Jazz Articles about Cyrus Chestnut

Cyrus Chestnut: Cyrus Plays Elvis

by J Hunter
December 8, 2007

"Elvis isn't dead until we say he's dead! That was the defiant proclamation on a billboard advertising a Bay Area Oldies station. An immediate reaction would be: “Which Elvis are we talking about? Fat Elvis? Thin Elvis? Hollywood Elvis? Vegas Elvis? With Cyrus Plays Elvis, pianist Cyrus Chestnut has added a new category to that list: Jazz Elvis.

The concept isn't all that far-fetched: Presley's early recordings came from the same country-blues space Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash called ...

Cyrus Chestnut: Cyrus plays Elvis

by Francis Lo Kee
October 17, 2007

Certainly a concept designed to push peoples' buttons, the fact is that if you don't know Elvis Presley's music, this CD doesn't sound radically different from a lot of soul jazz recordings from Blue Note in the 1960s. One of the big differences between rock and jazz is harmony: while jazz, partially built on the standards of the Great American Songbook, loves shifting, chromatic voice-leading, rock tends to be harmonically more static, either using other qualities to build and release ...

Cyrus Chestnut: Genuine Chestnut

by Woodrow Wilkins
July 30, 2006

One hardly thinks of age six as the start of a career in anything, but that's when pianist Cyrus Chestnut began his. As was the case with many musicians and singers, the church was his first gig. He played at Mount Calvary Baptist in Baltimore, and within three years, he was studying classical music at the Peabody Institute. Over the years, a variety of training and experiences led him to jazz. He worked alongside some modern jazz heavyweights like Terence ...

Cyrus Chestnut: Genuine Chestnut

by AAJ Italy Staff
June 23, 2006

Genuine Chestnut non rende giustizia alla ragguardevole cifra artistica di Cyrus Chestnut, pianista e compositore di talento. Alcuni suoi dischi per la Evidence e l’Atlantic ne avevano messo in luce l’intrigante progettualità musicale, volta ad integrare l’idioma delle origini del jazz all’interno di un fraseggio d’ascendenza post-bop. Su questo disco tale peculiarità fortemente distintiva del pianista statunitense è stata edulcorata, per essere messa al servizio di un calderone in cui la matrice più autenticamente afroamericana viene sovrapposta a sonorità più ...

Cyrus Chestnut: Genuine Chestnut

by Joel Roberts
March 12, 2006

Cyrus Chestnut has always brought a palpable sense of joy to his music-making. Since gaining notoriety with the young lions of the '80s, his gospel-rooted approach has earned him a reputation as one of the most reliably versatile pianists on the mainstream scene. Genuine Chestnut is a mixed bag, though. While there's plenty of fine playing here from the 42-year-old leader and his trio, along with guests Steve Kroon (percussion) and Russell Malone (guitar), the music only ...

Cyrus Chestnut: You Are My Sunshine

by AAJ Staff
July 25, 2003

Tough times make simple music cathartic, and Cyrus Chestnut’s You Are My Sunshine combines tradition with innovation to attractively articulate this 70-minute collection of modern jazz trio music. Chestnut clearly doesn’t expect this record to change your life, but it does successfully brighten our mood.

The record’s opening, “God Smiled On Me,” clearly establishes the comfort of acoustic subtlety within a groove that nicely unites Chestnut with band mates Michael Hawkins on bass and Neal Smith on drums. The pianist ...

Cyrus Chestnut: Soul Food

by Craig W. Hurst
November 1, 2001

Cyrus Chestnut’s latest Atlantic release Soul Food provides a veritable smorgasbord of musical delicacies. Combining original and classic material, Chestnut and his band mates deliver a complete and balanced diet of delectable bites of sound performed at an epicurean level of artistry that would satisfy any jazz gourmet.

Joining Chestnut on Soul Food are bassist Christian McBride, Lewis Nash on drums, trombonist Wycliffe Gordon, Marcus Printup on trumpet, saxophonists James Carter and Gary Bartz and Stefon Harris on marimba and ...