Jazz Articles about David Bixler

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David Bixler and Arturo O'Farrill: The Auction Project

by C. Michael Bailey
September 17, 2010

Stylistically, The Auction Project is slightly out-of-focus. It is ostensibly the meeting of Arturo O'Farrill's Irish-Latin roots at the corner of David Bixler and Heather Martin Bixler. However, there is much to endorse the music made here, not the least of which is the presence of the two Chico O'Farrill big band alumni. Bixler's “Heptagonesque" is the successful culmination of this Hispano-Celtic experiment, with its curious Middle Eastern flavor. Is it the curry? No, it's the violin. ...

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Take Five With David Bixler

by AAJ Staff
March 13, 2007

Meet David Bixler: Alto saxophonist David Bixler has been active on the New York jazz scene for the last ten years. As lead alto with the Chico O'Farrill Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, he has toured the US, Europe, and Central America in addition to performing each Sunday evening at Birdland in New York City. His third release as leader, Call It A Good Deal, was released July 2006 on Zoho Music and received 3 1/2 stars in Down Beat. Increasingly active ...

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David Bixler: Call It A Good Deal

by Elliott Simon
January 8, 2007

David Bixler, who is first alto in the Arturo O'Farrill Afro Cuban Jazz Orchestra, fronts his own quintet here to deliver a session that is long on compositional dimensionality and rhythmic backbone. Bixler pairs with Scott Wendholt's razor-sharp trumpet to slice angles through these intricate pieces, and he's not afraid to take a chance with refreshingly unfettered writing. By combining with guitarist John Hart's oblique leads and dexterous chordal cleverness, they make Call It A Good Deal shine like a ...

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David Bixler: Call It A Good Deal

by David A. Orthmann
July 24, 2006

Call It A Good Deal is a plainspoken name for an elusive and thoroughly engrossing recording. Alto saxophonist and composer David Bixler's third outing as a leader transcends familiar categories. Bixler writes gorgeous, expansive melodies that seldom linger in one place for very long. His compositions favor odd time signatures, as well as changes in meter and tempo. He frequently augments asymmetrical themes with variations and secondary motifs which move in and around the improvisations. Never sounding academic or fragmented, ...

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David Bixler: Call It A Good Deal

by Michael P. Gladstone
July 4, 2006

David Bixler, a Racine, Wisconsin native who completed his education at Indiana University, has maintained an active schedule. During his early years in New York, Bixler was chosen as the lead altoist with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra for performances in Europe and the United States. During the 1990s, Bixler was a musician and educator in Barcelona, Spain, where he was much in-demand as both a performer and teacher. Since his return to New York eleven years ago, Bixler has established ...

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David Bixler: Call It A Good Deal

by Victor Verney
June 19, 2006

With his third album as a bandleader, David Bixler, a veteran New York sideman, consolidates his growing reputation as an accomplished, urbane band leader and composer in his own right. Since 1999, Bixler has been the lead alto saxophonist of the Chico O'Farrill Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra. (However, little of this element is detectable here.)

After O'Farrill passed away in 2001, his son Arturo took the reins as musical director of the orchestra. In the liner notes for Call It A ...

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David Bixler: Show Me The Justice

by John Kelman
December 11, 2003

While not exactly breaking new ground, alto saxophonist David Bixler delivers a set of seven clever original compositions on Show Me The Justice. With a front line including guitarist John Hart and trumpeter Scott Wendholt, and a rhythm section including bassist Ugonna Okegwo and drummer Andy Watson, Bixler examines the nooks and crannies of the post-bop tradition with a style that is spare and economical.

There is, in fact, a certain sense of directness about the whole recording. The New ...