Home » Jazz Articles » Cameron Brown
Jazz Articles about Cameron Brown
David Janeway: Forward Motion
by Dan McClenaghan
New York City-based pianist David Janeway began his music journey studying classical music at age five. The move to the Big Apple happened in 1978, and became a permanent move in 1986. He has been a busy presence there for four decades, in various ensemble configurations. Still, he gravitates--especially on recordings--toward the piano trio, with Distant Voices (Steeple Chase, 2021), Interchange (Steeplechase, 2024) and now with Forward Motion, where he is joined by bassist Cameron Brown and drummer Billy Hart. ...
Continue ReadingAngela Verbrugge: Somewhere
by Katchie Cartwright
Based in Victoria, British Columbia, Angela Verbrugge keeps a busy schedule as a singer, touring in Canada and farther afield. In addition to performing, she writes songs--jazz songs, new standards--with lyrics that are engagingly personal and funny, containing the occasional acerbic twist. As a lyricist, she often speaks to the quotidian. Her texts are a perfect match for pianist Ray Gallon's boppish compositions. On “Enough's Enough" (Love for Connoisseurs, Gut String Records, 2022), she takes a sloppy lover to task ...
Continue ReadingAngela Verbrugge: Somewhere
by Michael Steinman
The proper response to Beauty is an awed admiring silence. So these liner notes should be one word in a large font: LISTEN. But Angela asked me to add a few hundred keystrokes to the project, so here we are. Incidentally, I have chosen to focus on Angela in the midst of the most superb musicians and arrangements. I hope they will forgive me! Angela Verbrugge is a great subversive. Her work is so quietly insinuating that listeners ...
Continue ReadingDavid Janeway: Distant Voices
by Dan McClenaghan
In 2017 pianist David Janeway offered his Secret Passages, a trio outing featuring bassist Frank Tate and drummer Chuck Zeuren. He proves, in 2021, that he can change partners without losing an ounce of swing or even a shot glass of verve. It is Cameron Brown on bass this time out, with Billy Hart sitting in the drum chair. Both are serious, elevate-the-music guys, while Janeway continues with his sprightly cerebralism and crystalline-touch way of making music. Distant ...
Continue ReadingLena Bloch & Feathery: Rose Of Lifta
by Dan McClenaghan
Saxophonist Lena Bloch knows something about the pain of separation from one's homeland. Born in Russia, she emigrated to Israel in 1990, then to Europe and, finally, in 2008, to the United States, setting up shop in New York City's fertile jazz ground. In 2014, Feathery, (Thirteen Note Records), the album and her quartet of that name, came into being. The group's second album, Heart Knows (Fresh Sound New Talent, 2007), cemented her distinctive horn-and-rhythm-section approach, with bassist ...
Continue ReadingJeff Pearring/Pearring Sound: Socially Distanced Duos
by Karl Ackermann
Jeff Pearring's background in jazz, classical, reggae and other genres has informed his creative process in ways that are not always apparent. That turns out to be a good thing as his ability to encapsulate influences without genuflecting is part of his music's appeal. The alto saxophonist, a Brooklyn-based Colorado native, is a Connie Crothers protégé with a similarly independent mindset. Billed as “Pearring Sound," the saxophonist surrounds himself with a rotation of players varying on three previous, self-produced albums, ...
Continue ReadingLena Bloch: Heart Knows
by Hrayr Attarian
Tenor saxophonist Lena Bloch has a cool, cerebral style and a definite and captivating lyricism. Her second release Heart Knows demonstrates this quite well. In addition, Bloch showcases her inventive compositional skills as she contributes four intriguing originals to the album. One of Bloch's mentors, multi-reed player Yusef Lateef inspired the poetic and multilayered “Lateef Suite" that opens with a contemplative duet with pianist Russ Lossing. Bloch's intelligent and introspective saxophone “monologue" flows languidly over the darkly percolating ...
Continue Reading
