Jazz Articles about Bobby Zankel

About Bobby Zankel

Album Review

Cecil Taylor Orchestra Humane: At Iridium 2004

Read "At Iridium 2004" reviewed by Jack Kenny

by Jack Kenny
July 14, 2026

At Iridium 2004 is a vast work. Cecil Taylor also leaves behind similarly vast territories of sound: the 10-disc Feel Trio recordings 2 Ts For A Lovely T (Codanza Records, 1995) or the monumental In Berlin '88 box (FMP, 1989). Within jazz, his music stands like a monolith--challenging and imposing. Cecil Taylor Orchestra Humane's At Iridium 2004 continues the tradition. Taylor's hallmark intensity remained undiminished at the Iridium residency. Contemporary accounts suggest that these performances functioned less as ...

Interview

Bobby Zankel: The Inside Story of 'A Change of Destiny'

by Victor L. Schermer
September 21, 2023

Saxophonist, bandleader, composer and arranger Bobby Zankel has been making jazz in many ways with diverse cohorts for over a half-century. He has found his own way to create music that is both advanced and very listenable at the same time. He is loved and revered by the many musicians who have performed with him and by his audiences and fan base, especially as a result of the recordings and performances of his Warriors of the Wonderful Sound Big Band, ...

Album Review

Warriors of the Wonderful Sound: Soundpath

Read "Soundpath" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
July 9, 2021

If we alter President John F. Kennedy's 1962 moon spaceflight speech just a bit, it easily fits the big band adaptation of Muhal Richard Abrams' magnum opus Soundpath, “We choose to perform this composition not because it is easy, but because it is hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept." Accepting the challenge was band leader Bobby Zankel and ...

Album Review

Warriors of the Wonderful Sound: Soundpath

Read "Soundpath" reviewed by Giuseppe Segala

by Giuseppe Segala
May 31, 2021

Nel 2011 il sassofonista di Filadelfia Bobby Zankel, leader della big band The Warriors of the Wonderful Sound e promotore di laboratori di musica contemporanea, propose a Muhal Richard Abrams un lavoro compositivo che avrebbe dovuto essere affidato alla band, con la direzione dello stesso pianista. Operazioni di questo tipo erano già state realizzate da Zankel negli anni precedenti con le musiche per big band di Julius Hemphill, dirette da Marty Ehrlich, poi con composizioni di Rudresh Mahanthappa e Steve ...

Extended Analysis

Soundpath

by Victor L. Schermer
January 2, 2021

Muhal Richard Abrams (1930-2017) was a revered pianist, composer and teacher of great capability and range who, in addition to his own achievements, inspired and influenced many jazz musicians in both the mainstream and avant-garde categories. Largely self-taught as a result of a personal decision to follow his own path, and early on pursuing church music, big band, blues, bebop and avant-garde jazz in his home city of Chicago, he grasped music from its roots, and so was able to ...

Live Review

Bobby Zankel's Warriors Play Muhal Richard Abrams at October Revolution

by Victor L. Schermer
October 16, 2018

Bobby Zankel's Warriors Of The Wonderful Sound Marty Ehrlich, Conductor The Music Of Muhal Richard Abrams: Soundpath October Revolution Festival Christ Church Neighborhood House (Great Hall) Philadelphia, PA October 7, 2018 The late great pianist Muhal Richard Abrams was for many years a major force in modern jazz, accompanying a host of legendary and emerging new musicians, making ground-breaking recordings, and developing new musical forms ...

Album Review

Bobby Zankel: Celebrating William Parker at 65

Read "Celebrating William Parker at 65" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
April 1, 2018

To mark bassist William Parker's 65th birthday, Philly-based reedman Bobby Zankel convened an all star sextet which included the honoree for a presentation of free jazz collectivism at the city's Painted Bride Arts Center in January 2017. Although not regular collaborators, they go back a long way. The pair first hooked up back in the loft jazz era when both gravitated towards Cecil Taylor's orbit, to perform in the pianist's legendary Carnegie Hall large ensemble concert. Taylor, and particularly his ...