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Bobby Zankel: Philadelphia, PA, September 22, 2012
by Victor L. Schermer
John Coltrane Birthday Celebration with Bobby Zankel's Warriors Of The Wonderful Sound40th Street Field, University of PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia, PASeptember 22, 2012It's unusual to have a jazz milestone take place in a free-for-the-people neighborhood concert on an open urban space, but that is exactly what occurred as saxophonist Bobby Zankel and his avant-garde big band, Warriors of the Wonderful Sound, debuted his stunning arrangement of saxophonist John Coltrane's iconic 1964 recording, A Love Supreme (Impulse!, 1965). Zankel ...
Continue Reading...Bobby Zankel: Peaceful Jazz Warrior
by Victor L. Schermer
For many decades, Philadelphia has been home to a cadre of multi-generational jazz musicians who go on year-after-year composing, arranging and performing some of the best, highest level music to be heard anywhere. This tradition is exemplified in no better way than by alto saxophonist, composer and bandleader Bobby Zankel. Zankel apprenticed with legendary pianist Cecil Taylor and absorbed the most advanced trends of the 1960s and '70s. He then moved to Philadelphia, where he has done his ...
Continue Reading...Bobby Zankel, Warriors of the Wonderful Sound, and Rudresh Mahanthappa at Montgomery County Community College
by Victor L. Schermer
Bobby Zankel and the Warriors of the Wonderful Sound with Special Guest Rudresh MahanthappaScience Center Theater, Montgomery County Community CollegeBlue Bell, PennsylvaniaMay 8, 2010
This concert offered a stimulating blast of music from the outer stratosphere of modern jazz, performed by cutting-edge musicians who are among a handful who can truly make it happen. It consisted of two original compositions: the first, by Bobby Zankel, was entitled Ndura: The Forest is Our Father and Mother"; ...
Continue Reading...Bobby Zankel Trio: Many in Body, One in Mind
by AAJ Italy Staff
Il cinquantonovenne Bobby Zankel, da anni parte integrante della scena jazz di Philadelphia, non è certo un nome celebre, eppure negli anni Settanta si ritrova nello Unit Core Ensemble di Cecil Taylor o tra i protagonisti della Loft Scene di New York e, più recentemente, con Sunny Murray, Lester Bowie e William Parker. Dunque un protagonista di quelle che potremo definire le stagioni del free e del post-free. Ed in effetti in quegli ambienti ha fatto gran parte del suo ...
Continue Reading...Bobby Zankel and the Warriors of the Wonderful Sound: Ceremonies of Forgiveness
by Florence Wetzel
The bodhisattva Wonderful Sound appears in the classic Buddhist scripture The Lotus Sutra, where he extends the invisible bridge of music so humans can tap into their hope, wisdom and strength. Inspired by Wonderful Sound's mission, alto saxophonist Bobby Zankel formed the Warriors of the Wonderful Sound, a bold and expressive fourteen-piece band which includes three trumpets, two trombones and four saxophones. The Philadelphia-based band has played a steady gig for an unheard-of five years, allowing the musicians to cohere ...
Continue Reading...Bobby Zankel & The Warriors Of The Wonderful Sound at the Tritone in Philadelphia
by Edward Zucker
Bobby Zankel & The Warriors Of The Wonderful Sound Tritone/Chris Jazz Café Phildelphia, PA May 4-5, 2006 The first thing one notices about Bobby Zankel & The Warriors Of The Wonderful Sound is what is missing from their music: The usual, head / solo / head" motif that is de rigeur in bebop. The Warriors are a truly integrated band in the deepest sense of the word. The band played at Tritone ...
Continue Reading...Bobby Zankel Trio: Transcend & Triumph
by Derek Taylor
Judging by his predilection for philosophical and spiritual sounding song titles Philadelphia-based Bobby Zankel is man who puts deep thought into his music and outlook on life. His accompanying ‘Artist’s Notes’ for this release further corroborate the picture of the intellectual who is at once brooding and exuberant. For these reasons the nature of the actual music is something of a surprise. Viscerally grounded in the funky backbeat-laced rhythms of drummer McIver and the nimble bop-speed riffing of Iannacone the ...
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