Jazz Articles about Chris Lightcap

About Chris Lightcap

Album Review

Chris Lightcap's Bigmouth: Epicenter

Read "Epicenter" reviewed by Budd Kopman

by Budd Kopman
May 17, 2015

The closing track of bassist Chris Lightcap's muscular and vibrant Epicenter is a very intense and almost brutal version of Lou Reed's “All Tomorrow's Parties" from the 1967 release Velvet Underground & Nico. This tune, which is among Reed's most highly crafted works and which captures the essence of both the times and its subculture, is taken more slowly by Lightcap and the band, deepening its impact even further. It is the perfect ending for an album that ...

Album Review

Chris Lightcap's Bigmouth: Epicenter

Read "Epicenter" reviewed by Mark F. Turner

by Mark F. Turner
April 7, 2015

"Nine South" from New York bassist Chris Lightcap's Epicenter ignites the rhythm sense with its undeniable influence from West African music. Written as part of a commissioned work granted by Chamber Music America New Jazz Works, the piece was inspired by Lightcap's routine drive into Manhattan. Propelled by contagious hooks, fiery solos, and powerful harmonies, the music is driven by Lightcap's Big Mouth, a dynamic band of jazz progressives who have performed sporadically together for over 10 years.

Album Review

Chris Lightcap's Bigmouth: Epicenter

Read "Epicenter" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
March 17, 2015

The group is packed with some of the top stars of modern jazz, but it's with the collective and cohesive ensemble sound that bassist/composer Chris Lightcap's Bigmouth stands out. Hard-driving, electric, edgy, with a chip sitting firmly on its collective shoulders, Epicenter, Lightcap's ode to New York City, commissioned by Chamber Music America New Jazz Works, sizzles with the brashness and agitated energy of the big city. Central to the sound is keyboardist Craig Taborn's distinctive work on ...

Album Review

Chris Lightcap's Bigmouth: Epicenter

Read "Epicenter" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
March 12, 2015

Chris Lightcap is a bassist's bassist. As a sideman to leaders such as Regina Carter, Matt Wilson, Joe Morris, Marc Ribot, and Craig Taborn, his rock-solid timekeeping can be quite inconspicuous. He is a sort of steadfast superglue that leaders and composers hold in high regard. As a leader and composer, there is another Chris Lightcap. Epicenter, is his third Bigmouth release, following the quintet Deluxe (Clean Feed, 2010) and a quartet Bigmouth (Fresh Sound New Talent, 2002). ...

Album Review

Chris Lightcap: Deluxe

Read "Deluxe" reviewed by AAJ Italy Staff

by AAJ Italy Staff
September 20, 2010

Un giorno o l'altro bisognerà avviare una discussione seria sul concetto di mainstream in epoca post-post-postmoderna. Esiste ai giorni nostri un jazz che va per la maggiore? Ha ancora senso fare riferimento a un vocabolario estetico largamente condiviso e immediatamente riconoscibile? La questione è meno peregrina di quel che si potrebbe credere. Il termine mainstream è forse uno dei più abusati e fraintesi nel gergo jazzistico, sia da chi vi si trincera in nome del purismo, sia da chi lo ...

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Album Review

Chris Lightcap: Deluxe

Read "Deluxe" reviewed by Stuart Broomer

by Stuart Broomer
June 5, 2010

Bassist Chris Lightcap released a CD called Bigmouth on Fresh Sound-New Talent in 2003, featuring a quartet with drummer Gerald Cleaver and the unusual frontline of two tenor saxophonists, Tony Malaby and Bill McHenry. Seven years later, Lightcap returns to the concept, with “Bigmouth" now the name of the band rather than the CD. In the intervening period, the band and the concept have evolved considerably. Cleaver and Malaby are still present, but the second tenor saxophonist is now Chris ...

Album Review

Chad Taylor: Circle Down

by AAJ Italy Staff
November 23, 2009

Ex collaboratore di Fred Anderson e Rob Mazurek, Taylor imprime una direzione diversa - quasi inattesa - rispetto ai propri trascorsi di free-jazz. Sia pur senza il linguaggio ruvido e spregiudicato delle precedenti esperienze, il suo trio rivela una estrosa personalità che lo porta ad esprimersi su eccellenti livelli La pianista Angelica Sanchez si dimostra una solista magnifica, destinata a fare grandi cose nel jazz di domani. Dietro di lei l'incalzante drumming del leader, per padroneggiare un linguaggio aperto, dove ...