Jazz Articles about Brian Blaker

About Brian Blaker

Album Review

There's always something reassuring about the pleasingly familiar, whether it's a favorite shirt, a nice helping of comfort food or the coziness of a frequent neighborhood hangout. Philadelphia's Tattooed Mom Bar fits the bill for Vince Tampio and a few good friends. Besides evoking that welcoming atmosphere with its title and cover, The Nook's classic-sounding bop and swing should make Blue Note or Prestige Records aficionados feel right at home from the first downbeat. For a trumpeter who ...

Album Review

Vince Tampio: Live at PafA

Read "Live at PafA" reviewed by Matthew Aquiline

by Matthew Aquiline
February 21, 2017

The long-standing practice of incorporating non-Western instruments within a jazz setting is further evolved on up-and-coming trumpeter and composer Vince Tampio's self-produced album Live at PafA. More specifically, the Philadelphia/New York-based musician culled various percussion instruments from Eastern Europe alongside an Indian tanpura for a performance of five original compositions recorded live at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Besides enhancing the pervading atmosphere of alluring exoticism, the nontraditional instrumentation maintains a spacious environment that proves ideal for a ...