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About George Colligan
Instrument: Multi-instrumentalist
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by David Adler
With a string of recordings for Fresh Sound and Steeplechase, George Colligan established himself as one of the strongest new pianists in jazz. His first Criss Cross outing, Ultimatum (2002), focused exclusively on original material.
George Colligan Past-Present-Future Criss Cross 2005
On the followup, Past-Present-Future, only the title track is original--and a memorable one at that. The slant toward covers is atypical for Colligan (save for 2000's Stomping Ground), but it confirms ...
read moreGeorge Colligan's Mad Science: Realization
by John Kelman
Since emerging on the scene a scant ten years ago, pianist George Colligan has built the kind of body of work that some artists don't manage in twice or thrice the time. Appearing on over seventy recordings, including over a dozen as a leader, Colligan has proven that one doesn't have to be stylistically myopic to remain focused. Instead, he seems to have an all-encompassing musical appetite. And yet, unlike some who attempt a variety of musical styles and ultimately ...
read moreGeorge Colligan: Past-Present-Future
by John Kelman
In the decade since pianist George Colligan emerged, he's established himself as a player of choice for artists like Cassandra Wilson, Don Byron, and Buster Williams. While he's yet to achieve the kind of status of Brad Mehldau, it's certainly no surprise why, in these days of shtick-inflected piano trios like the Bad Plus, Colligan remains out of the limelight. Unassuming and unaffected, there's nothing trendy about him. And while he is every bit as engaging a player as Mehldau, ...
read moreGeorge Colligan: Mad Science
by Terrell Kent Holmes
Noted keyboardist, group leader and ubiquitous sideman George Colligan has applied his chops to the Hammond B-3 with his latest release, Mad Science, which is also the name of the trio he's assembled: guitarist Tom Guarna, drummer Rodney Holmes and guest star Gary Thomas on tenor sax and flute.Barbarians" is a funk-driven opener. Colligan and Thomas state the theme, then Colligan takes the first solo, dotting the landscape with single note statements that quickly merge into eloquent riffs ...
read moreGeorge Colligan: Mad Science
by Mark Corroto
I must confess that I recently signed a petition to call for the end of B3 organ recordings. Not that I haven’t enjoyed the jazz organ playing by Jimmy Smith, Charles Earland, and Sun Ra... just that with the reinvestigation of the instrument since the late 1980s and 1990s the storm gates have opened for John Medeski, Larry Goldings, Joey D – not to mention the return of Mr. Smith, Jack McDuff, and Big John Patton – to name just ...
read moreGeorge Colligan: Ultimatum
by AAJ Staff
While there may be some doubt about the vitality of today’s scene versus the storied scenes of the past, one point of consideration may actually live up: in this writer's estimation, the tradition of fine pianist-composer leaders in Jazz is alive and well in jazz and is in fact one of the strongest areas currently. Think Jason Moran, David Berkman, Geri Allen, James Carney, Vijay Iyer, Marc Cary and Jason Lindner. This is only a segment of what is quite ...
read moreGeorge Colligan: Agent 99
by C. Andrew Hovan
As writer Mark Gardner so succinctly points out in his liners to pianist George Colligan’s latest SteepleChase side, “George is not about to sit back on his laurels. His curiosity and restless creativity will continue stimulating him to make and record music of a most singular stripe.” Looking at his previous six SteepleChase recordings, covering standards and originals and varying the line-up from trios and quintets to solo and duo projects, further solidifies this fact.
His third trio date, Agent ...
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