Jazz Articles about Brian Blade

About Brian Blade

Album Review

Anders Koppel: Mulberry Street Symphony

Read "Mulberry Street Symphony" reviewed by Doug Collette

by Doug Collette
March 9, 2022

A father-son collaboration at its most sublime, Mulberry Street Symphony is a natural and logical extension of saxophonist/composer Benjamin Koppel's eclectic sets of funk and free improvisation The Ultimate Soul & Jazz Revue (Cowbell Music, 2020) and The Art of the Quartet (Cowbell Music, 2020). The prolific Dane wisely aligns himself here with redoubtable counterparts in the persons of bassist Scott Colley and drummer Brian Blade to form the core of a larger musical aggregation including the Odense Symphony Orchestra ...

Interview

Meet Brian Blade

by Craig Jolley
February 17, 2022

This article was first published at All About Jazz in April 2000. Musical background I started playing when I was thirteen in church. My father was the pastor. My brother, Brady, who was five years older (he still is) was the drummer. He left for college so it became my duty to take over the drums. He didn't directly teach me to play. He was a great brother to me: he took me everywhere, and I saw him ...

Album Review

Dave Stryker: As We Are

Read "As We Are" reviewed by Kyle Simpler

by Kyle Simpler
January 4, 2022

Pat Metheny has a section of his website entitled “Pat Recommends," where he discusses jazz guitarists whom he believes are “making the best music of their careers" on their recent recordings. Dave Stryker is one of the musicians Metheny mentions, and this is certainly an accurate assessment. Dave Stryker has established himself as one of the foremost guitarists in jazz, and with As We Are, he adds another important contribution to his discography. Stryker has a phenomenal work ...

Album Review

Norah Jones: I Dream of Christmas

Read "I Dream of Christmas" reviewed by Jim Trageser

by Jim Trageser
October 23, 2021

With Tony Bennett's retirement, the mantle of legitimate straight-ahead pop crooners is now firmly in the hands of subsequent generations: Harry Connick, Jr., Diana Krall and Norah Jones. Not pure jazz singers, of which there are numerous stellar examples, these singers are more in the Bennett-Sinatra-Fitzgerald mold, bringing a jazz sensibility to pop music. It is in the area of seasonal Christmas music that the crooners have had perhaps their greatest influence. From Andy Williams to Connie Stevens, ...

Album Review

Ron Miles: Rainbow Sign

Read "Rainbow Sign" reviewed by Mario Calvitti

by Mario Calvitti
March 19, 2021

Per il suo esordio su etichetta Blue Note, il trombettista Ron Miles riunisce nuovamente il quintetto stellare con cui aveva inciso il precedente I Am a Man, Bill Frisell alla chitarra, Brian Blade alla batteria, Jason Moran al piano e Thomas Morgan al contrabbasso. Il gruppo era a sua volta l'evoluzione di un trio con Frisell e Blade che aveva già realizzato due album, Quiver e Circuit Rider, per non parlare di Heaven in duo con Frisell oltre alle numerose ...

Album Review

Edward Simon: 25 Years

Read "25 Years" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
March 11, 2021

Al pubblico del jazz non piacciono molto le compilations ma questa del pianista Edward Simon è speciale. I diciassette brani del doppio CD sono stati scelti da lui--come bilancio e riflessione personale nel 25° anno della sua attività da leader--e forniscono una variopinta retrospettiva delle sue tappe musicali. «L'idea mi è venuta l'anno scorso (2019) quando ho compito 50 anni--ha detto al Columbia Daily Tribune--La raccolta è nata da uno spirito di celebrazione e dalla consapevolezza di quante cose siano ...

Album Review

Steve Cardenas: Blue Has A Range

Read "Blue Has A Range" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
February 9, 2021

Espressi con uno stile del tutto personale, ritroviamo in Steve Cardenas la ricchezza di accenti, le sfumature cromatiche e il patrimonio di sottigliezze melodiche e ritmiche che hanno caratterizzato -da prospettive diverse-chitarristi ben più noti di lui: ad esempio Jimmy Raney, Jim Hall e Pat Metheny. Il chitarrista è tanto significativo quanto riservato e resta per questo poco noto al grande pubblico; eppure ha fatto parte dell'Electric Bebop Band di Paul Motian, del quintetto di Steve Swallow, della ...