Jazz Articles about George Colligan

George Colligan: Past-Present-Future

by John Kelman
March 7, 2005

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, ...

George Colligan: Mad Science

by Terrell Kent Holmes
March 16, 2004

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 ...

George Colligan: Mad Science

by Mark Corroto
December 8, 2003

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 ...

George Colligan: Ultimatum

by AAJ Staff
November 25, 2002

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 ...

George Colligan: Agent 99

by C. Andrew Hovan
August 1, 2001

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 ...

George Colligan: Como La Vida Puede Ser (How Life Could Be)

by C. Andrew Hovan
July 1, 2001

Some of the greatest jazz talents are known not only for being talented instrumentalists, but also for their prowess in the area of original composition. Names that come to mind would have to include Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, and of course, Duke Ellington. While George Colligan certainly has not yet achieved the name recognition of any of the gentleman in the above list, his originals are often light years beyond the norm in terms of ingenuity and substance. As a ...

George Colligan: Constant Source

by C. Andrew Hovan
May 1, 2001

When it comes to spotting young talent worthy of wider recognition, it’s often those small independent labels who are responsible for giving the youngsters some visibility. This also makes for a good situation in terms of the artist because he/she, more often than not, has more control over the artistic integrity of the final product, something that is not as easily achieved when spending the big corporate dollars. The downside, however, is that the coffers for publicity are on the ...