Jazz Articles about Geoffrey Keezer

About Geoffrey Keezer

Album Review

Virginia MacDonald: In Search Of...

Read "In Search Of..." reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
June 21, 2026

Perhaps one reason that Virginia MacDonald is so hard to track down is that she is a woman who plays jazz clarinet. Do you know of any others? Here are at least two, both of whom are alive and active: New Orleans' Doreen Ketchens and Israeli-American Anat Cohen. Excellent players but several long strides from becoming household names. MacDonald, who is from Toronto, Canada, has earned that country's JUNO Award (the Canadian version of the Grammys) and won ...

Album Review

Tim Garland, Geoffrey Keezer: Mezzo

by Neil Duggan
February 20, 2026

Saxophonist Tim Garland and pianist Geoffrey Keezer have collaborated numerous times since their days in Storms/Nocturnes, the trio they formed with Joe Locke in 2001. The duo bring their 25 years of partnership, shared understanding, and experience sharply into focus on Mezzo. The nine-track album was captured live in New York in a single five-hour session. Keezer has performed in a variety of configurations since the age of 18, when he was the pianist for Art Blakey and ...

Radio & Podcasts

Classic jazz from Blue Mitchell and others, recognizing Geoffrey Keezer's birthday and others

by David W. Daniels
November 25, 2025

Classic jazz from Blue Mitchell, Reuben Wilson, and more. New music from Brandon Sanders, Michael Dease, and more. Birthday recognition for Geoffrey Keezer, Cindy Blackman Santana, and others.Playlist Eddie Palmieri “Random Thoughts" from Exploration (Coco) 00:00 Blue Mitchell “Chick's Tune" from The Thing To Do (Blue Note) 8:58 Art Blakey And The Jazz Messengers “El Toro"from The Freedom Rider (Blue Note) 18:31 Lena Horne and Gabor Szabo “Watch What Happens"from Watch What Happens! (Skye) 24:42 Reuben Wilson “Bus ...

Liner Notes

Michael Dease: Flow

by Howard Mandel
September 27, 2025

Everything comes together for Michael Dease and company on Flow, which should be no surprise but mustn't be taken for granted. The dynamic Mr. Dease, a consummate musician, sweeps his diverse crew of long-term collaborators and gifted newcomers through a confluence of songs rich in melody, rhythm and feeling. Pleasure-forward, Flow entices, refreshes, buoys and inspires. The album--Dease's 18th as a leader since 2005 and his 11th from Posi-Tone, all imbued with joyful engagement and flaunting stylistic variety--covers ...

Album Review

Michael Dease: Flow

by Dan Bilawsky
September 17, 2025

Michael Dease is always on the go. A flurry of activity seems to surround the prolific trombonist, composer, bandleader, sideman, educator, and doubler. Yet he's always operating in the moment, never distracted by all of the spinning plates. Dease absolutely personifies the flow state, fully immersing himself in every one of his pursuits. This, his 11th album for the Posi-Tone imprint and 18th in all since his 2005 debut, demonstrates that fact as well as anything. Mixing it up with ...

Album Review

Mike Pope: The Parts You Keep

Read "The Parts You Keep" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
September 1, 2025

You have to admire a bandleader who enhances an album by dedicating one of his compositions to an Uber driver and inviting his 85-year-old mother to play piano on the last two numbers. That is exactly what bassist Mike Pope does on The Parts You Keep, and they are two of the recording's more pleasing episodes. Pope also adds a four-member string section on the standard “That Old Feeling" and his quirky composition “Past Is Prologue" (both of which encompass ...

Album Review

Michael Dease: City Life: Music of Gregg Hill

Read "City Life: Music of Gregg Hill" reviewed by Paul Rauch

by Paul Rauch
June 24, 2025

Michigan-based composer Gregg Hill is on a remarkable roll, authoring an impressive run of compositions represented on eight albums released on the Origin Records label. Each has featured a bandleader associated with the top shelf staff at Rodney Whitaker's jazz program at Michigan State University. City Life (2025) is the third under the leadership of trombone great Michael Dease. The two-disc release includes 19 compositions from Hill, and features a cast of some of the most powerful voices in jazz ...