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David Caffey Jazz Orchestra: At the Edge of Spring
by Jack Bowers
With his album, At the Edge of Spring, composer and arranger David Caffey and his Colorado-based Jazz Orchestra not only defy the widely-held belief that big bands are dead, they emphatically blow that axium out of the water. This is an ensemble with no discernible weaknesses, as proficient and powerful as any that have come before it or are likely to follow. To verify that impression, you need only couple your ears with an open mind. As ...
Continue ReadingUniversity of Northern Colorado Jazz Lab Band 1: The Romeo and Juliet Project
by Jack Bowers
The University of Northern Colorado's Lab Band 1 has been a dominant force on the intercollegiate jazz scene for many years, first under director Gene Aitken and more recently Dana Landry whose latest enterprise with the band, The Romeo and Juliet Project, was of course inspired by William Shakespeare's incomparable paean to young love and its sometimes grievous consequences. While “searching for a way for UNC's Jazz Lab Band 1 to create an original large-scale work that ...
Continue ReadingDon Aliquo: Jazz Folk
by Budd Kopman
Jazz Folk is an homage to jazz musicians (the folks) who put their heart and soul into playing creative music. This straight-ahead record sports four Don Aliquo originals, three pieces from bassist Rufus Reid, and two modern standards. While there is nothing especially new here, and experienced listeners will find no surprises, the individual playing and the group aesthetic is excellent. The musicians obviously know and like each other, and the joy of their playing infuses this ...
Continue ReadingDon Aliquo: Jazz Folk
by AAJ Italy Staff
Un classico quintetto bop, la classica front line sax-tromba, nove tracce dalla struttura tema-assoli-tema che più classica non si può, la classica alternanza di up-tempo e slow-tempo. E’ tutta qui la fotografia di Jazz Folk, quarto album da leder del sassofonista Don Aliquo, rappresentante assai quotato, sebbene poco noto dalle nostre parti, del cosiddetto modern mainstream. Si potrebbe dire che le otto composizioni originali sono formalmente impeccabili e ricoprono un vasto ventaglio dello stile boppistico e dei suoi numerosi derivati. ...
Continue ReadingDon Aliquo: Jazz Folk
by Michael P. Gladstone
The music on Jazz Folk has nothing whatsoever to do with folk music. Instead, Don Aliquo reports that he aimed to “capture the soul and spirit of folk music." Perhaps the title refers to “jazz people," which would make more sense.
Don Aliquo is a well-respected saxophonist and educator in Nashville and a Director of Studies as well as Associate Professor of saxophone at Middle Tennessee State University. This is his fourth album, and he accurately describes his ...
Continue ReadingDon Aliquo: Jazz Folk
by Dan McClenaghan
Tenor saxophonist Don Aliquo is based in Nashville, Tennessee, but his sound on Jazz Folk sounds very East Coast mainstream. His smooth, clean tenor tone and seemingly fluid and intricately articulate flow of always surprising ideas brings veteran saxophonist George Coleman to mind, especially the way he makes it sound so easy.Aliquo teams up here with a fine quintet--trumpet and sax with a rhythm section--on a set that sits right in the middle of the bop tradition. His ...
Continue ReadingDana Landry: Journey Home
by Jim Santella
The title track of Journey Home features Dana Landry's cascading piano in a soothing ballad that meanders relentlessly in an inspired sojourn. With soprano saxophone and vibraphone, he gently massages the melody on its trek over long distances and through marathon trials. With his original “Deerhead Sketches," the pianist paints impressions of his native Eastern Pennsylvania landscape.
Jazz surrounded Landry at an early age, growing up in Pennsylvania's Delaware Water Gap. Home to Phil Woods, Bob Dorough, Urbie ...
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