Jazz Articles about Charles Pillow

About Charles Pillow

Album Review

David Liebman & The CNY Jazz Orchestra: If a White Horse from Jerusalem...

Read "If a White Horse from Jerusalem..." reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
September 27, 2024

The four-movement suite If a White Horse from Jerusalem..., performed on this splendid album by soprano saxophonist David Liebman and the CNY (Central New York) Jazz Orchestra, was inspired by the works of Israeli writer, poet and playwright Ada Aharoni, commissioned by Syracuse University, orchestrated by Bret Zvacek and had its world premiere in 2011, after which Liebman suggested that it be recorded. Now, thirteen years after that event, the CNY has made it happen, with Liebman again serving as ...

Album Review

Alan Ferber: Up High, Down Low

Read "Up High, Down Low" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
June 3, 2024

Nel nono disco da bandleader, il trombonista Alan Ferber ritorna col suo abituale nonet, con cui ha già inciso quattro album. L'organico ha subìto qualche cambiamento con le presenze del chitarrista Nir Felder, di Chris Cheek al sax baritono e qualche altro (ma restano i fidi sassofonisti Jon Gordon, Charles Pillow e John Ellis, il trombettista Scott Wendholt) confermando l'estetica di fondo: un modern mainstream caratterizzato da groove ritmico, chiarezza melodica e arrangiamenti leggibili che s'ispirano anche al soul ...

Album Review

Christopher Zuar Orchestra: Exuberance

Read "Exuberance" reviewed by Katchie Cartwright

by Katchie Cartwright
May 13, 2024

Exuberance is part of a “long-form tonal conversation" between composer Christopher Zuar and animator Anne Beal. Zuar, a Long Island New Yorker, describes the work as “a journey of personal growth," which began in 2017 when he and Beal met as fellows at the MacDowell Colony in the woods of New Hampshire. He explains that the album is a “collaborative project that charts the last seven years of our lives." “In Winter Blooms," the opening track, grew out ...

Album Review

Michael Davis - Hip-Bone Big Band: Open City

Read "Open City" reviewed by Jerome Wilson

by Jerome Wilson
July 20, 2023

Michael Davis is an accomplished trombonist who has had a long career of live and studio work accompanying a varied roster of big-name jazz and rock talents such as The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Bob Mintzer, Buddy Rich, Paul Simon, and Sarah Vaughan. He is also an established solo artist and composer who leads an imposing large ensemble, the Hip-Bone Big Band. The big band's second album is an exuberant affair which reflects the joy of getting back ...

Album Review

Charles Pillow Ensemble: Chamber Jazz

Read "Chamber Jazz" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
April 29, 2020

Chamber Jazz, alto saxophonist Charles Pillow's eighth recording as leader of his ensemble, is a generally sedate but remarkably engaging series of tone poems that combine contemporary jazz with elements of classical music to produce a hybrid that underlines what is most harmonious and charming in each genre. Chamber Jazz is what it says, and chamber jazz is what it is. For comparison's sake, think of the ensemble as the Modern Jazz Quartet times five. True, there is no John ...

Album Review

Mike Holober: Hiding Out

Read "Hiding Out" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
February 6, 2020

Un decennio dopo Quake (Sunnyside 2009), l'arrangiatore e bandleader Mike Holober riporta sotto i riflettori la newyorchese Gotham Jazz Orchestra in uno scintillante doppio compact che raccoglie due ricercate composizioni ("Flow" in tre movimenti, “Hiding Out" in cinque) e tre brani medio-lunghi (tra cui il delizioso “Caminhos Cruzados" di Jobim in due versioni). Come è ovvio che sia, l'organico registra alcune sostituzioni. Tra i nuovi ingressi il trombettista Marvin Stamm, i sassofonisti Jason Rigby e Bill Drewes, il ...

Album Review

Mike Holober and the Gotham Jazz Orchestra: Hiding Out

Read "Hiding Out" reviewed by Jerome Wilson

by Jerome Wilson
October 24, 2019

Mike Holober is a celebrated composer and arranger who has worked for ensembles like the Westchester Jazz Orchestra in New York and the WDR and HR Big Bands in Germany. He is also the leader and founder of the Gotham Jazz Orchestra which here makes its first appearance on record in ten years. Holober makes this return a fruitful one, coming up with a 2CD set featuring two long suites, both with themes involving American landscapes. The first ...