Jazz Articles about Bill Anschell

About Bill Anschell

Book Review

Benched Bill Anschell 158 Pages ISBN: # 9798270830021 Blow Hard Music 2025 Bill Anschell is a Seattle-based pianist that has been the recipient of national acclaim for his work as a leader and sideman in jazz. He has released eleven albums as a leader or co-leader on the Origin Records label, and appeared on many more. From 1989-2002 he resided in Atlanta, where he took on a syndicated radio program, JazzSouth among ...

Radio & Podcasts

Bill Anschell: Unearthing Jazz's Improbable Solutions

by Lawrence Peryer
July 6, 2024

Today, the Spotlight shines On Seattle pianist and composer Bill Anschell. We've had award winners of all types on the podcast, but as far as I can remember, Bill is the first to have won an award for humor: in 2014, Bill was the winner of the inaugural Paul Desmond Award, All About Jazz's celebration of the funniest jazz artists. We get to that and his satirical essay, “Careers in Jazz," which is one of the most-read pieces ...

Liner Notes

Bill Anschell / Brent Jensen: We Couldn't Agree More

by Thomas Conrad
April 6, 2024

Wynton Marsalis recently said, “The hallmark of a first-class jazz musician is the ability to adapt." It is a paradoxical statement. But Marsalis is not using the term “adapt" in the Darwinian context of adaptation and natural selection. He does not mean adapting to, say, bad food on the road. He is referring to listening skills and lightning reflexes. Jazz improvisation is a moment-to-moment creative process of real-time interaction and discovery. It would be hard to find a ...

Liner Notes

Hadley Caliman / Pete Christlieb: Reunion

by Thomas Conrad
March 28, 2024

At the end of the first decade of the new millennium, one of the most gratifying developments in jazz is the late blossoming of Hadley Caliman. In 2008, at 76, he released Gratitude, his first recording as a leader in 31 years. It was followed in 2010 by Straight Ahead. They created a buzz on the jazz street. It is not just that he has lasted long enough to finally get the attention he deserves. Hadley Caliman is currently playing ...

Album Review

Bill Anschell: Improbable Solutions

Read "Improbable Solutions" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
January 9, 2024

Most fans of Seattle-based pianist Bill Anschell will not see this one coming. His comfort zone on his own recordings has been as a mainstream acoustic jazz artist, on albums like Shifting Standards (2018), a piano trio affair, Rumbler (2017) and Figments (2011), a solo piano outing. All of these were released on Origin Records. Anschell, who formerly worked as vocalist Nnenna Freelon's musical director, crafts his recordings with a high polish and does not generally rock the ...

Album Review

Bill Anschell: Improbable Solutions

Read "Improbable Solutions" reviewed by Paul Rauch

by Paul Rauch
December 31, 2023

Pianist and composer Bill Anschell has made his mark in jazz as a distinctive pianist with a notable body of work. His time in Atlanta, and his extensive residency in Seattle, has produced ten recordings as a leader or co-leader, and a well-deserved following on live dates with two distinctive trios, plus his “Rumbler" band. His previous two recordings define the past decade of his career, with Shifting Standards (Origin, 2018) bearing witness to his trio prowess with partners Jeff ...

Album Review

Dmitri Matheny: Cascadia

by Jack Bowers
July 11, 2022

Cascadia encompasses an hour of amiable, even-tempered jazz from trumpeter Dmitri Matheny who, like several of his predecessors—Chet Baker, Chuck Mangione, Guido Basso and his mentor, Art Farmer, among them—focuses exclusively on flugelhorn. Matheny uses his gorgeous tone and remarkable lyricism to paint exquisite portraits in sound throughout a program whose ten engaging numbers enfold half a dozen of his original compositions. Matheny shares the front line with saxophonist Charles McNeal whose solos (on soprano or tenor ...