Jazz Articles about David Smith

About David Smith

Album Review

Gaia Wilmer Large Ensemble: Parabólico: Reflections on Gilberto Gil, Volume 1

Read "Parabólico: Reflections on Gilberto Gil, Volume 1" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
October 12, 2026

La bandleader e arrangiatrice brasiliana Gaia Wilmer dedica la sua attenzione alle musiche di Gilberto Gil tornando a incidere con una grande orchestra. Nella sua decennale attività discografica hanno infatti prevalso i medi organici e solo per le musiche di Egberto Gismonti ha guidato un'ampia formazione (Folia 2023). Con venti musicisti a sua disposizione, compresa la cantante Mônica Salmaso, Gaia ha modo d'evidenziare le personali doti di scrittura in dinamiche orchestrali raffinate e ricche di colore. Le riletture del repertorio ...

Album Review

Emilio Solla and La Inestable de Brooklyn: Handmade

Read "Handmade" reviewed by Joshua Weiner

by Joshua Weiner
July 15, 2026

As the power of artificial intelligence (AI) grows exponentially, it has begun to permeate even the highest expressions of our humanity. AI-generated art of many kinds--literary, visual, and musical--appears on screens large and small daily. Handmade, a gorgeous double album by New York-based Argentinian pianist and composer Emilio Solla, featuring his nonet Inestable de Brooklyn, seeks to build a bridge across this uncanny valley." Handmade is an apologia of the tactile," says GRAMMY-nominated Solla. “We are moving further away from ...

Radio & Podcasts

New Music from Smith, Wendel, Fraser, Sweenie & More

by Bob Osborne
April 9, 2026

This selection offers a sophisticated journey through the expansive landscape of contemporary and classic jazz, seamlessly blending intricate post-bop textures with avant-garde exploration and orchestral grandeur. From the evocative, cinematic atmospheres to the raw, legendary improvisations, the tracks traverse a broad spectrum of emotional and technical brilliance. Modern leaders provide a fresh dialogue between tradition and innovation, ensuring a listening experience that is as intellectually stimulating as it is harmonically rich. Whether navigating the tightly knit polyrhythms of a modern ...

Album Review

John Yao: Points In Time

Read "Points In Time" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
February 3, 2026

Attivo sulla scena di New York da vent'anni, John Yao s'è distinto come docente (al Berklee College e al Queens College), trombonista di sezione in big band (Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra) e solista in altri organici ( Paquito D'Rivera, Eddie Palmieri, Danilo Perez, </a>Chris Potter) oltre che leader di propri gruppi, con cui ha inciso sei album. Uno di questi (Flip Flop, 2015) ha visto il suo debutto come caporchestra, attività che gli ha procurato i riconoscimenti del ...

Album Review

John Yao and His 17 Piece Instrument: Points In Time

Read "Points In Time" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
August 4, 2025

The insuperable spirit of swinging big-band jazz is everywhere apparent on Points in Time, the seventh recording by New York-based composer, arranger and trombonist John Yao, and the second with his marvelous 17-Piece Instrument, a decade after its well-received debut, Flip-Flop. (See Tao, 2015). As on that earlier album, the playlist consists of seven of Yao's original compositions (and one outlier) written with the band in mind to exemplify in musical terms experiences and emotions Yao has ...

Album Review

Ines Velasco: A Flash of Cobalt Blue

Read "A Flash of Cobalt Blue" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
August 1, 2025

Dopo la laurea con lode al Berklee College in composizione e varie esperienze di orchestrazione nell'ultimo decennio (Snarky Puppy, Metropole Orkest, Gregory Porter, Avenged Sevenfold, NY Philharmonic String Quartet, la National Jazz Orchestra of México), la messicana Ines Velasco debutta con un proprio album in veste di compositrice e bandleader. Il lavoro è stato ispirato ed è strettamente connesso alle poesie di Jorge Esquinca (tratte dal volume Un brillo azul cobalto) che le recita in ogni brano dell'album. ...

Album Review

John Yao and his 17 Piece Instrument: Points In Time

Read "Points In Time" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
July 13, 2025

Trombonist and composer John Yao presents a heartfelt and personal retrospective with Points In Time. This ambitious album delves deeply into the emotional and professional journey he has undertaken over the past twenty years in New York City. Leading his precisely coordinated ensemble, aptly called His 17-Piece Instrument, comprised of talented musicians from various points along Yao's timeline. The eight original compositions in this session stem from key moments in Yao's life and artistic development. This work is not just ...