Jazz Articles about David Torn

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David Torn: A Lifetime of Improvisation in Non-Improvisational Settings

by Paul Olson
October 8, 2007

David Torn has done work in so many capacities in such a variety of musical projects that it's somewhat daunting to try to state just what exactly he is. Certainly Torn's a guitarist of humbling technique--but he's always been more interested in texture and sound than the kind of electric shredding beloved in guitar-hero-worshiping circles. Torn studied composition with Leonard Bernstein and guitar with John Abercrombie and Pat Martino. It was during his tenure as guitarist with the ...

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David Torn: Prezens

by Budd Kopman
July 25, 2007

With Prezens, guitarist and electronics magician David Torn returns to ECM with his first album since Cloud About Mercury (ECM, 1987). In the intervening twenty-year absence, Torn has made a number of albums for other labels, and has also composed movie soundtracks. The music was created by a working band that spent years playing together, and then got together in the studio to record about a dozen hours of purely improvised material. Torn then took the results ...

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David Torn: Prezens

by Nenad Georgievski
July 9, 2007

David Torn never ceases to amaze with the variety of stylistic veins of sound he mines for gold and gems. There are many guitarists out there but rarely has someone shown such a broad scope with their playing, wide taste in influences, musical diversity, and capability in painting challenging and solitary impressions with their guitar brushstrokes. Prezens is his first album as a band leader for ECM since Cloud about Mercury released in 1986. The album transmits ...

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David Torn: Back From Mercury

by Jason Crane
July 1, 2007

On the new episode of The Jazz Session, Jason Crane interviews David Torn, a man of many talents. He's a film composer whose music you've heard in Friday Night Lights, Believe In Me, and The Order. He's also contributed tones and textures to films like this year's Best Picture winner, The Departed, and the 2000 hit Traffic. Before his film days, he was known for daring musical collaborations on albums such as Cloud About Mercury (ECM, 1987). And he's worked ...

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David Torn: Prezens

by AAJ Italy Staff
June 18, 2007

David Torn torna a casa base dopo vent’anni e non si lascia scappare l’occasione per posare una nuova pietra miliare per la musica creativa strutturata sulle macerie del jazz e del rock. L’eccellente Cloud About Mercury era uscito nel 1986 per l’ECM e aveva marcato con forza quegli anni piuttosto avari di soddisfazioni per la musica giovane e folle che non si fermava davanti a nulla. Successivamente c’erano state altre uscite per etichette minori, gravi problemi di salute che per ...

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David Torn: Prezens

by Mark F. Turner
May 17, 2007

"Take a little trip, take a little trip. Take a little trip and see...

--Excerpt from the 1970s popular hit, “Low Rider, by WAR from Why Can't We Be Friends (Rhino, 1975). The popular lyrics from the above song could describe guitarist David Torn's Prezens, his first band recording in twenty years for the ECM record label. It is a musical journey unlike any other. Torn has been a fixture in the industry for many years, but ...

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David Torn, Experimental or Theoretical Guitarist?

by Chris Comer
April 30, 2007

Listen

In April, 2007 David Torn released his first CD for ECM in twenty years, and talks about it on The Chris & Rob Show.

Prezens features Torn on guitar, Craig Taborn on keyboards, Tim Berne on alto sax and Tom Rainey on drums, all notable jazz artists and already a working group of Berne's. Torn talks about the band and CD, his career and early influences, and his work as a film score composer. Torn also discusses the difference ...