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Jazz Articles about Alexa Tarantino
Ulysses Owens Jr. Big Band: Soul Conversations
by Jack Bowers
Drummer Ulysses Owens Jr.'s Big Band comes out swinging on its debut recording, Soul Conversations, thundering through Michael Dease's incendiary arrangement of the Dizzy Gillespie/John Lewis flame-thrower, “Two Bass Hit." For more such heat, however, the listener must move forward to Track 5, John Coltrane's impulsive “Giant Steps," thence to Track 9 for Charles Turner III's earnest homage to “Harlem Harlem Harlem," on which he doubles as vocalist. That's not to say that everything in between is ...
Continue ReadingSteven Feifke Big Band: Kinetic
by Jack Bowers
Jazz connoisseurs who lean toward big bands that swing as earnestly and often as the renowned architects of the epic big-band era should find plenty to cheer about on Kinetic, the debut recording by New York-based pianist, composer and arranger Steven Feifke's audacious and fiery ensemble. This is a band that fires on all cylinders—but it couldn't even leave the garage unless Feifke supplied the fuel. With one exception (noted below), Feifke's intense and high-powered charts neatly pave the way, ...
Continue ReadingSteven Feifke Big Band: Kinetic
by Angelo Leonardi
Assimilare la tradizione per poi creare cose originali. È questo il percorso che hanno seguito e continuano a seguire i musicisti jazz, in forme e approfondimenti diversi. A 30 anni esatti il pianista Steven Feifke è ancora al primo passo ma in questo scintillante debutto orchestrale dimostra di avere tutte le carte in regola per sviluppare percorsi originali. Kinetic è infatti un esempio del miglior modern mainstream orchestrale, elaborato sulle lezioni di Thad Jones e Mel Lewis, ...
Continue ReadingAlexa Tarantino: Firefly
by Dan McClenaghan
The twenty-first century sees many of us talking to a cloud-based artificial intelligence: “Alexa, play my music." And so she does. The time frame also sees the emergence of a talented human Alexa--Alexa Tarantino, who plays her music, on Firefly, the woodwindist's third album release on Posi- Tone Records, an evolutionary leap forward— conceptually and compositionally—from her debut, Winds of Change (2019), and her second outing, Clarity (2020), both on Posi-Tone Records. Fronting a quintet which includes vibraphonist ...
Continue ReadingAlexa Tarantino shines with her second album
by Bob Osborne
More great new music from across the World of Jazz with six great new albums to share. The second album from Alexa Tarantino on Posi-tone finds her continuing to demonstrate her skills and artistry. Exciting music from Buenos Aires from the collective known as Aves. The debut album from Chris Platt and Angela Turone brings a modern feel to the sounds of Brazil. Event Horizon Jazz Quartet performs a multifarious selection of original music composed by Jim Kaczmarek ...
Continue ReadingAlexa Tarantino: Passion For Playing And Teaching
by R.J. DeLuke
Alexa Tarantino was bitten by the jazz bug at a young age. She was fortunate to grow up in a community where jazz is an important part of the musical fabric—rare these days. She swiftly grabbed hold of the music and has developed into an in-demand alto saxophonist, earning a series of high-profile gigs that slowed down a bit only recently because she is pushing forward with her own band and musical vision. Her career includes playing sax ...
Continue ReadingAlexa Tarantino: Clarity
by Paul Rauch
Saxophonist Alexa Tarantino has as impressive resume in jazz as any artist could hope for at this stage of a career. As a performer, she has contributed notably to The DIVA Jazz Orchestra, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, the Cecile McLorin Salvant Quintet and Arturo O'Farrill & The Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, to note a few. She has lived the jazz life, juggling responsibilities as an educator, musician and curator, somehow fitting all the pieces together that illustrate the intricacies ...
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