Home » Jazz Articles » Billy Hart
Jazz Articles about Billy Hart
Noah Haidu: Slowly: Song For Keith Jarrett
by Dan McClenaghan
American poet Walt Whitman said it. Nobel Prize winner Bob Dylan said it, too, on his Rough and Rowdy Ways (Columbia Records, 2020). They said: “I Contain Multitudes." Pianist Keith Jarrett also contains multitudes—though it has never been reported that he has said so. Those multitudes include early work with the groups of drummer Art Blakey, saxophonist Charles Lloyd and trumpeter Miles Davis, before he connected with ECM Records in 1972 with Facing You, a recording that set an early ...
read moreNoah Haidu, Buster Williams, Billy Hart: Slowly
by Angelo Leonardi
Dopo il progetto multimediale dedicato a Kenny Kirkland (Doctone, Sunnyside 2020), Noah Haidu dedica un omaggio a Keith Jarrett, altro pianista che ha svolto un ruolo significativo nella sua formazione. L'elemento scatenante in questa scelta è stato l'annuncio di quest'ultimo di non poter più suonare dopo i due ictus che l'hanno colpito nel 2020, lasciandogli la mano sinistra paralizzata. «Quando ho saputo di Keith--dice Haidu--sono stato profondamente commosso e ho iniziato a immaginare il progetto del disco ...
read moreBrian Landrus, Fred Hersch, Drew Gress, Billy Hart: For Now
by Angelo Leonardi
Due anni dopo il sontuoso progetto orchestrale pubblicato nell'album Generations (Blueland 2018) il compositore e multistrumentista allievo di Bob Brookmeyer, è tornato a incidere con un piccolo organico, aperto a suggestioni cameristiche (con l'aggiunta di un quartetto d'archi) o di taglio neo-bop (con il trombettista Michael Rodriguez). Quand'era adolescente Brian Landrus era una testa calda, il peggiore della scuola, sempre pronto a picchiarsi coi coetanei. Poi il jazz l'ha molto cambiato e risulta difficile crederlo oggi, di ...
read moreNoah Haidu: Doctone
by Dan McClenaghan
Pianist Kenny Kirkland never seemed particularly interested in attaining the high level of fame enjoyed by two of his early employers, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and saxophonist Branford Marsalis. He worked first for Wynton, playing on four of the trumpeter's albums between 1981 and 1985, before moving into Branford's orbit, for eight albums between 1983 to 1998. These were breakout times for the famous brothers, burst-out-onto-the-scene times that were critical to their ultimate successes. And Kenny Kirkland was there, contributing his ...
read moreBrian Landrus: For Now
by Doug Hall
Low-register reed specialist and multi-instrumentalist and composer Brian Landrus confronted a difficult period in his life and used adversity to inspire a passionate declaration in song on his 2020 release For Now (BlueLand Records). He took advice from the late valve-trombonist, composer and educator Bob Brookmeyer, “book a recording session before you have the music composed—then you have a goal." Alternating between the baritone saxophone and the bass clarinet, Landrus creates wonderful lower-range tones and compositions with instruments ...
read moreBrian Landrus: For Now
by Jack Bowers
On For Now, his tenth album as leader, multi-reed specialist Brian Landrus gives voice to the many faces of romance, using as his means of expression a talented core quintet, amplified on several themes by a four-member string section, with arrangements by the notable opera composer Robert Aldridge. While Landrus plays four instruments including flute and alto flute, he sticks for the most part to baritone sax and bass clarinet, soloing on one or the other on almost every one ...
read moreBilly Hart & The WDR Big Band: The Broader Picture
by Angelo Leonardi
A dispetto della notorietà e del prestigio ottenuti nell'attività di batterista e insegnante, le doti compositive di Billy Hart sono relativamente poco note. Il trombonista e compositore svizzero Christophe Schweizer, già suo allievo al Mannes College of Music di New York nel 1992, rende omaggio al maestro arrangiando alcuni suoi brani ed eseguendoli con la WDR Big Band. La scelta è caduta su otto temi scritti da Hart per gli album Enchance, Rah e Oceans of Time, in ...
read more
Giveaway
Days remaining: 7
