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Jazz Articles about Gerry Hemingway
Christine Wodrascka/ Jean Luc Cappozzo/ Gerry Hemingway: Grey Matter
by John Sharpe
Impromptu meetings between improvisers hailing from diverse backgrounds are by now a commonplace event. But it's less usual is for the resultant grouping to take on a collective name, the surnames or initials normally sufficing for commoditization. For a group to perform under a moniker implies both a sense of purpose and a strong shared identity, and perhaps signals an intent to continue as an entity. 2o étage, as they call themselves, certainly matches up to the first two parameters, ...
Continue ReadingGerry Hemingway: Kernelings
by Glenn Astarita
Drummer Gerry Hemingway penned these solo works from 1995-2012 and recorded the album at various points during this timeframe. Essentially, the CD and companion DVD pinpoint his artistic proclivities partly framed in multimedia. It took 15 years to complete the project. The program is divided into four parts: mist, dust, light, and sex, although the CD track list solely denotes the 15 works appearing in sequential order without references to the four topics. Viewing the film is meant ...
Continue Reading2° ‘etage: Grey Matter
by Glenn Astarita
The album liners disclose that 2° 'etage improvises with the panache of storytellers, painters and poets. Starkly expressive, the program is sculpted with a mindset that parlays the old adage, “let the chips fall where they may," largely framed on airy dialogues, minimalism and unorthodox soundscapes. They work from a platform, consisting of fractured passages and take their time unraveling themes other than spots where eminent drummer Gerry Hemingway interjects rumbling fills into a broad plane of free-flowing exchanges.
Continue ReadingGerry Hemingway: Riptide
by AAJ Italy Staff
Ventiquattro anni di vita, nove dischi all'attivo, diciotto musicisti coinvolti nel progetto: da Michael Moore a Don Byron, da Mark Dresser a Walter Wierbos, passando per Ray Anderson, Frank Gratkowski, Ernst Reijseger e Palle Danielsson. Ne ha fatta di strada il quintetto di Gerry Hemingway dal 1987, anno in cui Outerbridge Crossing, uscito per la Sound Aspects, segnò l'esordio discografico dell'allora neonata formazione. Ne ha fatta di strada e ne ha scritte di pagine indimenticabili nel grande libro del jazz ...
Continue ReadingGerry Hemingway Quintet: Riptide
by Mark Corroto
Over the past 25 years, the lineup of drummer/percussionist Gerry Hemingway's quintet might have changed, but his central organizing concepts have remained constant. Like a working dog, specifically a shepherd, he always seems to be organizing chaos and safeguarding melody. Well, that is, when he isn't inciting the tumult.The most recent variation of his quintet floats a two-horn, Oscar Noriega and Ellery Eskelin frontline, along with Hemmingway's his recent favorite collaborator, guitarist Terrence McManus, and bassist Kermit Driscoll.
Continue ReadingEllery Eskelin - Gerry Hemingway: Inbetween Spaces
by AAJ Italy Staff
Il dinoccolato sassofono di Eskelin e la poliedrica percussione di Hemingway sembrano conoscersi da sempre e non solo per la straordinaria profondità di dialogo che riescono a instaurare in questo bellissimo disco. Da un'ipotesi iniziale fatta di sostanziali contrasti e quindi di suono contrapposto alla percussione o di melodia sovrapposta alla pulsione, nasce invece una musica di straordinario respiro che rimanda di continuo all'Africa e a una circolarità insistente ma anche al jazz notturno e metropolitano ("Motion and Thought") a ...
Continue ReadingGerry Hemingway: Songs
by Martin Longley
When drummer Gerry Hemingway decides to pursue a song-based project, the only predictable outcome is that it will be unpredictable. His approach to composition includes elements of rock, electronica, minimalism and Broadway intimacy, yet can't be deemed any of these things. As well as the music, Hemingway has also penned the words. His chosen voice is Lisa Sokolov, who skirts around most of the jazz clichés, without settling fully on any other shackled forms. Each song features echoes of fast-switching ...
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