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Jazz Articles about George Cables
For Those Who Chant
by Peter J. Hoetjes
Luis Gasca was one of the hottest trumpet players in California during the 1970s, recording a handful of albums fueled by the drugs, the culture, and the excitement of that time and place. Though they all featured large ensembles, only one of them allowed some of the era's most legendary musicians to blur the lines separating jazz, latin, and rock and roll. “Everyone should have two favorite cities; their own and San Francisco," claimed Gasca. It was there, ...
Continue ReadingGeorge Cables: I'm All Smiles
by Peter J. Hoetjes
At a time when jazz is being pulled in every direction at once in search of a future some fear may not exist, musicians such as George Cables, Essiet Essiet and Victor Lewis are proving that, for those who listen, there is no place quite like the present. Essiet became the trio's bassist for its 2012 Highnote release My Muse, and has remained since. Cables has been fortunate with drummers throughout his career as a band leader. During the 1970s ...
Continue ReadingGeorge Cables: I'm All Smiles
by Jack Bowers
George Cables, whose elegant piano has graced the jazz scene in New York City and elsewhere for more than five decades, has every reason to be All Smiles; at age seventy-four he is back at the keyboard, as sharp and inspired as ever, following surgery for ulcers that removed one leg above the knee. To mark the auspicious occasion, Cables guides a rhythm section of longtime friends and colleagues, bassist Essiet Essiet and drummer Victor Lewis, through its paces on ...
Continue ReadingGeorge Cables: My Muse
by Peter J. Hoetjes
When an artist records music less than two years after losing his wife of nearly three decades to pancreatic cancer, it is generally assumed that the resulting album will have an overall melancholic, funereal sound. This is not the case however, for pianist George Cables. My Muse is less an elegy for love, and more of a celebration of its existence. This is understandable though, after listening through Cables' preceding four decades of music. A pianist who often ...
Continue ReadingGeorge Cables: Icons and Influences
by Maurizio Zerbo
Pochi CD come questo trasmettono all'ascoltatore emozioni e swing di incommensurabile intensità. È questa la chiave di lettura di un magnifica prova pianistica, sviluppatasi nel segno di una olimpica leggerezza di tocco e fluidità di fraseggio. Una quintessenza della raffinatezza armonica e della tecnica sopraffina, non gridata solo sussurrata. Una lezione di jazz da parte del pianista statunitense, che incarna la figura del “musician's musician": artista di nicchia, ammirato per lo più da colleghi e ristrette schiere di palati sopraffini. ...
Continue ReadingGeorge Cables: Icons and Influences
by Jack Bowers
When a jazz musician has been around as long as pianist George Cables, and has seen, heard and performed with so many other world-class musicians, such interactions are bound to leave a lasting impression, and on the trio date Icons and Influences Cables warmly salutes a number of those who have helped frame his musical persona and escorted him along a journey of wonder and discovery that has enabled him to become the superbly talented artist he is today.
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