Jazz Articles about Ben Williams

by Ian Patterson
April 9, 2014

Nine years after the Pat Metheny Group crowned its mammoth The Way Up (Nonesuch, 2005) tour before 100,000 people at the Montreal Jazz Festival, it seems increasingly unlikely that Metheny will reconvene his main vehicle, not now with a vibrant new group pushing him compositionally and slaying audiences. Or does it? In a 2012 interview with All About Jazz , drummer Antonio Sanchez--who has worked closely with Metheny for a dozen years--said of the PMG: “everybody is craving another go ...

Pat Metheny Unity Group: Kin (←→)

by John Kelman
January 28, 2014

Strangely enough, the release of Kin () may be the one that most polarizes longtime fans of guitarist Pat Metheny. There are those who feel that, beginning with 2005's last recording with his then-longstanding Pat Metheny Group, that he'd become too complex, too chops-heavy and too distanced from the accessible music of recordings like Travels (ECM, 1983) and Still Life (Talking) (Nonesuch, 1987). He further distanced himself from a number of his core constituents with Orchestrion (Nonesuch, 2010), and his ...

Ben Williams: The Effect of Sound

by Daniel Lehner
August 23, 2012

It's continuously perplexing that Ben Williams did not set out on playing the bass first. Forced to pick the most attractive string instrument amongst the cellos and violins, the 7th grade aspiring guitarist ended up picking the instrument that he, now in his upper twenties, is in massively high demand for and is unsettlingly proficient in. Williams' accolades hit a high peak in 2009 after his win at the untouchably prestigious Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition and he currently counts unique ...

Ben Williams: State of Art

by AAJ Italy Staff
January 20, 2012

State of Art è un disco nel quale il bassista Ben Williams riversa a piene mani tutte le sue passioni musicali, che spaziano dal jazz in senso stretto all'hip-hop, dal gospel al R&B; raggiungendo una fusione interessante, per certi versi originale, e piena di spunti creativi. La tracklist si snoda attraverso undici passaggi, che conoscono gli inneschi di riconoscibilità melodica del pop/rock nell'iniziale “Home," la profondità espressiva di derivazione funk di “Moontrane," il rap di “The Lee Morgan Story" (con ...

Alex Brown: Pianist

by Edward Blanco
October 1, 2011

With a little help from Cuban-born saxophonist Paquito D'Rivera the jazz world heralds the entrance of 22 year-old Alex Brown, capturing but a glimpse of his talents on a monster recording debut simply entitled Pianist. It was actually D'Rivera's bassist, Oscar Stagnaro,who began to gig with pianist around the Boston area, ultimately introducing Brown to D'Rivera, and the rest is history. Taken with Brown's skills on the instrument and his understanding of Latin music beyond Afro-Cuban rhythms, D'Rivera took him ...

Ben Williams: Washington, DC, April 15, 2011

by Franz A. Matzner
May 2, 2011

Ben Williams Quintet Kennedy Center Jazz Club Washington, DC April 15, 2011 Winner of the 2009 Thelonious Monk Competition for bass (the competition focuses on a different instrument each year), innovative young artist Ben Williams brought his quintet to the Kennedy Center Jazz Club for an evening of entertaining, inventive music performed with an infectious sense of fun and youthful exuberance. The concert was all the more appealing for its sense of triumphant homecoming for ...

Alex Brown: Pianist

by Raul d'Gama Rose
October 29, 2010

Even for a pianist with as prodigious a talent as Alex Brown, having a heavyweight in the music pantheon such as Paquito D'Rivera produce the debut album, must have largely been a dream. However, to pull off a debut as fine as this is a feat in itself. As a pianist, Brown has remarkable technique. Although he may still be searching for his true voice and that may take time, he appears to be closer than most. He is truly ...