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TD Toronto Jazz Festival 2015
by Alain Londes
TD Toronto Jazz Festival Various locations Toronto, Canada June 18-29, 2015 With festival season in full swing, it's always an opportunity to see what the state of jazz is and to hopefully discover something new. The challenge is of course that there are always many choices and one might be guided by personal choice and on a whim as to what to see. This year's Toronto Jazz Festival had a rich collection of performers from ...
Continue ReadingDrawing Jazz
by Keith Henry Brown
A twist on the old cliché, “Those who can't play--draw,"--that's my personal point of view. I've been a jazz nut since as long as I can remember, and as soon as I could push a pencil--even though I could barely bang out a simple tune on a piano--I was sketching some of my favorite players, Charles Mingus, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington. In 2000, after beginning a career as a graphic designer, I was awarded the position of design ...
Continue ReadingChristian McBride: People Music - Out Here
by Luigi Sforza
Di Christian McBride colpisce l'energia, la presa di coscienza dei propri mezzi espressivi e il modo in cui riesce a plasmare la scoppiettante materia sonora che suona, ovvero un miscuglio proficuo di post-bop e cantabile modern jazz. A due anni di distanza da The Good Feeling il contrabbassista afroamericano torna con due dischi, uno, People Music con gli Inside Straight, l'altro, Out Herein trio. Entrambi con almeno due tratti in comune, l'accattivante persuasività delle melodie e la non ...
Continue ReadingChristian McBride & Inside Straight: People Music
by J Hunter
Musicians create bands for many things: To gather like-minded artists together, or to achieve some grand artistic vision; Christian McBride created Inside Straight to get a gig. It seems Village Vanguard owner Lorraine Gordon loved McBride but wouldn't book him with his regular, fusion-heavy outfit--or, as Gordon put it, “that rock 'n' roll band." Necessity is the mother, as they say, so McBride built Inside Straight. The thing is, he might have overreacted a tad, because the group's first release ...
Continue ReadingUnder the Banner of McBride: Two Bass Hits from a Low-End Giant
by Dan Bilawsky
Bassist Christian McBride is many things to many people. Leader, sideman, writer, and conceptualist are just a few of the hats that he happens to wear on these two quintet- centered dates. One album puts McBride's name up in lights, while the other finds him in a supporting role, but his work is central to the success of both outings. His on-the- money groove work, killer chops and tasteful tidings tie these albums together; they both share space under the ...
Continue ReadingDavid Gilmore: Numerology: Live At Jazz Standard
by Dan Bilawsky
Numbers and music are inextricably linked together. Numbers exist within every musical impulse and control the very nature of music through their connective ratios and relationships. This concept is explored to the fullest, without coming off as inaccessible “math music," on guitarist David Gilmore's Numerology: Live At Jazz Standard. Gilmore--not to be confused with Pink Floyd's guitar-wielding David Gilmour--has made a name for himself as a Berklee-based educator and go-to sideman, appearing on recordings with saxophonist Wayne ...
Continue ReadingChristian McBride: Knocking on the Door
by Bob Kenselaar
Christian McBride was talking about the Grammy he received in October, 2011 for his big band album, The Good Feeling (Mack Avenue, 2011)--his first Grammy as a leader and third overall. While the bassist certainly appreciated getting the nod from his peers and from the Recording Academy, he said he gets just as much of a reward--if not more of one--when he gets calls from musicians he admires asking him to work with them because they like what he does. ...
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