Jazz Articles about David Kikoski

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Pat Martino: Remember: A Tribute to Wes Montgomery

by Chris May
April 26, 2006

The safest course of action on encountering a tribute album is usually to run like hell in the opposite direction. Which is why this beautiful album stayed unplayed for a couple of weeks before finally, thank God, finding the deck.

This recording is just lovely. If Wes Montgomery was alive today, this is almost certainly what he would sound like. But he isn't. It's what Pat Martino sounds like today, when revisiting his primary formative influence. And that's what validates ...

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Pat Martino: Remember: A Tribute to Wes Montgomery

by John Kelman
April 21, 2006

Guitarist Pat Martino has overcome far more than his share of obstacles. Emerging in the mid-1960s, he released a string of acclaimed albums starting with the classic El Hombre (Prestige, 1967) and ending with the overlooked fusion classic Joyous Lake (Warner Bros., 1977). Then a brain aneurysm literally stole his identity and for the next decade he struggled to regain who he was, both as a person and as a musician.

Since then Martino's dark-toned and rapid-fire but always swinging ...

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Pat Martino: Remember: A Tribute to Wes Montgomery

by AAJ Italy Staff
April 11, 2006

Gli appassionati di jazz conoscono la sfortunata storia di Pat Martino: voce tra le più significative della chitarra jazz negli anni Settanta, nel 1980 viene colpito da aneurisma cerebrale; operato, perde quasi completamente la memoria, anche quella chitarristica. Riparte così da zero, con i suoi vecchi dischi e l'aiuto del computer come compagni di viaggio nel tentativo di recupero della sua maestria strumentale, che alla fine ne guadagna in pulizia e linearità, andando a confluire in una sorta di stile ...

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David Kikoski: Details

by AAJ Staff
October 5, 2004

David Kikoski has earned his chops backing everyone from legends like Roy Haynes (two decades and counting) to young gun David Sanchez. Though he can commandeer a set when he wants (an astoundingly fractured, nearly chaotic barrelhouse blues piano solo is all that remains in memory of the last Pat Martino gig I caught), by nature he's a team player: gently tenacious exploration and ethereal post-bop empathy are this Berklee grad's true bread and butter. Thus Details , ...

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David Kikoski: Combinations

by C. Andrew Hovan
June 25, 2003

The victim of corporate disregard for an artist's work, pianist David Kikoski has recorded many records as a leader over the years, although all but his most recent string of releases for Criss Cross are currently unavailable. This fact, along with his extensive work as a sideman, meant that until 1998's Inner Trust, few were aware of Kiksoki's talents as a leader. Reaching a pinnacle on his previous set, Surf's Up, Kikoski has honed a particularly incisive musical relationship with ...

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Roy Haynes: Birds of a Feather- A Tribute to Charlie Parker

by C. Michael Bailey
February 1, 2002

Be Bop.

Does the jazz market need yet another recapitulation of Charlie Parker book?

Absolutely. One can never hear too much Charlie Parker, particularly as lovingly assembled as Birds of a Feather—A Tribute to Charlie Parker.

What makes this release special is that esteemed drummer, Roy Haynes, who as a teenager performed in Parker-led groups between 1949 and 1952. This was the period of eruption in Be Bop, which had been percolating for number of years. Haynes, who was ...

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Roy Haynes: Birds Of A Feather - A Tribute To Charlie Parker

by Glenn Astarita
November 1, 2001

Legendary drummer Roy Haynes joined alto saxophonist Charlie Parker's band as a teenager and some fifty years later, presents us with a ceremonial to the late, great be-bop giant. Beginning with a cast of elder statesmen such as the leader and, to a lesser extent, bassist Dave Holland, the drummer rounds out his band with an aggregation of younger talent in what might be considered an all-star gathering. Haynes' legacy, needless to state, is well documented as one of the ...