Jazz Articles
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Negative Press Project: The Victorious Sessions
by Glenn Astarita
This Northern California-based ensemble has taken a bold step in its musical journey. The compositions are intricate, weaving together complex rhythms and melodies as each piece tells its own story, with the musicians' styles shining through, yet harmoniously blending to create a unified band persona. The band's standout feature is its ability to balance improvisation with structured composition amid jazz fusion, Afro-Cuban, West-African, classic West Coast “cool" and nods to the big-band era. The jazz influence is evident ...
read moreJeff Denson, Romain Pilon and Brian Blade: Finding Light
by Pierre Giroux
Boston's Berklee College of Music has the reputation as an incubator of some top rated musicians including Quincy Jones, Diana Krall and Melissa Etheridge among others. So it should come as no surprise that the threesome attached to this recording, bassist Jeff Denson, guitarist Romain Pilon and drummer Brian Blade were all standout students and friends while simultaneously attending Berklee. Like many other musicians, the two terrible years of the Covid-19 pandemic, put many communal activities ...
read moreEdward Simon: 25 Years
by Dan McClenaghan
Pianist Edward Simon immigrated to the United States from his native Venezuela while still in his teens. He stayed, and carved out a successful career in music. His fiftieth birthday rolled around, and the artist decided it was time to take a look and listen back. In a musical journey that spans the titular 25 Years, Simon has crafted a lot of music, employing a Latin/jazz/classical approach with a seemingly effortless refinement, making sounds that are unfailingly engaging and beautiful. ...
read moreNever Weather: Blissonance
by Jerome Wilson
Drummer and vibraphonist Dillon Vado is a Bay Area musician whose group, Never Weather, has produced a debut CD that shows a lot of versatility. The band uses a lineup that features, trumpet, saxophone and guitar to create music full of sudden twists and that sometimes straddles the line between jazz and rock. Guitarist Justin Rock, saxophonist Aaron Wolf and trumpeter Josh D. Reed make a forceful and springy front line that delivers a punchy unison charge on ...
read moreJeff Denson, Romain Pilon, Brian Blade: Between Two Worlds
by Friedrich Kunzmann
American bassist Jeff Denson and French guitarist Romain Pilon not only became professional acquaintances, but also great friends, when they began their studies at the much-revered Boston Berklee College of Music at the end of the last century. On Between Two Worlds the two celebrate their twenty years of on-and-off collaborating, with leading drum wizard Brian Blade completing the trio. In a set of mostly clear structures and highly melodic interplay between all involved, a crunchy guitar effect paired with ...
read moreAlan Hall: Heroes, Saints and Clowns
by Chris M. Slawecki
Ratatet, the sextet led by drummer Alan Hall, doesn't seem to quite fit into a musical box of any style or shape. One of the San Francisco Bay area's most respected musical performers and educators, Hall assembled this uniquely constructed ensemble from fragments of previous engagements: He previously played in a trio called Electreo with Paul Hanson (here on tenor sax and bassoon, acoustic and with electronic treatments) and Jeff Denson (on fretless electric and double acoustic bass). Hall and ...
read moreJeff Denson: Outside My Window
by Jerome Wilson
Bassist Jeff Denson has been showing his abilities as a singer on several recent recordings. He performed a couple of The Beatles' songs on the San Francisco String Trio's May I Introduce To You and did Jeff Buckley's “So Real" on the Negative Press Project's Eternal Life: Jeff Buckley Songs and Sounds. Here he devotes an entire album to his vocals, singing the work of Buckley, Peter Gabriel, Abbey Lincoln and Soundgarden's Chris Cornell, in addition to several of his ...
read moreNegative Press Project: Eternal Life
by Jerome Wilson
There are few people in music who have become more famous through a very small body of work than Jeff Buckley. At the time of his death by accidental drowning in 1997, the singer-songwriter's recorded legacy consisted of one live EP of cover tunes and one studio album, Grace. Nevertheless his multi-octave voice and the ethereal rush of his songs have touched a lot of people. There's been a film and several books about him, several people have covered his ...
read moreSan Francisco String Trio: May I Introduce To You
by Jerome Wilson
This year is the 50th anniversary of the release of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, one of the most iconic albums in popular music history, so naturally a lot of musicians are celebrating it. Here the San Francisco String Trio try their hand at interpreting the album in a jazz context.This group is made up of three noted string players, violinist Mads Tolling, guitarist Mimi Fox and bassist Jeff Denson. They have no trouble paring ...
read moreSan Francisco String Trio: May I Introduce To You
by James Nadal
Fifty years after its release, The Beatles masterpiece, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, has not only seen a resurgence in its popularity, but a slew of inquisitive musicians continue to glean from its creative depths. May I Introduce To You is an intellectual tribute to this iconic album by the San Francisco String Trio, who discovered a treasure trove of material for musical exploration, setting a new standard for jazz interpretation of the Fab Four. The trio ...
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