Home » Jazz Articles » Brian Lynch
Jazz Articles about Brian Lynch
Michael Eckroth Group: Plena
by Dan Bilawsky
Michael Eckroth had clear goals in mind for this project--"to create music that was lyrical, modern, true to its Afro-Latin roots, but never purist in its approach"--and he's accomplished his mission with gusto. Through Plena, this Grammy-nominated pianist/composer delivers a program of original music that, while acknowledging folkloric traditions, doesn't buy into their formal strictures and structures. Instead, Eckroth deals in forward-thinking offshoots and branch realities that beautifully extend on--and past--those points. Essentially working with two different ...
Continue ReadingBrian Lynch: Songbook Vol. 1: Bus Stop Serenade
by Angelo Leonardi
Con Bus Stop Serenade Brian Lynch inaugura una serie di album che raccolgono il suo intero songbook, scritto in quarant'anni di carriera e disseminato in numerose incisioni. Da alcuni anni il trombettista ha varato una propria etichetta (la Hollistic MusicWorks) e iniziato a reinterpretare le sue vecchie composizioni: “Ho sentito che avrebbero beneficiato di un po' d'attenzione sotto forma di nuove versioni—ha detto—presentate ad ascoltatori contemporanei, che potrebbero non conoscere il mio lavoro precedente. Sono poi diventato un po' testardo ...
Continue ReadingSouth Florida Jazz Orchestra: Cheap Thrills: The Music Of Rick Margitza
by Jack Bowers
In 2019, the acclaimed Michigan-bred, Paris-based tenor saxophonist Rick Margitza thought he was being asked to contribute a couple of charts to the University of South Florida Jazz Orchestra's fifth recording in its fifteen-year history as a working ensemble. But when SFJO founder and leader Chuck Bergeron looked at the charts he had an even better idea, and asked Margitza to write and / or arrange everything on the album, which thus became Cheap Thrills: The Music of Rick Margitza. ...
Continue ReadingSouth Florida Jazz Orchestra: Cheap Thrills: The Music Of Rick Margitza
by Pierre Giroux
The concept of a large, tightly-knit big band in a recording studio, on a concert or jazz club stage may just be a plug-in memory in today's environment. Fortunately there is the fifteenth anniversary recording of The South Florida Jazz Orchestra directed by bassist/bandleader Chuck Bergeron, entitled Cheap Thrills: The Music Of Rick Margitza, to remind us what a disciplined inventive big band sounds like. With the exception of George and Ira Gershwin's “Embraceable You," all the other ...
Continue ReadingSusie Meissner: I'll Remember April
by C. Michael Bailey
Philadelphia-based vocalist Susie Meissner has been surveying the Great American Songbook for the past decade and some. Her approach is uncomplicated, using simple head arrangements, presenting the songs that made Tin Pan Alley noteworthy in a straightforward and authentic fashion, and recalling the original intentions of the composers. Hers is an archival and entertainment endeavor not unlike Linda Ronstadt's swing with Nelson Riddle, which resulted in What's New (Asylum, 1983), Lush Life (Asylum, 1984), and For Sentimental Reasons (Asylum, 1986), ...
Continue ReadingRalph Peterson & the Messenger Legacy: Onward & Upward
by Paul Rauch
Generally speaking, legacy bands are created to preserve the music of an artist. They feature innovative interpretations of an artist's compositions or past performances to share with future generations of listeners. In the case of drummer Ralph Peterson, his ambitious efforts to honor the continuum of his mentor Art Blakey are forward thinking, about a collective gathering of resources that stress creative thought and individuality. Just as the true legacy of the Jazz Messengers portends, contributors are charged with replenishing ...
Continue ReadingBrian Lynch Big Band: The Omni-American Book Club / My Journey Through Literature in Music
by Jack Bowers
Aside from being a multi-award-winning trumpeter and composer, Brian Lynch appears to be an avid reader and social arbiter as well. His twenty-third album as leader, a two-CD set whose protracted and austere name, The Omni-American Book Club / My Journey Through Literature in Music, belies its bold and free-hearted nature, is dedicated to a number of writers, most in the realms of equity and civil rights, who have quickened Lynch's inquiring mind and shaped his bright and perceptive music. ...
Continue Reading
