Jazz Articles about Banz Oester

About Banz Oester

Album Review

WHO Trio: Live At Jazz Festival Willisau 2023

Read "Live At Jazz Festival Willisau 2023" reviewed by Vincenzo Roggero

by Vincenzo Roggero
October 2, 2024

Ci sono molti modi per affrontare/reinterpretare standard e songs, recitano le accurate note di copertina, ma affrontare Duke Ellington richiede uno step ulteriore, pena lo scivolare nel deja vu, nel già sentito, tra stereotipi o stravolgimenti fuori luogo. WHO Trio, formazione che da oltre venticinque anni scandaglia i meandri della libera improvvisazione e dei suoi legami con la tradizione, lo fa alla sua maniera. “ Abbiamo semplicemente cercato di suonare questo meraviglioso materiale -afferma Gerry Hemingway -con ...

Album Review

WHO Trio: Live At Jazz Festival Willisau 2023

Read "Live At Jazz Festival Willisau 2023" reviewed by Chris May

by Chris May
July 24, 2024

This jewel of an album was released just too late for inclusion in AAJ's Best Jazz Albums of 2024: All-Star Break Edition, where contributors were invited to name their three best albums released during the first half of the year (the article can be read here). But five gets you ten that it will be included in at least one end-of-year best-albums list. And that is not the only headline. Live At Jazz Festival Willisau 2023 is that rarer than ...

Liner Notes

Samuel Blaser: As the Sea

by John Kelman
May 27, 2023

Plenty has been written about musical camaraderie--the building of long-term musical relationships and their unmistakable impact on the evolution of a group. Few, however, discuss the inevitable impact of personal relationships behind the music. Times have changed, and few jazz groups tour for more than a couple of consecutive weeks; still, hitting the road for even two weeks is sure to mean plenty of “up close and personal" time amongst band members. Samuel Blaser's Boundless (hatOLOGY, 2011) was recorded during ...

Album Review

WHO Trio: Strell - The Music of Billy Strayhorn & Duke Ellington

Read "Strell - The Music of Billy Strayhorn & Duke Ellington" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro

by Alberto Bazzurro
February 23, 2021

Nel 2018 il Who Trio ha festeggiato vent'anni di attività, varando per l'occasione il progetto Strell, dedicato alla rilettura del repertorio di Billy Strayhorn e Duke Ellington, operazione certo non nuova--tutt'altro--e per la quale la prospettiva di rilettura, l'angolo visuale, diventa di conseguenza basilare. In questo album, inciso quasi per intero in studio a Losanna nel maggio 2019 (fa eccezione “Passion Flower," ripresa dal vivo un anno prima nella stessa città), il lavoro di scavo e ricostruzione (o ...

Album Review

Samuel Blaser Quartet: As the Sea

Read "As the Sea" reviewed by AAJ Italy Staff

by AAJ Italy Staff
June 17, 2013

Quartetto d'eccezione quello allestito da Samuel Blaser, giovane trombonista svizzero che con una decina di incisioni si è costruito una solida reputazione tra i colleghi e unanimi apprezzamenti dagli addetti ai lavori. Perché se il bassista Banz Oester, pur vantando collaborazioni prestigiose con Pierre Favre ed Harry Hemingway, è nome non troppo noto, il batterista Gerald Cleaver ed il chitarrista Marc Ducret non hanno bisogno di presentazioni e contribuiscono in maniera decisiva alla riuscita di questo lavoro. Samuel Blaser è ...

Album Review

Samuel Blaser Quartet: As The Sea

Read "As The Sea" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
March 23, 2013

Allocating his time between Europe and New York City, Swiss-born trombone maestro Samuel Blaser has recorded for prominent record labels, specializing in the outside jazz realm. Thus, As The Sea is the quartet's follow-up to Boundless (hatOLOGY, 2011). Blaser's recognizable plight to lay out nouveau frontiers remains a continuum. No wonder why he's garnered the assistance of such reputable instrumentalists. Otherwise, the program contains a flux of contrapuntal statements. His musicality imparts breathy expansionism amid swarming movements that are purposely ...

Album Review

Samuel Blaser Quartet: As The Sea

Read "As The Sea" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
March 14, 2013

The whole of some musical outfits is greater than its separate parts. The Berlin-based, Swiss trombonist Samuel Blaser's Quartet is one of these outfits, comprised of resourceful musicians with strong personalities, distinct approaches that together complement the strengths of this band but also pushes it into newer terrains. Blaser is conservatory trained and university educated, has a perfect-pitch sound on the trombone and rich musical vision that encompasses anything between composer Richard Wagner's grandiose operas, classical Indian ...