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Drew Gress: The Sky Inside
by John Kelman
Bassist Drew Gress returns with the same quintet with whom he's been recording since 2005's 7 Black Butterflies (Premonition). Don't fix it if it ain't broke, they say, and if, with the addition of trumpeter Ralph Alessi to the core quartet that also recorded 2001's Spin & Drift (Premonition (and with Craig Taborn replacing original pianist Uri Caine), then 7 Black Butterflies' followup, The Irrational Numbers (Premonition, 2007), made even clearer that the ubiquitous bassist--who counts guitarist John Abercrombie, pianist ...
Continue ReadingJohn Surman: Brewster's Rooster
by Jeff Stockton
Over 150 years experience! That's how the band saxophonist John Surman assembled for Brewster's Rooster could be advertised. Surman first played with drummer Jack DeJohnette in the late '70s and DeJohnette and guitarist John Abercrombie first worked together earlier that decade. Rounded out by bassist Drew Gress, Surman revisits straight-ahead jazz after essaying an eclectic range of recordings. On “Hilltop Dancer," Surman's tone on baritoneis solid and assured, never tempted by the extremes available on the big horn and Abercrombie's ...
Continue ReadingJohn Surman: Brewster's Rooster
by John Kelman
After a string of more jazz-centric ECM releases--1992's relatively free Adventure Playground, the large ensemble of 1993's The Brass Project, and the only document of his ongoing quartet with pianist John Taylor, bassist Chris Laurence and drummer John Marshall, 1994's Stranger Than Fiction--saxophonist John Surman's subsequent output for the label has consisted of unorthodox but no less intriguing projects. From solo recordings (1995's A Biography of The Rev. Absalom Dawe) and works for saxophone/bass clarinet and string ensemble (2007's The ...
Continue ReadingLuigi Martinale Trio: Le sue ali
by AAJ Italy Staff
Luigi Martinale si è avvalso di un pezzo da novanta come il contrabbassista Drew Gress, per dar peso e consistenza a questa registrazione in trio. E che peso! Chi è in confidenza con il Gress innovatore, dalla progettualità sempre rivolta al futuro, animatore della scena avant newyorchese si troverà spiazzato. Qui il contrabbassista di Trenton, New Jersey, inonda la musica con un suono pieno, antico, ricco di storia, regalando assoli di commovente bellezza e fornendo una nuvola di note sulla ...
Continue ReadingDrew Gress: The Irrational Numbers
by AAJ Italy Staff
Ad ogni nuovo disco Drew Gress conferma la sua statura di bassista, compositore e leader tra i più maturi e innovativi della scena attuale. Da almeno un decennio (non sembra che molti se ne siano accorti) i suoi gruppi esprimono una delle proposte più avvincenti del jazz statunitense, che si spinge negli ambiti della post-avanguardia senza perdere i legami con la dimensione ritmica e melodica del modern mainstream. Questo lavoro (coprodotto con David Torn, che ha curato anche il missaggio) ...
Continue ReadingDrew Gress: The Irrational Numbers & Real and Imagines
by Donald Elfman
Drew Gress The Irrational Numbers Premonition 2008 Dave Allen Real and Imagined Fresh Sound-New Talent 2008
The third one's a true charm as bassist Drew Gress and company--pianist Craig Taborn, trumpeter Ralph Alessi, saxophonist Tim Berne and drummer Tom Rainey--excel on The Irrational Numbers. Once again, the accent is on Gress' ...
Continue ReadingDrew Gress: The Irrational Numbers
by Mark F. Turner
Drew Gress might be suffering from a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde complex. On one side, he's the mild-mannered, in-demand bassist whose exemplary fret work has supported other artists' recordings--pianist Fred Hersch, The Claudia Quintet's For (Cuneiform Records, 2007) and the Steve Lehman Quintet's On Meaning (Pi Recordings, 2007), to name just a few. However, on the flip side, a ferocious alter-ego emerges when Gress is a leader, producing some of the most dynamically forward music in the current environment with The ...
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