Jazz Articles about Graham Dechter

About Graham Dechter

Album Review

Mike Jones: Mike Jones With Strings

Read "Mike Jones With Strings" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
September 1, 2026

Pianist Mike Jones' With Strings does not denote a sizable orchestral design but a piano-jazz trio in which a guitar replaces the drums, a format introduced in the 1930s by Nat King Cole's peerless trio and favored for years by the legendary Canadian pianist Oscar Peterson with Herb Ellis, Barney Kessel or Joe Pass on guitar. One thing that Jones, bassist Alex Frank and guitarist Graham Dechter share in common with those earlier groups is an unambiguous capacity--one ...

Album Review

Mike Jones: Mike Jones With Strings

Read "Mike Jones With Strings" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
August 21, 2026

There is something refreshingly honest about a drummerless trio. Without the cushion of cymbals and snare to drive the pulse, every note matters a little more. This format dates back to the Nat King Cole Trio in the 1930s and to the Oscar Peterson-celebrated groups of the 1950s, in which the guitar and bass took responsibility for keeping the music moving. Mike Jones clearly understands that tradition, and Mike Jones with Strings embraces it with confidence and style.

Album Review

Graham Dechter: Major Influence

Read "Major Influence" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
October 12, 2021

The guitarist Graham Dechter offers his first new album in almost a decade. Major Influence was recorded prior to the pandemic with the dream rhythm section of Dechter's earlier recordings: pianist Tamir Hendelman, bassist John Clayton and drummer Jeff Hamilton. In early fall 2021, the band can now begin to contemplate returning to touring. While the unit's previous releases contained mostly titles from the American Songbook and jazz standards, this effort consists of compositions that were ...

Album Review

Graham Dechter: Major Influence

Read "Major Influence" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
October 6, 2021

If you're a jazz guitarist who plans to record a quartet CD, you obviously want the most able and supportive rhythm section you can possibly find to lend its weight. For Los Angeles-based Graham Dechter, assembling such a peerless trio to enhance Major Influence, his third album as leader and first in nearly a decade, posed no problem whatsoever: Dechter's bandmates in the world-class Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra would do quite nicely. Yes, there may be rhythm sections whose talents are ...

Album Review

Graham Dechter: Major Influence

Read "Major Influence" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
September 26, 2021

What do you get when you combine a million-dollar feel, sterling technique, clear-eared chording, warm and sophisticated single-note lines and impeccable taste? Graham Dechter, of course. As a longtime member of The Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra and first-call sideman for the West Coast elite, Dechter has earned his place on the scene. And with his first two albums—Right On Time (Capri, 2009) and Takin' It There (Capri, 2012)—he made an extremely convincing case out front. Not surprisingly, this third date merely ...

Album Review

Jackie Ryan: Listen Here

Read "Listen Here" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
February 25, 2013

There exists an intersection point in a vocal recording where four elements coalesce in excellence to produce a superb recording: the vocal, instrumental, material and sonic. Singer Jackie Ryan's Listen Here exists on this very point. AAJ critic Dan Bilawsky addressed the first two elements in his thoughtful review of Listen Here, calling Ryan, “a force of nature" and her instrumental support, “ damn good," observations easily echoed here and not improved upon. The latter pair of elements deserve a ...

Album Review

Jackie Ryan with John Clayton & Friends: Listen Here

Read "Listen Here" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello

by Nicholas F. Mondello
January 25, 2013

With Listen Here, vocalist Jackie Ryan offers a diverse and delectable array of Great American Songbook and jazz classics, well-known but not regularly-recorded older hits, and superb original selections. Supported by Grammy Award-winning bassist John Clayton and most able friends (including Clayton's son, pianist Gerald, a three-time Grammy nominee), the overall effort soars. It's a tour de force of talent and taste.Ryan's voice is full, highly resonant and eminently inviting. It is also one of subtle shadings. Her ...