Jazz Articles
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Mike Freeman's ZonaVibe: Circles In A Yellow Room
by Jack Bowers
Circles in a Yellow Room, New York-based vibraphonist Mike Freeman's eighth recording as leader of his own ensembles, has a Latin flavor reminiscent of classic albums by West Coast maestro Cal Tjader. Stylistically, Freeman parallels Tjader and a host of others from Milt Jackson, Terry Gibbs and Gary McFarland to Bobby Hutcherson, Gary Burton, Joe Locke and Steve Nelson. Which is another way of saying that when it comes to the vibraphone, there is not much that separates the best ...
Continue ReadingMike Freeman: The Vibesman
by Dan McClenaghan
The sound of the vibraphone glows--a ringing and sustained sonic luminescence. Current masters of the instrument include Gary Burton, Joe Locke, Bobby Hutcherson, and the perhaps lesser-known but also masterful Mike Freeman. With his percussion-soaked group Zonavibe--that includes, besides the vibes, the sounds of marimba, and kalimba, congas, bongos, campana and timbales--Freeman stirs up a multicultural brew of vibrant optimism and Latin and world jazz grooves. Tenor sax and flute, steeped in an organized rhythmic clamor on the ...
Continue ReadingMike Freeman: Wiggle Stomp
by Dave Nathan
Mike Freeman's second self-produced album features a program of his compositions. The underlying theme is Latin and Brazilian jazz and calypso. Freeman not only plays the vibes, but the marimba as well, the latter reserved for the calypso music. If the picture on the album is accurate, Freeman uses the four mallets getting a voicing that is more defined and not as resonant as other practitioners of that technique. The musical program is one of contrasts. A pensive, ...
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