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Jazz Articles about Ari Hoenig
Eunmi Lee: Introspection
by Dan McClenaghan
Korean-born, New York-based pianist and composer Eunmi Lee opens her debut record, Introspection with her original composition, “Gimmick." And, if there is a gimmick, it sounds as if it might be her strong compositional voice and her way with an arrangement. The tune features Alan Ferber on trombone, saxophonist John Ellis, a guitar, bass and drums rhythm section, and Lee in the piano chair. In spite of the album's title, this opener is a bright, sassy roller. Maybe the gimmick ...
Continue ReadingAlex Weitz: Rule of Thirds
by Jack Bowers
Tenor saxophonist Alex Weitz's third album, Rule of Thirds, is a quartet date with guests--on seven of its nine tracks. In addition to playing tenor, Weitz wrote all but one of those numbers, Cole Porter's seductive “Love for Sale." Like many saxophonists these days, Weitz has excellent technique, which means he plays a lot of notes, and does that quite well. To his credit, he doesn't lean exclusively on that aspect of his talent, slowing the pace on several numbers ...
Continue ReadingAndrew Moorhead: Interleaved
by Dan McClenaghan
A 47-foot fall that resulted in multiple injuries influenced the music-making of pianist Andrew Moorhead. So do mathematics and computer science, on his debut recording Interleaved. “An Interleaved digital signal is a single woven from multiple threads." This is what Moorhead tells us in his liner notes. The threads of Moorhead's life that come together to create his CD offering are the consequences of that fall, a love of music and his interest in mathematics. This ...
Continue ReadingBen Markley Big Band: Ari's Funhouse
by Jack Bowers
Ari's Funhouse, recorded in July 2021, sprang from a chance encounter at a Texas jazz festival in 2019 between New York-based drummer & composer Ari Hoenig and Denver-based pianist & arranger Ben Markley. After performing with Hoenig in a small group, Markley asked if he might score some of Hoenig's songs for a big band. Hoenig readily agreed, and after a lengthy Covid-induced pause, he and Markley's band finally met face-to-face in Denver to record the album. Two things are ...
Continue ReadingBenjamin Boone: The Poets Are Gathering
by Paul Rauch
Saxophonist Benjamin Boone continues his ambitious foray into jazz and poetry, this time recruiting an impressive cadre of poets for his aptly entitled release, The Poets are Gathering (Origin, 2020). The union of poetry and jazz has never been so powerfly presented, reflecting the past year of the worldwide Black Lives Matter movement, the universal role of the poet, and the power of art and voice to raise awareness and inspire change. The album employs the likes of US Poet ...
Continue ReadingAri Hoenig: The Pauper And The Magician
by Ian Patterson
Concept albums have largely been the domain of progressive rock bands, whilst jazzers tend to prefer the term 'suite' to describe thematically linked pieces of music. Ari Hoenig's The Pauper and the Magician is arguably more the former than the latter, as these six compositions are inspired by a fable-like tale of Hoenig's design, without overt musical continuity. But for the liner notes describing the narrative as it unfolds--an evil magician entices a panhandling pauper to enter his wicked realm--it ...
Continue ReadingAri Hoenig: Lines of Oppression
by John Kelman
When Bill Evans began building trios that represented a collaboration of equals rather than soloist accompanied by rhythm section, it's unlikely the late pianist could have envisioned the way Jean-Michel Pilc, bassist François Moutin and drummer Ari Hoenig wowed fans at a 2011 Ottawa International Jazz Festival performance. Bringing new meaning to the phrase “egalitarian," each and every member was clearly capable of pushing the music in a new direction, so keenly attuned were they to each other. Hoenig, in ...
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