Jazz Articles about Dave Morgan
Kent Engelhardt & Stephen Enos: Madd For Tadd
by Jack Bowers
The masterworks on this second edition of Madd for Tadd are presented on two discs, one of which bears the name of one of composer/pianist Tadd Dameron's classic themes, “Our Delight." Oddly, the other is named for the only non-Dameronian item on the menu, “Central Avenue Swing," written by saxophonist and Dameron chronicler Kent Engelhardt who adapted the composer's tasteful charts for a big band and co-leads the ensemble with trumpeter Steve Enos. Although he is most ...
read moreFunk Shui NYC: Shark NATO on a Plane
by Jack Bowers
While some older listeners (and younger ones as well) may be thrown slightly off-kilter and find it hard to apprehend exactly what Funk Shui NYC is about, it must be conceded that the New York-based ensemble in all likelihood represents the future of big-band jazz, or at least a sizeable and assertive chunk of it. The name itself offers an explicit clue, as Funk Shui is indeed heavy on the funk (rather less on the shui, whatever that is), as ...
read moreDave Morgan: Blue Is More Than a Color
by Mark Corroto
With the modern availability of inexpensive recording technology, seemingly anyone can turn out a jazz release. It is, accordingly, a pleasure when a release comes about marked by superior craftsmanship. Blue Is More Than A Color, a jazz orchestra disc, is a fine example of not only excellent sound (not an easy task with 26 pieces) but smart compositions, skillful arrangements and impressive soloing. The recording is the brainchild of composer and bassist Dave Morgan, a mainstay of the north-east ...
read moreDave Morgan: Blue Is More Than a Color
by Jack Bowers
If nothing else, bassist-composer Dave Morgan's album, Blue Is More Than a Color, affirms that big-band jazz is alive and well in the Akron, Ohio, area. Perhaps more than coincidentally, Morgan's large and well-drilled ensemble plies its trade on a regular basis at Akron's Blu Jazz Club whose patrons may presumably hear previews of the seven original compositions by Morgan that comprise the sum total of a colorful and provocative studio session. Morgan's compositions are resourceful and ...
read moreDave Morgan & Friends: Kirtland, OH, February 24, 2012
by Matt Marshall
Dave Morgan & Friends40th Annual Lakeland Jazz FestivalKirtland, OHFebruary 24, 2012On the opening night of the 40th Annual Lakeland Jazz Festival, bassist Dave Morgan gathered a host of friends and treated Northeast Ohioans to a rare performance of his The Way of the Sly Man (Being Time, 2010). The piece, based on the ideas of 20th-century spiritualist G. I. Gurdjieff--mixing jazz with Middle Eastern, Indian and African music plus Gurdjieff's own musical ideas--hadn't been performed ...
read moreDave Morgan: The Way of the Sly Man
by Matt Marshall
Dave MorganThe Way of the Sly Man Being There2010 The teachings of 20th century mystic G. I. Gurdjieff have appealed to their share of artists, pianist Keith Jarrett, guitarist Robert Fripp and singer Kate Bush being among the more famous musicians to fall under Gurdjieff's spell. Jarrett, in fact, went so far as to record an album of Gurdjieff's solo piano music--G.I. Gurdjieff Sacred Hymns (ECM, 1980). It's unclear how devout a ...
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