Jazz Articles about Grachan Moncur III

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Grachan Moncur III Octet: Exploration

by Jerry D'Souza
January 27, 2005

It is a crying shame that some of the best jazz musicians have to languish in obscurity. There are many reasons, but a review is not necessarily the place to go into them. Suffice to say that it is a moment worth cherishing when a stalwart comes in from out of the beyond to make his presence felt.

Grachan Moncur III was a forward thinker who made some of the most powerful music of the sixties with compatriots ...

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Grachan Moncur III: Exploration

by Michael P. Gladstone
January 16, 2005

Grachan Moncur III Octet Exploration Capri Records 2004

After a lengthy absence, trombonist/composer Grachan Moncur III returns with his first album as a leader since 1977's Shadows (Denon Jazz). The trombonist is best known for his particiation on two Jackie McLean albums, One Step Beyond and Destination Out! , in 1963. On the latter Moncur contributed two of the five tunes and on the former, three of four. In addition to appearing ...

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Grachan Moncur III Octet: Exploration

by Dan McClenaghan
December 27, 2004

"Frankenstein" seems an odd name for a jazz tune, but then why not? The song title--and the song itself--captures the mood of Grachan Moncur III's Exploration. It's an arrangement that features an assertive--to the point of brashness, perhaps--ensemble interplay of a seven horns backed by bass and drums, sans piano or guitar. Two trombones, along with a French horn and baritone sax, ensure the darker tone predominance with--on this particular tune--a stinging, free-ranging alto sax solo by Gary Bartz, followed ...

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Grachan Moncur III Octet: Exploration

by AAJ Staff
December 15, 2004

Trombonist and composer Grachan Moncur III made a memorable impact forty years ago with his challenging compositions and austere improvising style. He then maintained a very low profile for decades, teaching, recording only rarely, and encountering dental problems. Now he's made a welcome return to recording with the absolutely stunning CD Exploration.

In the 1960's, Moncur's trombone style was notable for breaking away from the then-prevalent model of J.J. Johnson. Rather than play bebop acrobatics, Moncur played spare ...

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Grachan Moncur III Octet: Exploration

by John Kelman
December 3, 2004

It's remarkable how time changes the relative position of musical innovation. When trombonist Grachan Moncur III appeared on the scene with a series of Blue Note appearances including his own Evolution and Some Other Stuff , as well as alto saxophonist Jackie McLean's One Step Beyond , Destination...Out! , Hipnosis and About Soul , thankfully reissued recently as a Mosaic Select box, he was firmly entrenched in the emergent musical left. While not exactly the kind of free style that ...

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Grachan Moncur III: Mosaic Select 1

by C. Andrew Hovan
June 25, 2003

We take it for granted these days, with packages as large as 18 discs (the Bill Evans Verve box) or even 20 discs (the Complete Miles Davis at Montreux), but back about 20 years ago when Mosaic Records started looking at comprehensive reissues, such massive surveys were all but a pipe dream. For better or worse, a renaissance period of reissue activity, much of it modeled after Mosaic’s trend- setting program, has brought us to the point where the amount ...

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A Fireside Chat With Grachan Moncur III

by AAJ Staff
January 17, 2003

There are paths we take in life that are forever. Life is unforgiving and no one in jazz personifies that better than Grachan Moncur III. It took me over a year just to track down Grachan. And because of health issues, another year for him to sit down with the Roadshow. Allow me to be kind and rewind. I had heard Grachan on Blue Note recordings of Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, and most notably Jackie McLean. Grachan was a monster ...