Jazz Articles about Frank Macchia

Frank Macchia: Saxolollapalooza

by Jack Bowers
February 18, 2009

As John Cleese used to say on the Monty Python television series, “And now for something completely different." Of course, one can usually expect something completely different from free-thinking Frank Macchia, and this CD is no exception to the rule. Once upon a time, Macchia writes, he bought a bass saxophone and came up with the idea of recording half a dozen saxophones, from soprano to bass, accompanied only by drums. He wrote a number of charts and even recorded ...

Frank Macchia: Saxolollapalooza

by Jeff Dayton-Johnson
December 14, 2008

Way in the background on some classic big band recordings, there is a high-pitched aural glow, a sustained, ethereal, almost liturgical hum coming from somewhere in the reeds section. Duke Ellington's “There Shall Be No Night," from the great Blanton/Webster Band box set (Bluebird, 1990), has it. Partly it's the recording technology of the time, sufficiently imperfect that your brain suspects it's hearing things that aren't there; partly it's the art of the arranger (Billy Strayhorn, of course, in the ...

Frank Macchia: Landscapes

by Michael P. Gladstone
April 27, 2008

Tenor saxophonist/composer/arranger Frank Macchia has made a significant album that follows-up his Grammy-nominated Emotions (Cacophony, 2006). Again utilizing the strings of the Prague Orchestra under the direction of Adam Klemens, Macchia has submitted another ambitious work to the public.

Listening to Landscapes, the two things that come to mind are film scoring and the influences of Aaron Copland and Gil Evans. In the liner notes, Macchia reports that in preparation and inspiration for this album, he listened to ...

Frank Macchia: Landscapes

by Jeff Dayton-Johnson
March 27, 2008

The prospect of a saxophone and strings record is likely to call to mind Charlie Parker's controversial Bird With Strings (Mercury, 1949), but that's not the obvious reference point once you've listened to this recording. Saxophonist Frank Macchia's Landscapes is a saxophone concerto for classical orchestra, framed by treatments of classic American songs in the same style--like, say, Beethoven's 1817 adaptations of Scottish songs.Another key ingredient of this record is movie music. Macchia is a part of that ...

Frank Macchia with The Prague Orchestra: Landscapes

by Dan McClenaghan
January 24, 2008

Listening to the opening notes on Frank Macchia's Landscapes, one can't help but hear a Stan Getz vibe blowing into play. It's not the Getz of the bossa nova sounds with Antonio Carlos Jobim, or his boppish mainstream work, but rather the Stan Getz of Focus (Verve Records, 1961), with the tenor saxophonist improvising over a string section.While Focus teamed Getz with composer/arranger Eddie Sauter's tunes and charts, Landscapes features tenor saxophonist Frank Macchia blowing beautiful improvisations in ...

Frank Macchia with The Prague Orchestra: Landscapes

by Edward Blanco
January 12, 2008

A follow-up to composer/arranger/saxophonist Frank Macchia's critically acclaimed Emotions (Cacophony, 2006), which received a Grammy nomination for “Best Arrangement ("Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair ), Landscapes is the second part of an extended session of symphonic music cleverly diced with strong jazzy overtones. As with the first album, Macchia employs the string-laden Prague Orchestra, under the direction of Adam Klemens, to provide lush arrangements that feature the soft tenor saxophone voice without a conventional rhythm section.

Frank Macchia: Emotions

by Edward Blanco
June 6, 2007

Those whose musical tastes run the spectrum from jazz to classical will find composer/saxophonist Frank Macchia's Emotions to be a beautiful concept album fronting the voice of the tenor in a setting of classically orchestral music. Inspired by saxophonist Stan Getz's classic Focus (Verve, 1961), Macchia joins the Prague Orchestra conducted by Adam Klemens for a unique version of jazz symphony.

Macchia's compositions and arrangements employ the heavy string section of The Prague Orchestra, providing a lush symphonic ...