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Frank Kimbrough Trio: Live At Kitano
by Dan Bilawsky
Pianist Frank Kimbrough can't avoid the magnetic pull of the trio. His own discography contains fine solo, duo, quartet and quintet dates, but a good half of the releases under his name have been triangular affairs that focus on his flexible take on this time-tested format. Kimbrough keeps coming back to this scenario, not because he has nothing else to say, but because he has so much to say in this type of setting. He speaks through the keys and ...
Continue ReadingFrank Kimbrough: Rumors
by AAJ Italy Staff
Un piccolo capolavoro, nel segno della varietà. Ne è protagonista un trio superbo, finissimo dispensatore di ricercatezze armoniche saggiamente controbilanciate da inaspettate arditezze ritmiche. C'è tutto in questo disco: abilità compositiva, costante interazione esecutiva, potenza ritmica. È un lavoro camaleontico dalle mille cadenze, in cui l'abilità e la compattezza di un trio davvero fantastico sono illuminate dalla consueta sensibilità pianistica del leader. Qua e là traspare un involontario omaggio ("Hope") all'intenso lirismo di Bill Evans, all'interno di un percorso camaleontico ...
Continue ReadingFrank Kimbrough: Rumors
by Sean Patrick Fitzell
As a leader, pianist Frank Kimbrough's primary means of expression has been the trio format and a refined casualness permeates Rumors. Never harried, his ideas spill from the keys to be absorbed and distilled by bassist Masa Kamaguchi and drummer Jeff Hirshfield. The trio's affinity is manifest in the broad communication heard within the music. They subtly ease into the slow-building opener, “Six," the only non-Kimbrough composition; he evinces a delicate touch that Kamaguchi responds to with ...
Continue ReadingFrank Kimbrough: Rumors
by Dan Bilawsky
Timing is everything, whether discussing music, sports or life in general, and this certainly proves to be the case with the recording of Rumors. In September of 2009, jazz photographer and occasional producer Jimmy Katz made a last minute offer to record pianist Frank Kimbrough in a setting of his choice. Kimbrough, having just played with bassist Masa Kamaguchi and drummer Jeff Hirshfield at the Kitano in New York City, yearned to connect with these musicians again before Kamaguchi returned ...
Continue ReadingFrank Kimbrough: Air
by Raul d'Gama Rose
There is a haunting quality to Frank Kimbrough's solo piano record, Air. There is only one other solo piano record that has this overall effect on the listener, and that is Keith Jarrett's The Melody at Night, with You (ECM, 1998). Jarrett's program on that disc is very different--mainly ballads and standards--while Kimbrough's strikes out on a much bolder, adventurous course. Still, it remains one of the most stunningly beautiful solo piano records in recent times. The reason is that ...
Continue ReadingFrank Kimbrough: Air
by Budd Kopman
Pianist Frank Kimbrough, who is very active in the Maria Schneider Orchestra and his own projects like the Jazz Composers Collective and the Herbie Nichols Project, relates in the notes to his intensely personal and introspective solo album, Air, that one of his first gigs in New York City was a solo gig on Bleecker Street in Greenwich village from 1985 through to 1990. While playing when no one is listening is difficult, Kimbrough says he learned ...
Continue ReadingFrank Kimbrough: Air
by AAJ Italy Staff
Molto jazz di oggi è suonato tecnicamente ai massimi livelli, ma pochi dischi come questo sono in grado di toccare le corde più intime dell’ascoltatore. Passione e tecnica stanno alla sua base, come pure un inconfondibile binomio di suadente melodismo e blues feeling. Lo pervade uno stile pianistico pirotecnico, che spazia superbamente tra vari climi espressivi, in un affascinante gioco chiaroscurale di dinamiche, in cui c’è spazio per un infinita quantità di soluzioni formali. Ne discende un percorso sofisticato, vitale, ...
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