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Jazz Articles about Brian Settles
Lafayette Gilchrist: Undaunted
by Mike Jurkovic
Barn-burning, barrel-housing pianist Lafayette Gilchrist may or may not be known by everyone pretending to be hip and attuned or even by the rather rarefied company he has been known to keep--David Murray, Cassandra Wilson, Andrew Cyrille--but Undaunted is going to get him some much deserved attention. Abundant with cajones and plenty of rhythm, Undaunted captures the imagination and attention immediately. The title track percolates within a laid back groove that Gilchrist, an admitted admirer of Duke Ellington's ...
Continue ReadingChad Taylor Trio: The Daily Biological
by Giuseppe Segala
Chad Taylor è conosciuto in particolare per essere cofondatore, insieme a Rob Mazurek, del Chicago Underground Duo, con le sue varianti nei diversi ampliamenti degli organici. La sua attività si è dipanata ad ampio raggio negli ultimi trent'anni, facendo fulcro sulla scena di Chicago prima, e di New York poi, collaborando tra l'altro con protagonisti storici, come Fred Anderson, Pharoah Sanders, Peter Brötzmann, Derek Bailey o Marc Ribot. Ma pure con le generazioni nuove, tra cui Kris Davis, Jaimie Branch ...
Continue ReadingTom Abbs & Frequency Response: Hawthorne
by Karl Ackermann
Bassist and multi-instrumentalist Tom Abbs began his Frequency Response series in 2003 with Conscription (CIMP Records). The group--then a quartet--included tenor saxophonist Brian Settles and drummer Chad Taylor. Alto saxophonist Jason Candler, violinists Jean Cook and Jenna Barvitski are later additions to Frequency Response. On their long-awaited fourth album Hawthorne, Abbs again stands in as a one-man orchestra, playing bass, cello, piano, and tuba. Abbs, primarily known as a free improvisational bassist is also an accomplished filmmaker, having ...
Continue ReadingTom Abbs & Frequency Response: Hawthorne
by Don Phipps
On his album Hawthorne, Brooklyn-based Tom Abbs showcases his mastery of several instruments and writing styles. Combining free, hard bop, world, and blues styles, Abbs's compositions juxtapose explosive exposés of new music with idioms that hearken back to ancient times. Abbs is joined by Jean Cook and Jenna Barvitski on violin, Brian Settles on tenor, Chad Taylor on drums, and Jason Candler on bass clarinet and alto sax. Abbs handles the chores on bass, tuba, piano, and cello. ...
Continue ReadingTom Abbs & Frequency Response: Lost & Found
by Jerry D'Souza
Tom Abbs is a multi-instrumentalist who, besides violin and didgeridoo, plays bass, tuba and cello on this CD. He has enlivened the free jazz scene in New York, not only through his collaborations with Cooper-Moore and Steve Swell among others, but with his music as well. He thinks with a vivid imagination and as such injects his compositions with melody, free falling notes, jazz harmony and a picturesque development. The last may well spring from his role as film-maker.
Continue ReadingTom Abbs: Lost & Found
by Raul d'Gama Rose
It is possible to respond to Tom Abbs & Frequency Response's Lost & Found with eyes wide shut, ears completely unlocked and a body ready to leap up and dance to some of its eighteen randomly arranged musical fragments. There is a cerebral angle here, most likely deliberate on the part of the artist. It has to do with the arrangement of the fragments--the songs, that is. Some are inspired by visual images and intended to sound like aural depictions ...
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