosmos on the sizzling “Twenty One." Kreisberg's broad chordal vernacular is heartily emphasized, as he trades fours and spars with saxophonist Will Vinson. Featuring buoyant and odd-metered unison runs, Kreisberg weaves in between the rhythm section's fluid underpinnings, ...
read moreJonathan Kreisberg: Shadowless
by Dan Bilawsky
Guitarist Jonathan Kreisberg has gained a lot of visibility through his sideman work with organist Dr. Lonnie Smith, but his talents are occasionally downplayed in that role. When left to fend for himself, as on this eight song program, the full breadth and depth of his artistry is revealed. Kreisberg wanted to follow up his gentle, standards-only Night Songs (Criss Cross, 2009) with a more potent musical brew, and Shadowless easily fits the bill. Kreisberg kicks things ...
read moreJonathan Kreisberg: Shadowless
by John Kelman
In a landscape populated by forty-something guitarists like Kurt Rosenwinkel and thirty-something six-stringers like Lage Lund, Jonathan Kreisberg stands alone. Sure, he's got the chops and linguistic sophistication of a group of peers who are the clear next step beyond the innovations of Pat Metheny, John Scofield and Bill Frisell , but what separates Kreisberg is his interest in expanding the sonic potential of his instrument; one of smaller subset of guitarists who approach the inherent orchestral nature of their ...
read moreJonathan Kreisberg: Trioing
by Phil DiPietro
Some weird synergy was responsible for me perusing the current issue of Jazz Times while listening to guitarist Jonathan Kreisberg's astounding straight-ahead debut. An uncanny association occurred when I read Branford Marsalis's assertion, made during a blindfold test (while listening to a different player), that he would, “ban all guitar from jazz records" and “stick them in Foxwoods commercials, in perpetuity", precisely while being blindsided by Kreisberg's 90 second rendition of “Have You Met Miss Jones?" I sincerely doubt Branford's ...
read moreJonathan Kreisberg: Trioing
by David Adler
Add Jonathan Kreisberg to your list of new and undiscovered jazz treasures. The New York-based guitar whiz has been featured to great effect in Yosvany Terry’s band and also with his own electrifying quintet, featuring Scott Wendholt, Gary Versace, Matt Penman, and Anthony Pinciotti. Trioing, his debut as a leader, is a trio standards session with bassist Johannes Weidenmueller and drummer Ari Hoenig (Kenny Werner’s steady rhythm section). While listeners must await a future quintet release for ...
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