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About Bobby Bradford
Bradford-Gjerstad Quartet at Philadelphia Art Alliance
by Tyran Grillo
Bradford-Gjerstad Quartet Philadelphia Art Alliance Philadelphia, PA March 29, 2014 Pivot or persevere? It's a question that frames every moment of jazz performance and one that suffused the Philadelphia Art Alliance loft, where on a rainy Saturday cornetist Bobby Bradford, reedman Frode Gjerstad, bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, and drummer Frank Rosaly cast their bones and divined whatever messages came spontaneously to mind. Under the auspices of the Ars Nova Workshop, which presents ...
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Bobby Bradford - Mark Dresser - Glen Ferris: Live in LA
by AAJ Italy Staff
Bobby Bradford, uno dei miglior trombettisti emersi dal free jazz e dalle zone contigue all'avanguardia, partner di Ornette Coleman, Eric Dolphy, Charlie Haden, autore con il clarinettista John Carter di una manciata di dischi pregevoli, rientra a buon diritto nell'ampia schiera di unsung heroes, musicisti che hanno dato un contributo di notevole importanza all'evoluzione della musica afro-americana ma che raramente hanno ottenuto le luci della ribalta o raggiunto gli onori della cronaca. Questa registrazione del settembre 2009, effettuata a casa ...
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Bobby Bradford - John Carter Quintet: Comin' On
by AAJ Italy Staff
Ristampa hatOLOGY di notevole importanza, che rimette sul banco principale due autori spesso marginalizzati dal dibattito sulle musiche afroamericane. Bobby Bradford e John Carter avevano guidato un quartetto tra gli anni '60 e '70, responsabile di quattro ellepì di grande interesse. In seguito hanno proseguito in diverse formazioni, a volte ancora in tandem, altre separati. Bradford ha scelto la musica a mezzo servizio, indisponibile a sacrificare una vita normale per il jazz. Carter è morto piuttosto giovane, dopo aver aperto ...
Continue Reading...Bobby Bradford / John Carter Quintet: Comin' On
by Raul d'Gama Rose
In a music industry that is for-profit by definition, the relative ignorance of history and the importance of musicians who made it historic borders on the criminally insane. How else could the complete disregard for contributions of Herbie Nichols by the industry be explained? Add to that a slew of greats who continue to be ignored by all but the cognoscenti. Musicians such as Bobby Bradford, John Carter, Billy Bang, Andrew Cyrille and Ed Blackwell, to name just a few--some ...
Continue Reading...Bobby Bradford: Self-Determination in the Great Basin
by Clifford Allen
Born in Cleveland, Mississippi in 1934 and raised between Dallas and Los Angeles, trumpeter Bobby Bradford began playing with Ornette Coleman in Los Angeles in the 1950s, and replaced Don Cherry in an unrecorded Coleman quartet during the early 1960s. However, the most significant partnership in Bradford's musical life was with the clarinetist and composer John Carter (1928-1991), with whom he worked and recorded from 1969 into the 1980s a very different brand of free-bop. Now a professor at Pomona ...
Continue Reading...Bobby Bradford: With John Stevens and the Spontaneous Music Ensemble
by Clifford Allen
Bobby Bradford With John Stevens and the Spontaneous Music Ensemble Nessa Records 2009
In the instances that European and American improvisers have commingled and produced concerts and recordings, especially in the halcyon days of European free improvisation (the 1970s), a significant number of these situations resulted from expatriation. And it's certainly true that in many cases, American-born improvisers could have done better financially being based in Europe--after all, this music has a track record ...
Continue Reading...Bobby Bradford, Tom Heasley, Ken Rosser: Varistar
by Bruce Lindsay
Recorded in Los Angeles in 1999, but mixed and released ten years later by tubaist Tom Heasley and Kronos Quartet engineer Scott Fraser, Varistar is a moody and atmospheric work from three experienced improvisers. Its predominantly slow and introspective feel of its seven improvised pieces create, at times, an almost claustrophobic intensity. The opening Delicious Red" is driven by cornetist Bobby Bradford's fine playing. In fact, Bradford is the most consistently inventive player across the album--Heasley lacks ...
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