Jazz Articles about Chris Speed

Endangered Blood: Endangered Blood

by Mark Corroto
February 22, 2011

Endangered Blood formed in 2008, to play a benefit concert to help pay for fellow musician Andrew D'Angelo's medical bills. For the performance, drummer Jim Black and bassist Trevor Dunn--two of the saxophonist's band mates--enlisted saxophonists Chris Speed and Oscar Noriega. As happens so often in modern groups, familiar players in different combination produce compelling results.Black and Speed are both veterans of Tim Berne's vanguard band, Bloodcount, as well as Human Feel, Pachora, Yeah No and Alas No ...

Ben Perowski Quartet: Esopus Opus

by AAJ Italy Staff
December 4, 2009

Esopus Opus, album che per la prima volta vede il percussionista newyorkese Ben Perowski collaborare con l'etichetta discografica di Chris Speed, Skirl Records, è un disco diviso a metà. Perowski, affiancato dallo stesso Speed al clarinetto e al sassofono, Ted Reichman alla fisarmonica e Drew Gress al basso, passeggia fra brani recuperati dal repertorio firmato da George Harrison, Jimi Hendrix e Jacob do Bandolim e qualche composizione originale scegliendo il clarinetto di Speed come voce principale. Aperto da una trascinante ...

Three with Chris Speed/Skirl Records: Big Choantza; Smell The Difference; Esopus Opus

by Sean Patrick Fitzell
November 7, 2009

The New Mellow Edwards Big Choantza Skirl Records 2009 Tyft Smell The Difference Skirl Records 2009 Ben Perowsky Quartet Esopus Opus Skirl Records 2009

Since founding Skirl Records in 2006, saxophonist Chris Speed still hasn't led a project for the label. But that hasn't diminished ...

Chris Speed / Chris Cheek / Stephane Furic Leibovici: Jugendstil

by Jerry D'Souza
October 1, 2008

Double-bassist Stephane Furic Leibovici avers that he likes to be gentle with sounds and to listen to the inside of them. He is true to this philosophy on Jugendstil, where he finds solace in the quiet and the meditative; getting inspiration from classical and chamber music and using them to the full in his writing.

One of the traits of the music is the subtle changes woven into the context. The credit for this goes largely to clarinetist ...

Chris Speed / Chris Cheek / Stephane Furic Leibovici: Jugendstil

by Raul d'Gama Rose
September 16, 2008

Everything about this extraordinary album, Jugendstil, is deliberate and attains its own level of perfection. To begin with, there is its name: The word Jugendstil (German for “youth style," akin to the French “art nouveau" movement of the late nineteenth century) is so apt, considering that it defines the music contained in this record. For instance just as that art movement was typified by highly stylized and curvilinear forms, so also is the music on this record. Here, the aural ...

John Hollenbeck: A Blessing

by AAJ Italy Staff
May 8, 2008

L'aspetto di A Blessing che più colpisce al primo ascolto è il lungo snodarsi delle linee melodiche, lontano dalla stringatezza percussiva tipica del jazz per big band. I suoi temi avvolgono ipnotici, quasi minimalisti, costruiti su cellule che sviluppano lente e inesorabili, affidate a insiemi strumentali tipici della scrittura di Gil Evans e altri arrangiatori bianchi come Bob Graettinger o Bob Brookmeyer (col quale da tempo Hollenbeck collabora). L'impiego della voce di Theo Bleckmann, come elemento interno alla tessitura orchestrale, ...

Chris Speed: Playing For The Team

by Tom Greenland
February 16, 2008

Human Feel Galore Skirl 2007

Chris Speed has been perking up audience ears since the early 1990s, when he and a talented coterie of Boston music students descended on Manhattan to test their mettle in the downtown scene. One of the important outgrowths of this camaraderie was Human Feel, a quartet (originally a quintet) with Speed, Andrew D'Angelo (alto saxophone, bass clarinet), Jim Black (drums) and Kurt Rosenwinkel (guitar).

Although ...