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Chris Washburne and the SYOTOS Band: Fields Of Moons
by Mark Corroto
Latin jazz is typically characterized by its passion and rhythms. For the past twenty years, trombonist Chris Washburne has been leading his SYOTOS band through the fervor and the pulse of Latin jazz. His home cooked meals are featured every week in New York City. His band, SYOTOS, has released four prior discs, the most recent being The Land Of Nod (Jazzheads, 2006). While those discs tended to be red hot burners, Fields Of Moons turns down the ...
Continue ReadingNYNDK: The Hunting Of The Snark
by Mark Corroto
Jazz collective NYNDK's The Hunting of the Snark takes its title from a Lewis Carroll poem that inspired Norwegian composer Arne Nordheim's contemporary composition, written for the 1994 Winter Olympics opening ceremony.
Formed in 2003, the band, led by trombonist Chris Washburne, saxophonist Ole Mathisen, and pianist Soren Moller, is a transcontinental collective from New York (NY), Norway (N), and Denmark (DK). They have released two prior recordings, Nordic Disruption (2007) and their self-titled 2004 debut, both on Jazzheads. Here ...
Continue ReadingChris Washburne and the SYOTOS Band: Land of Nod
by Woodrow Wilkins
If radio play is an accurate indicator of what people want, then the trombone is an under-appreciated, perhaps even unwanted lead instrument. Fortunately, those who play the instrument ignore such perceptions. Chris Washburne, whose musical interests cut across multiple genres, is among them. Leader of the Latin band Syotos, Washburne has been around the world, performing with such notables as Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, Gloria Estefan, David Byrne, Justin Timberlake, the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Arturo Sandoval and ...
Continue ReadingChris Washburne and the SYOTOS Band: Land of Nod
by Jerry D'Souza
The current political climate in the US is ripe for (and rife with) comment. Several calls have come for criticism--and with Land of Nod, Chris Washburne adds his voice to them. There are no lyrics on the recording, but the titles of his compositions and the strong message of the liner notes get the message across.
The first three tunes gather the colors of the American flag in the way Washburne sees them. And so, red, white and ...
Continue ReadingChris Washburne and the SYOTOS Band: Land of Nod
by Elliott Simon
Jazz in this first decade of the 21st Century has few artists using their music to confront the prevailing political climate. Jazz as protest music is an interesting historical artifact that was part of its '60s adolescence, before the music matured into an accepted field of academic study. The jazz educational establishment is more interested in developing technique at the expense of intellectual spirit. If you empathize with any of these statements, give a listen to trombonist Chris Washburne and ...
Continue ReadingChris Washburne and the SYOTOS Band: Land of Nod
by Michael P. Gladstone
Trombonist, composer and bandleader Chris Washburne heads up a spirited band called SYOTOS, which is an acronym for “See You On The Other Side," which dates back to an expression used by him just before his successful cancer surgery to his fellow musicians.
The title of this album comes from author Jonathan Swift who, in Gulliver's Travels, coined the expression “land of nod." I thought after hearing this album that no one who listens to it will be ...
Continue ReadingChris Washburne and the SYOTOS Band: Land of Nod
by Dan McClenaghan
Call this jazz protest CD by trombonist Chris Washburne “Latin jazz with an attitude." The phrase “Land of Nod" originated with Jonathan Swift (Gulliver's Travels) in reference to a state of slumber. As a collective whole, the American public may have undergone a collective political nodding off, though recent elections seem to offer some solace--a critical thinking jolt of mind-clearing caffeine.Sometimes you just take your inspiration where you find it. For Washburne, the State of the Union has ...
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