Jazz Articles about Conference Call

Conference Call: What About...?

by Mark Corroto
October 13, 2010

One of the finest improvising units working today, Conference Call is a complete band, capable of touching all the jazz bases, be they individual or group improvisation, or the performance of composed music. The quintet's sixth release, What About...? is a two-disc session from the band's 10th anniversary tour, and was recorded live at Alchemia in Krakow, Poland. Conference Call's lineup has remained stable for the past three releases--since drummer George Schuller took a drum chair once held ...

Conference Call: Poetry In Motion

by Budd Kopman
October 10, 2008

The creation of a work of art is an act of the mind that controls and shapes the medium's components in order to project the artist's sense of life and elicit a reaction from the consumer. In its highest forms, jazz might sound instinctive, but the reality is that years of practice have pushed the physical into the background and honed the mind to work exceedingly fast. A player entering "the zone" has not stopped thinking, but has ...

Conference Call: Poetry in Motion

by Troy Collins
August 11, 2008

Poetry in Motion is the fifth album from the collective, Conference Call, and their first studio recording since their debut, Final Answer (Soul Note, 2002). The longstanding quartet, together since 1998, features German multi-reedist Gebhard Ullmann, pianist Michael Jefry Stevens, bassist Joe Fonda and recent drummer George Schuller (former drummers include Han Bennink and Matt Wilson).

Throughout the last decade, Conference Call has straddled the tenuous line between free jazz and post bop, drawing on the distinctive writing ...

Conference Call: Live at the Outpost Performance Space

by Jeff Dayton-Johnson
April 23, 2006

This November, 2003 Albuquerque date by Conference Call manages to produce (very satisfying) new variations on an old formula. The quartet, which sits comfortably somewhere between the hard outer edges of the mainstream and free improvisation, includes multiple reeds player Gebhard Ullmann and the leaders of the Fonda/Stevens Group. The drummer's chair has been subject to a non-lethal version of the Spinal Tap syndrome, occupied by a sequence of percussionists including Matt Wilson, George Schuller and Han Bennink; this time ...

Conference Call: Spirals: The Berlin Concert

by Jerry D'Souza
March 3, 2004

Hey, come on over and listen in to a Conference Call. There have been two well worth listening to in the past. As before, there is a new drummer in tow, George Schuller coming in place of Matt Wilson, who in turn had replaced Han Bennink. Sure, Wilson and Bennink have individualistic styles, but don’t turn a deaf ear: Schuller’s approach stokes the rhythm and the guys up front continue to be in fine fettle.

The initial ...

Conference Call: Final Answer

by Frank Rubolino
August 25, 2003

Synergy is critical to the success of any band, yet Conference Call has developed the art of interaction into a fine science. Gebhard Ullmann, Michael Jefry Stevens, Joe Fonda, and Matt Wilson have been playing together for a number of years, which helps explain why their music congeals unerringly into a solidified whole. Everybody is a star soloist with this band, yet their combined output molds itself into a complete package braided together by group empathy.

All four musicians are ...