Jazz Articles about Carol Robbins

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Carol Robbins: Jazz Play

by Jerry D'Souza
February 27, 2006

The harp makes one of its rare appearances in jazz in the hands of Carol Robbins on Jazz Play. She also wrote several of the tunes on this recording and included some standards. And where does that place the music? Right in the mainstream, with some softer shades of what is known as contemporary jazz. The introduction of the latter causes no damage; the soothing waft it brings in is pleasant enough, without detracting from the core.

One of the ...

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Carol Robbins: Jazz Play

by John Kelman
February 21, 2006

In the second Dirty Harry movie, Magnum Force, the catchphrase of Clint Eastwood's Inspector Callahan is “A man's got to know his limitations. Over the past decade, harpist Carol Robbins has attempted to defy the preconceived limitations of her instrument. She's employed the harp--surely one of the most unwieldy of instruments--in a jazz setting, despite inherent challenges involved in manipulating its complicated set of pedals on the fly to meet the spontaneous demands of improvisation.

Still, while the harp has ...

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Carol Robbins: Jazz Play

by AAJ Italy Staff
February 18, 2006

Un suono angelico come quello dell'arpa ha spesso ammaliato gli ascoltatori della musica classica, ma ha raramente trovato spazio nel mondo del jazz (si possono ricordare due ottime musiciste come Dorothy Ashby e Debora Henson-Conant). Carol Robbins ci prova con virtuosismo e senza dubbio riesce nell'ardua impresa di mettere gli accenti nel posto giusto per dare swing alle sue numerose corde, oltre ad accompagnare con una perfetta scelta delle armonie di volta in volta la chitarra di Larry Koons, la ...

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Carol Robbins: Jazz Play

by Dan McClenaghan
February 7, 2006

There's a reason mythology puts the harp in the hands of angels. The instrument's lushness shimmers, light and untethered, a beautiful, silvery sound, floating in the clouds. But does that dynamic make for good jazz? The same question nags at the “with strings" genre, in spite of master works there by Charlie Parker, Stan Getz, Art Pepper, Jim Snidero and many more. In some minds, “violins and cellos" by necessity equals classical music. Those same minds may put up the ...