Home » Jazz Articles » Bob Mintzer
Jazz Articles about Bob Mintzer
Dave Stryker with Bob Mintzer and the WDR Big Band: Blue Soul
by Jack Bowers
Bob Mintzer had an idea. The renowned tenor saxophonist, who serves as principal conductor of Cologne, Germany's world-class WDR Big Band, had made several appearances as guest artist with guitarist Dave Stryker's New York-based organ trio and was so impressed that he thought it would be a good idea to re-orchestrate some of Stryker's music for big band and invite the guitar maestro to return the favor by traveling to Germany and performing as guest artist with the WDR ensemble, ...
Continue ReadingSteve Khan: Patchwork
by John Kelman
Amongst the many myths out there about music-making—especially in jazz, where the improvisation quotient is often so high—is that composing may, indeed, be work, but doesn't require the kind of relentless attention to detail that far more truthfully defines how many artists write and arrange their music. These days, one need only look to music by artists including Pat Metheny, Antonio Sanchez and Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah to find music conceived with intimate and painstaking detail while, at the same ...
Continue ReadingBob Mintzer Big Band / New York Voices: Meeting of Minds
by Jack Bowers
Here's an appetizing treat for fans of big bands and vocals alike, neatly wrapped in one handsome package by the stalwart Bob Mintzer Big Band and the splendid New York Voices. Together, band and voices take a fresh look at eight memorable standards from the Great American Songbook written by such master craftsmen as Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, Hoagy Carmichael, Kurt Weill, Burton Lane and others, entwining for good measure a brace of instrumentals: Vincent Youmans / Irving Caesar's buoyant ...
Continue ReadingBob Mintzer Big Band/New York Voices: Meeting Of Minds
by Dan Bilawsky
Meeting Of Minds plays more like a merger than an encounter. And that, after all, is how all successful collaborations should feel. Hearing Bob Mintzer's big band and New York Voices join forces for a trip through newly-arranged takes on '30s and '40s gems from the Great American Songbook is a reminder that some music can ring timeless and appear pliant all at once when placed in the right hands. New York Voices has paired up with ...
Continue ReadingBob Mintzer: All L.A. Band
by Angelo Leonardi
Ascoltando questo nuovo, scintillante, album orchestrale di Bob Mintzer mi chiedevo perchè si parli così poco di questo sassofonista e bandleader ormai 64enne. Dai primi anni ottanta ha diretto formidabili big band--incidendo una ventina di album -nel solco della tradizione mainstream che va da Count Basie a Thad Jones. In veste di autore ha scritto oltre 200 arrangiamenti per orchestra. Come sassofonista è membro stabile dei Yellowjackets, ha collaborato con Mike Mainieri, Jaco Pastorius, Art Blakey, Gil Evans e decine ...
Continue ReadingBob Mintzer: All L.A. Band
by Jack Bowers
Even though saxophonist Bob Mintzer's name rests alone atop the marquee, the All L.A. Band is actually a mutual collaboration with acclaimed drummer Peter Erskine, one of Mintzer's colleagues in the Jazz Studies department at the University of Southern California. Besides occupying the drum chair, Erskine produced the album, while Mintzer composed and arranged its ten handsome themes. Among the musical styles closest to Mintzer's heart are Afro-Cuban and funk, and there is plenty of both on ...
Continue ReadingBob Mintzer: Seeing the bigger picture
by Ben Scholz
"To be a great musician one must zoom out and be a part of the big picture when playing in an ensemble. The primary focus is on the greater whole. Only by doing this does a significant band sound emerge. If people of the world could only grasp this way of looking at things, we would be much better off." --Bob Mintzer The global community is presented with an extremely myopic point of view when it comes to ...
Continue Reading
