Jazz Articles about FLY

Fly in La Jolla

by Dan McClenaghan
April 28, 2009

FlyAthenaeum Jazz at the Neurosciences InstituteLa Jolla, CaliforniaApril 18, 2009It appeared an inauspicious venue for a jazz concert--a mile from Interstate Five in La Jolla, California, not in the village's quaint and stylish old sea-side downtown, but rather snugged in a tract of blocky and nondescript industrial type buildings housing a variety of bio-tech/research firms. But there at the Neurosciences Institute one finds a marvelous auditorium where, on April 18, 2009, Fly displayed their egalitarian ...

Trio of One: Fly at the Jazz Standard

by Eric Benson
April 20, 2009

FlyJazz StandardNew York, NYApril 10, 2009 Instruments are versatile husks, possessing limited range and a particular timbre, but no set personality of their own. The piano can channel the thoughts of musicians as different from one another as Cecil Taylor and Bill Evans; the saxophone can express the passions of Stan Getz just as easily as it can those of Albert Ayler. Yet despite the diversity, instruments get broadly typecast: the trumpet with Miles' feline ...

Fly: Complete Collaboration

by Jason Crane
April 15, 2009

The Fly trio has just released its second CD--and its first for ECM--Sky & Country (2009). Bassist Larry Grenadier, drummer Jeff Ballard and saxophonist Mark Turner redefine the saxophone trio by making it an entirely democratic group, with compositional contributions from all three of its members.

The trio approaches performance with an equally egalitarian philosophy that largely eschews conventional instrumental roles as well. Melody is just as likely to be heard coming from Ballard as it ...

Fly: Sky & Country

by Dan McClenaghan
April 12, 2009

The trio Fly has been described as “two thirds of the Brad Mehldau Trio and a saxophonist." Not to diminish reed man Mark Turner--who is the other third of group--but as an acknowledgment of his band mates' higher profiles. And if the higher profiles of the other two thirds--bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jeff Ballard--pulls in a higher percentage of attention for Fly, all the better.

Sky and Country is the group's second offering, and it's debut on ...

Fly: Sky & Country

by Mark Corroto
April 8, 2009

Oh, the modesty of the members of the trio known as Fly. They might just as well have called themselves Super Fly--their initial release for ECM Records is indeed special.

Saxophonist Mark Turner, bassist Larry Grenadier, and drummer Jeff Ballard all contribute compositions to Sky & Country, which follows their debut, FLY (Savoy, 2004), and is sure to garner attention for its democracy and equilibrium in approach and sound.

Turner seemingly never plays a harsh note. ...

Fly: Sky & Country

by John Kelman
March 24, 2009

Despite a debut that failed to generate much noise, Fly's sophomore effort--its first for ECM- -ought to. Dispelling the ECM myth of neglecting American music, this trio--featuring perennially undervalued saxophonist Mark Turner alongside Brad Mehldau Trio mates, bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jeff Ballard-- finds its own nexus of head and heart. Dave Holland's Triplicate (ECM, 1988) might be a precedent, but that was a harder swinging effort more closely linked to the American tradition. Fly swings in its own ...