Jazz Articles about David Kikoski

About David Kikoski

Album Review

According to bassist Will Lyle, his mentor the late drummer Ralph Peterson Jr. once told him that an album is like a snapshot--a picture of where you are musically at that unique point in time. After scanning the personnel list on Lyle's latest recording, The All Seeing Eye, a second piece of advice must have been, “surround yourself with the best possible musicians you can find." If so, Lyle took that guidance to heart, fleshing out his rhythm ...

Album Review

Barry Greene: Giants

by Jack Bowers
May 8, 2026

The Giants singled out by guitarist Barry Greene on his recording of that name include a number of musicians who served as role models and helped shape his singular musical voice. Pat Martino is one, as are Grant Green, Wes Montgomery, Russell Malone and Pat Metheny, each one a stepping-stone on Greene's upward path toward self-identity and mastery of his instrument of choice. Greene paid it forward by teaching for more than thirty years at the University of North Florida ...

Album Review

Dave Kikoski: Weekend At Smalls

Read "Weekend At Smalls" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
October 6, 2025

Few pianists capture the resilient spirit of the New York City jazz scene as convincingly as Dave Kikoski. With his release Weekend At Smalls, he affirms his reputation as one of post-bop's most energetic stylists. Recorded live at the renowned West Village club Smalls, the album features Kikoski engaging in lively conversation with bassist Joe Martin, veteran drummer Billy Hart and longtime friend and collaborator trumpeter Randy Brecker. The result is a vibrant record of straight-ahead fluency that both revisits ...

Album Review

Adrian Cunningham: It's About Time

Read "It's About Time" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
May 9, 2025

Australian-born, New York-based multi-instrumentalist (and vocalist) Adrian Cunningham brings impressive creds to his latest recording, It's About Time, raising the number of albums under his leadership well into double figures. And as if playing an array of instruments were not enough, Cunningham also writes, having composed nine of the album's songs and arranged all of them. The exceptions are George Gershwin's “Summertime" (from the folk opera Porgy and Bess) and the traditional “Battle Hymn of the Republic." ...

Album Review

Gianmarco Ferri: On The Scene

Read "On The Scene" reviewed by Neil Duggan

by Neil Duggan
May 23, 2024

It is an interesting idea to pair a young, gifted guitarist just starting their career with a well-known jazz pianist. The guitarist in question is Italian Gianmarco Ferri. Following auditions, he won consecutive scholarships to attend Berklee College of Music, where he graduated with honours in 2022. Pianist David Kikoski is another graduate of Berklee. He is a Grammy Award winner and has played with the Mingus Big Band, Roy Haynes, Randy Brecker, Billy Hart and many other prominent musicians. ...

Album Review

Richard Baratta: Off The Charts

Read "Off The Charts" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
October 18, 2023

Drummer Richard Baratta's third album, Off the Charts, is a play on words, as he and his bandmates have taken lesser- known themes from a number of jazz masters that flew under the radar--in other words, were “off the charts"--and given them a fresh coat of paint, so to speak, to help redeem them from what Baratta considers an undeserved obscurity. The composers in question are Bobby Hutcherson, Joe Farrell, McCoy Tyner, Joe Henderson, Wayne Shorter, Charles ...

Album Review

Richard Baratta: Off The Charts

Read "Off The Charts" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
September 19, 2023

The premise for Richard Baratta's Off The Charts is to give new life to some of the lesser-known works by boldface composers such as Wayne Shorter, Bobby Hutcherson and Chick Corea, among others. Assisting in this voyage of rediscovery are several top-notch jazz luminaries such as tenor saxophonist Jerry Bergonzi, pianist David Kikoski, bassist John Patitucci and percussionist Paul Rossman. All of the arrangements are by Baratta, save one, and that is the opening Hutcherson number “Herzog," which ...