Jazz Articles about Alan Ferber

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Alan Ferber: Chamber Songs: Music for Nonet and Strings

by Raul d'Gama Rose
June 28, 2010

There is a magnificent sequence on “Paradox," about four and a half minutes into the piece, as it races upward. The instruments trade interpretations of the song's conundrum, its paradox, the inverted chord changes on which the song is built--saxophones, then trumpet, the blat-blat-blat of Alan Ferber's trombone, before the strings get their say. It is here that the true ingenuity of the composer's musical apparition comes into light. The truth is that Ferber appears to have heard every instrument ...

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Alan Ferber: Developing String Theory

by Franz A. Matzner
June 28, 2010

Trombonist and composer Alan Ferber is a precise and thoughtful individual whose careful, deliberate expression is equally evident in both his insightful way of speaking--and his beautifully composed and executed recordings. As a freelancer, Ferber has tackled a wide breadth of music, everything from big band and small ensemble jazz to Broadway musicals and the beats of Dr. Dre.But it is as a composer and a performer of his own music that Ferber's gifts most clearly shine.

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Charlie Hunter: Gentlemen, I Neglected to Inform You You Will Not Be Getting Paid

by John Kelman
January 18, 2010

As ever, 7-string guitarist Charlie Hunter can be counted on to shake things up every couple of discs. After two trio sets with keyboardist Erik Deutsch, Hunter returns to the horn-driven breadth of Right Now Move (Ropeadope, 2003). On Gentlemen, I Neglected to Inform You You Will Not Be Getting Paid, however, Hunter trades Right Now's unorthodox harmonica/sax/trombone frontline for the equally unusual line-up of two trombones and trumpet. But more than just the line-up has changed.

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Todd Sickafoose: Tiny Resistors

by Sean Patrick Fitzell
June 12, 2008

With lush orchestrations of finely honed compositions, bassist Todd Sickafoose's Tiny Resistors reveals a broad musical vision. A stalwart of the new music scene, playing improv and indie-rock projects and blurring those distinctions, Sickafoose's third CD highlights his maturation as a composer and talents as a multi-instrumentalist, with pieces incorporating a swath of stylistic influences--rock, Americana, jazz, blues and touches of modern classical. Sickafoose works a sweeping aural range, with instrumentation that includes two guitars, drums and ...

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Todd Sickafoose: Tiny Resistors

by John Kelman
June 3, 2008

An active sideman, bassist Todd Sickafoose is best-known for his work with DIY singer/songwriter Ani DiFranco. But he's also been very busy on the outer edges of jazz, working with artists including John Zorn on Voices in the Wilderness (Tzadik, 2003), Tin Hat Trio on The Rodeo Eroded (Ropeadope, 2002), and Scott Amendola Band on the drummer's very fine Cry (Cryptogramophone, 2003). It may be Amendola's disc that hooked Sickafoose up with Cryptogramophone for Tiny Resistors, his third record as ...

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Alan Ferber: The Compass

by Budd Kopman
February 10, 2008

With The Compass, trombonist Alan Ferber cements his reputation as one of the jazz world's premier composers and arrangers for larger groups. Why Ferber's work, as well as his band, does not have a higher profile is a mystery. This is music that deserves to reach a much wider audience, period. Ferber's vehicle is his nonet, which has remained stable since the release of Scenes From An Exit Row (Fresh Sound New Talent, 2005); a compliment in ...

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Todd Sickafoose Group: Blood Orange

by Nathan Haselby
December 27, 2005

The young composer and bassist Todd Sickafoose waited a full five years to put out his second release, Blood Orange, following his debut, Dogs Outside (2000). Considering the advances he has made as a composer and arranger, the wait is worth it. Sickafoose still writes pensive mainstream jazz enriched by free improvisation, but his tighter new group makes possible writing which demands no less from individual players and gets much more from the whole.

To be fair, Dogs Outside was ...