Jazz Articles about Bobby Bradford

About Bobby Bradford

Album Review

Bobby Bradford - Hafez Modirzadeh: live at the Blue Whale

Read "live at the Blue Whale" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
January 30, 2019

Cornetist Bobby Bradford (Ornette Coleman, Eric Dolphy, John Carter) has been a pivotal figure in the “new" jazz leanings on the U.S. West Coast and the global panorama, performing with the best and brightest. Since 2016, Bradford co-leads a quartet with reedman and musicologist Hafez Modirzadeh (Amir ElSaffar, Rudresh Mahanthappa), supplemented by the strong and impassioned rhythm section, featuring A-list session artists, drummer Vijay Anderson and bassist Roberto Miguel Miranda. As expected, Bradford's masterful use of space allows ...

Profile

Bobby Bradford: Musician, Educator, Survivor

by Daniel Graham
June 6, 2018

In 1991 the prolific saxophonist David Murray recorded Death Of A Sideman (DIW), an album that put a spotlight on the compositions of Mississippi born cornetist Bobby Bradford. A long time coming, Bradford's music was finally receiving the kind of recognition it deserved, and from one of jazz's biggest names. Murray had been a student of Bradford's back in 1974 at Pomona College in California, where the cornetist still teaches to this day. Bradford's story, however, started in earnest in ...

Album Review

Bobby Bradford: Live At The Magic Triangle

Read "Live At The Magic Triangle" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
January 13, 2018

After the well-received Live At The Open Gate (NoBusiness, 2016), the arrival of a second outing for the front line of cornetist Bobby Bradford and saxophonist Hafez Modirzadeh doesn't come as a surprise. This time out, bassist Ken Filiano and drummer Royal Hartigan (who both feature on Modirzadeh's Post Chromodal Out! (Pi Recordings, 2012) replace Mark Dresser and Alex Cline respectively, maintaining cohesion built on the same high quality rapport. That it's a band with its own identity is confirmed ...

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Album Review

Bobby Bradford - Hafez Modirzadeh with Ken Filiano & Royal Hartigan: Live At The Magic Triangle

Read "Live At The Magic Triangle" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
December 11, 2017

Venerable West Coast-based trumpeter, cornetist and instructor, Bobby Bradford has carved out a big slice of modern jazz history due to his recordings and performances with iconic jazz artisans, reedmen Ornette Coleman, John Carter, Eric Dolphy and bassist Charlie Haden among other luminaries. On this superb release recorded at the University of Massachusetts as part of the Magical Triangle Jazz Series, he shares the billing with saxophonist, recording artist and leading-edge music theorist, Hafez Modirzadeh. With first-call support ...

Album Review

Bobby Bradford/Hafez Modirzadeh/Mark Dresser/Alex Cline: Live At The Open Gate

Read "Live At The Open Gate" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
August 29, 2016

Veteran cornetist Bobby Bradford's penchant for conversational give and take in tandem with another horn is much in evidence on this 2013 live date from The Center for the Arts in Los Angeles. And in alto saxophonist Hafez Modirzadeh, a Professor of Creative/World Music at San Francisco State University, he has found a foil who at times recalls his erstwhile employer Ornette Coleman in his insouciant garrulousness and even evokes his elemental country blues wail. Vastly experienced bassist Mark Dresser ...

Album Review

Bobby Bradford/Hafez Modirzadeh/Mark Dresser/Alex Cline: Live At The Open Gate

Read "Live At The Open Gate" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
July 13, 2016

Live At The Open Gate by the quartet of Bobby Bradford, Hafez Modirzadeh, Mark Dresser, and Alex Cline shouts “West Coast" from the drop of the stylus on this, a limited edition (of 500) LP. It's not because the session is from Center for the Arts in Los Angeles 2013, it's because the inspiration here emanates from the West Coast revolution of Ornette Coleman. Before New York The Five Spot residency, Ornette's sea change in jazz began in ...

Album Review

Bobby Bradford & John Carter Quintet: No U Turn: Live In Pasadena, 1975

Read "No U Turn: Live In Pasadena, 1975" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
May 14, 2015

History, it is said, is written by the victors. With jazz history, the story is too often written by New Yorkers, or at least those east of the Mississippi. Listeners with inquisitive minds are required to dig deeper, into record bins and into interviews with musicians to learn about players that did not make New York their home. We are fortunate to have dedicated musicologists who find 'lost' recordings and make them available to fans. A fine example ...