Jazz Articles about Andy Watson

Jill McCarron Trio with Will Anderson: Jazz Motif

by Jack Bowers
June 27, 2021

Pianist Jill McCarron's latest recording, Jazz Motif, gets off to a flying start with Will Anderson's irrepressible alto saxophone setting the pace on a fiery rendition of “All God's Chillun Got Rhythm" and his radiant flute showcased on John Lewis' groovy “Concorde." Alas, Anderson isn't heard again until Tracks 7 (Clare Fischer's “Ontem a Noite") and 9 (Antonio Carlos Jobim's “Chovendo Na Roseira"), both on flute, and uncases the alto only one more time, on Horace Silver's buoyant “Cool Eyes." ...

Peter Bernstein & Guido Di Leone Quartet: Tribute to Jim Hall

by Maurizio Zerbo
February 9, 2021

Tribute to Jimmy Hall è ad oggi uno dei più riusciti omaggi discografici all'arte di questo grande maestro della chitarra jazz, scomparso otto anni fa. La dimensione live, ricca di momenti felici, ne ha ricreato tutto l'intenso lirismo apolinneo che rendeva ogni sua nota indispensabile. L'affinità stilistica che lega Peter Bernstein e Guido Di Leone produce un raffinato dialogo musicale in cui prevalgono le proverbiali sottigliezze melodiche e timbriche che Hall amava riversare anche nei brani dal mood ...

John Hart: Act Three

by Edward Blanco
June 5, 2020

Guitarist John Hart has long had an affinity for working with groups that feature the organ as a primary instrument. Having worked with Jimmy Smith and logged a 16-year tenure with organist Jack McDuff, the guitarist now presents Act Three, yet another project with another organ master, this time New York-based keyboardist Gary Versace on the Hammond B3 organ. Versace is one of the most in-demand musicians on the jazz scene today. Rounding out Hart's new band ...

John Sneider: The Scrapper

by Jack Bowers
March 18, 2020

If you expected a trumpeter whose nickname is “Scrapper" to come out swinging on his first album as leader in twenty years, give yourself a gold star and a hearty pat on the back. That is precisely the modus operandi on The Scrapper, wherein New York-based John Sneider leads a first-rate quintet through its paces on what in many respects seems like a homecoming, as everyone save tenor saxophonist Joel Frahm was present and accounted for on Sneider's earlier recording ...

David Bixler: Show Me The Justice

by John Kelman
December 11, 2003

While not exactly breaking new ground, alto saxophonist David Bixler delivers a set of seven clever original compositions on Show Me The Justice. With a front line including guitarist John Hart and trumpeter Scott Wendholt, and a rhythm section including bassist Ugonna Okegwo and drummer Andy Watson, Bixler examines the nooks and crannies of the post-bop tradition with a style that is spare and economical.

There is, in fact, a certain sense of directness about the whole recording. The New ...

David Bixler: Show Me The Justice

by Norman Weinstein
November 24, 2003

There is more than a hint of the late '60s Blue Note sound to this album, resembling in atmosphere something like an obscure Joe Henderson session. Alto saxophonist David Bixler doesn't sound self-consciously retro, make no mistake about that. He has an individual sound and lots of complex ideas, but his quintet, as well as his seven original compositions, sounds strongly colored by that label's '60s bop proclivities. Bixler has made a name for himself as a ...