Jazz Articles about Christian Dillingham

Christian Dillingham: Halcyon

by Hrayr Attarian
December 4, 2024

On the intriguing Halcyon, his second release as a leader, Chicago bassist Christian Dillingham explores folkish motifs in a haunting ambience. The music here is a mix of his own compositions and covers of diverse backgrounds that showcase, once again, his versatility. The band has quite a unique sound, thanks to its collective virtuosity, with guitarist Matt Gold's incandescent pedal steel giving it a rootsy flavor. For instance, singer-songwriter Gillian Welch's “Lowlands" has a buoyant and a tad ...

Christian Dillingham: Cascades

by Maurizio Zerbo
April 9, 2024

Questo CD può rappresentare una bella sorpresa per chi non segue i mille rivoli del copioso panorama discografico statunitense. Ne è protagonista il bassista Christian Dillingham, già distintosi per la rara versatilità nel padroneggiare la cultura eurocolta, la tradizione jazzistica e il mondo del gospel grazie alla pluripremiata collaborazione discografica con il cantante Kirk Franklin. Nel brano d'apertura si individuano i principali orizzonti espressivi di un progetto fondato sulla semplicità tematica, sull'esplosione gioiosa e innodica di una musica ...

Notable Releases from Christian Dillingham and Others

by Jerome Wilson
December 10, 2023

Here is a look at some notable albums released in the latter half of 2023. Ilya Dynov Bridges Self-Produced 2023 Drummer Ilya Dynov leads a small group session of straight-ahead jazz played with an edge and swinging deftness. The music runs the gamut from the rolling urgency of “Constellation," and the soulful lope of “For Those We Love" to the jagged high-stepping of “Blue." Pianist Jihee Heo consistently breezes nimbly over ...

Christian Dillingham: Checking in from the Third Coast

by David Bixler
November 1, 2023

Christian Dillingham: Cascades

by Hrayr Attarian
September 7, 2023

Chicago bassist Christian Dillingham is a truly versatile musician. In addition to excelling at various genres, including jazz, western classical and gospel, he appeared on singer Kirk Franklin's Grammy winner Long Live Love (RCA 2019). Dillingham is also an accomplished educator, composer and bandleader. He demonstrates these skills as he leads his quartet on his debut Cascades, a cohesive and original work which is intense, thought-provoking, and soulful. A dramatic ambiance permeates the captivating “South State Line Road"; ...

Christy Bennett's Fumee: Good Morning Heartache: The Music of Irene Higginbotham

by Jerome Wilson
December 20, 2022

Vocalist Christy Bennett has made a specialty of unearthing the work of forgotten songwriters from the past, particularly women. That has led to this album where she presents ten songs written by Irene Higginbotham, a jazz composer active in the '40s. Higginbotham's name is not well known today but a couple of her songs are; “This Will Make You Laugh" was a popular tune for Nat King Cole and “Good Morning Heartache" has been sung by many people, ...

Marques Carroll: The Ancestors' Call

by Jerome Wilson
July 5, 2021

This is the debut album from Chicago-based trumpeter Marques Carroll and he uses it to address very specific concerns—the ongoing struggle for identity and freedom that African-Americans have been going through in the USA for centuries. He does this in compositions that represent a dialogue between generations, music that reaches back to the spiritual jazz of the Sixties as well as touching on the hip-hop, soul and Latin rhythms of today. On the opening “The Ancestors' Call Upon ...