Jazz Articles about Billy Kilson

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Bob James Trio: Feel Like Making Live!

by Dan McClenaghan
January 13, 2022

Bob James--keyboardist, pianist, composer and arranger--opens Feel Like Making Live! with his original tune, “Angela (Theme From 'Taxi')." Everyone has heard it--that is what exposure from a popular television show can do. That series ran from 1978 to 1983. Taxi music, along with his albums on Creed Taylor's CTI Records during this time, in addition to his taking on arranging chores for the label, for the likes of saxophonist Stanley Turrentine, vibraphonist Milt Jackson, saxophonist Grover Washington, Jr. and more, ...

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Billy Kilson: Nasty Pitch

by Trish Richardson
November 6, 2013

Here's the wind up. And the pitch. Whoa, did you see that one folks? That pitch was just nasty. In baseball, occasionally a ball gets thrown by the pitcher that is so good, so perfectly placed, so unbelievable, the announcer calls it nasty. The opposing batter doesn't have much chance of hitting it, but can only look back at the mound and tip his hat with respect. Occasionally, the same thing occurs in music. Atop a ...

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Billy Kilson: Billy's Groove

by Katrina-Kasey Wheeler
March 6, 2008

The Berklee educated, innovative drummer Billy Kilson may have started out playing the trumpet and trombone, but playing the drums was certainly his calling. The virtuoso performer, who has toured with such famed musicians as George Duke, Diane Reeves and has been a part of Chris Botti's band for the past four years, is known as a drummer of the highest caliber; known as such for his revelational improvisation and timing, and an undeniable stage presence reminiscent of the great ...

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Dave Holland Quintet: Extended Play/Live at Birdland

by AAJ Staff
September 25, 2003

This group just doesn't put out a bad record, so it's hard to look at something new without some expectations. Bassist Dave Holland has led this particular quintet for six active years and four records, the latest of which is a live double set where the tunes stretch out around 12 minutes each. One would think this wasn't the best marketing move--aren't double live sets reserved for aging rock stars?--but then again Holland has been given the nod by the ...

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The Dave Holland Big Band: What Goes Around

by Jack Bowers
November 1, 2002

I've never been overly impressed by popularity contests, and as British-bred bassist Dave Holland swept the field in this year's Down Beat magazine critics' poll, I was thoroughly prepared not to like What Goes Around by Holland's thirteen-piece big band.

Surprise! The album is far better than expected; in fact, I'd go so far as to concede that it is thoroughly absorbing, enlivened every step of the way by notably innovative charts and earnestly inspired blowing from Holland's company of ...

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Dave Holland Big Band: What Goes Around

by AAJ Staff
September 9, 2002

With a musical force like bassist Dave Holland at the helm, it's hard to imagine a group going wrong. But his new big band has a singular problem: too many players. Thirteen musicians, each more than capable, join forces on What Goes Around, which features seven tunes composed and arranged arranged by the man himself. Unfortunately this increase in scale just doesn't translate into much except redundancy. The core quintet (Potter, Eubanks, Nelson, Holland, and Kilson) has repeatedly proven its ...

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Dave Holland: Points of View

by Douglas Payne
December 1, 1998

British bassist and jazz veteran Dave Holland (b. 1946) has refashioned his ever iconoclastic quintet to feature Steve Wilson's sax and Robin Eubank's trombone interacting with former Quintet partner Steve Nelson's pianistic vibes and Billy Kilson's aggressively sensitive drumming.Holland cites the guiding influence of Duke Ellington in his Points of View. And while there is something starkly modern -- even unique -- in the bassist/composer's conceptions, there really is evidence that the great Ellington has inspired ...