Jazz Articles about Drew Gress

About Drew Gress

Album Review

Jason Robinson: Harmonic Constituent

Read "Harmonic Constituent" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
October 22, 2020

If you've ever visited Mendocino County you would have a head start to appreciate saxophonist Jason Robinson's Harmonic Constituent. His week-long retreat to this magnificent Northern California coast inspired this ambitious and diverse recording. Robinson, a musical omnivore previously recorded with the quartet Cosmologic, his Henry Threadgill inspired Janus Ensemble, in duos with Anthony Davis and Eric Hofbauer, and in electro-acoustic settings, to name just a few of his diverse interests. Robinson's quartet here includes pianist Joshua White ...

Album Review

Sylvie Courvoisier Trio: Free Hoops

Read "Free Hoops" reviewed by Troy Dostert

by Troy Dostert
September 28, 2020

With her idiosyncratic mixture of mystery and mirth, and a seamless conjoining of jazz and classical musical vocabularies, pianist Sylvie Courvoisier has carved an enviable niche for herself. She not only possesses impeccable technique, but her voice as a composer is just as formidable, whether in partnerships with fellow mavericks like Mary Halvorson, Evan Parker, or Mark Feldman, or in her blue-chip trio with bassist Drew Gress and drummer Kenny Wollesen. Their D'Agala (Intakt) was a widely hailed highlight of ...

Album Review

The MacroQuarktet: The Complete Night: Live At The Stone NYC

Read "The Complete Night: Live At The Stone NYC" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
July 17, 2020

The Complete Night presents forward looking trumpeters Herb Robertson and Dave Ballou in a series of long form improvisations from NYC venue The Stone in 2007, in a foursome with bassist Drew Gress and drummer Tom Rainey. The first set was previously issued as Each Part A Whole on Robertson's Ruby Flower imprint, but in its latest incarnation on Out Of Your Head Records, it has been supplemented by the second set, which is certainly worth having. While there's no ...

Album Review

Brian Landrus: For Now

by Doug Hall
May 30, 2020

Low-register reed specialist and multi-instrumentalist and composer Brian Landrus confronted a difficult period in his life and used adversity to inspire a passionate declaration in song on his 2020 release For Now (BlueLand Records). He took advice from the late valve-trombonist, composer and educator Bob Brookmeyer, “book a recording session before you have the music composed—then you have a goal." Alternating between the baritone saxophone and the bass clarinet, Landrus creates wonderful lower-range tones and compositions with instruments ...

Album Review

Brian Landrus: For Now

by Jack Bowers
May 20, 2020

On For Now, his tenth album as leader, multi-reed specialist Brian Landrus gives voice to the many faces of romance, using as his means of expression a talented core quintet, amplified on several themes by a four-member string section, with arrangements by the notable opera composer Robert Aldridge. While Landrus plays four instruments including flute and alto flute, he sticks for the most part to baritone sax and bass clarinet, soloing on one or the other on almost every one ...

Album Review

The MacroQuarktet: The Complete Night: Live At The Stone NYC

Read "The Complete Night: Live At The Stone NYC" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
May 14, 2020

Listening to The MacroQuarktet calls to mind comedians Robin Williams and Jonathan Winters. Did they warm up before an evening of improvisational comedy? Once on stage or a TV talk show, instantaneously they were 'on,' firing a superabundance of thoughts, jokes, impressions, etc at their audience. It is the same for the two improvised music sets by this 'on' quartet. Recorded in 2007 and originally released as a single disc on Herb Robertson's Ruby Flower Records label as ...

Album Review

Paul Shaw Quintet: Moment of Clarity

Read "Moment of Clarity" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
April 8, 2020

Drummer Paul Shaw, best known as a reliable sideman in groups large and small, strides into the spotlight with panache as leader of his own quintet, having written every number on Moment of Clarity and entrusted them to the capable hands and singular talents of his earnest colleagues. He also gives those teammates ample space to shine, confining himself for the most part to timekeeping duties, which he carries out with adeptness and assurance. As a composer, ...