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Jon Gold: Things Are Looking Up
by Jack Bowers
On Things Are Looking Up, California-bred pianist and composer Jon Gold uses a dozen able musicians in groups of various sizes from duo to quintet to add color and spice to his generally harmonic and accessible post-bop themes. Four of these themes are tributes to those who have influenced Gold musically or personally, and the album opens with one: a quintet reading of the “For Rudy van Gelder," with sometimes strident solos by tenor saxophonist Kevon Scott and ...
Continue ReadingDylan Hicks & Small Screens: Modern Flora
by Neil Duggan
In years gone by, record stores would sometimes categorise their albums by genre, so there would be sections on jazz, pop and singer-songwriter, etc. Modern Flora from Dylan Hicks & Small Screens is the sort of album that could cause the record store owner a problem, as the album would comfortably fit into all those categories. Even from a 2024 perspective, a 1970s-style singer-songwriter backed by a jazz nonet is not a natural fit in our genre-specific, box-ticking world.
Continue ReadingBryan Murray & Jon Lundbom: Beats by Balto! Vol. 2
by Mark Corroto
Spinning Beats by Balto Vol. 2 in the midst of a global pandemic brings to mind a quote from Zack de la Rocha: “Fear is your only god on the radio." The Rage Against The Machine frontman is begging you to turn off your radio, but somehow you just can't turn off Balto!'s beats. The brain-child of guitarist Jon Lundbom and Bryan Murray (Bryan And The Haggards, Big Five Chord), the spine-tingling essence of this music confirms what ...
Continue ReadingAlbum Review
Bryan and the Haggards: Still Alive and Kickin' Down the Walls
by AAJ Italy Staff
Torna la country-free-jazz band più divertente e fracassona di Hollywood. Brian and the Haggards, vale a dire il sassofonista Bryan Murray alla testa del suo improbabile quintetto di cowboy metropolitani: Jon Irabagon alle ance, Moppa Elliott al contrabbasso (metà dei Mostly Other People Do the Killing), il batterista Danny Fischer e il chitarrista Jon Lundbom (quello dei Big Five Chord, stessa formazione e stessa etichetta: la Hot Cup Records). Still Alive and Kickin' Down the Walls ricomincia dove si era ...
Continue ReadingBryan and the Haggards: Still Alive And Kickin' Down The Walls
by Dave Wayne
With the music of country music legends Merle Haggard and Bob Wills as a starting point, tenor saxophonist Bryan Murray and his band have been creating fresh, iconoclastic, and somewhat noisy modern jazz for a few years. The Haggards' second CD, Still Alive And Kickin' Down The Walls, picks up where their stunning debut, Pretend It's the End of the World (Hot Cup, 2010), left off. Murray and his band are clearly having a lot of fun with Haggard's music. ...
Continue ReadingBryan and the Haggards: Still Alive and Kickin' Down the Walls
by Dan McClenaghan
Still Alive and Kickin' Down the Walls is the second foray into an unlikely marriage of free jazz and the Bakersfield, California, country sound of the legendary Merle Haggard, a follow-up to the pairing's raucous honeymoon, Pretend It's the End of the World (Hot Cup Records, 2010). Saxophonist Bryan Murray leads this outfit, a rowdy, rough around the edges quintet comprised of two reeds in front of a guitar-driven rhythm section.Opening with Haggard's “Ramblin' Fever," the music sounds ...
Continue ReadingBryan and the Haggards: Pretend It's The End of the World
by William Carey
Is it too late for a “best of 2010" list? This 2010 release, by Bryan and the Haggards, has made several of these lists; while it would be easy to approach these jazz renditions of Merle Haggard tunes as some sort of novelty, that couldn't be farther from what tenor saxophonist Bryan Murray and his quintet have accomplished with this set of country ditties. The band's namesake, singer/songwriter Merle Haggard, remains a fascinating character in the history ...
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