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Greg Burk: Many Worlds
by Troy Collins
A startlingly original improviser, rising pianist Greg Burk straddles a confluence of traditions, seamlessly balancing the spontaneity of free jazz with the discipline of mainstream conventions. A former Either/Orchestra member and student of Paul Bley, Yusef Lateef, George Russell and Archie Shepp, Burk possesses an uncanny gift for melody that surpasses many of his peers. On Many Worlds, Burk unveils an evocative array of pre-written tunes and collective compositions that exude a rich chiaroscuro, bolstering frenetic free improvisations with mellifluous ...
Continue ReadingGreg Burk Quartet: Berlin Bright
by Terrell Kent Holmes
Pianist Greg Burk embraces deconstruction and counterpoint as a player and composer, so a playful method to the madness runs through his excellent new album Berlin Bright. The opener, “Fancy Pants," exemplifies how Burk solos and writes with mild chaos in mind. After the theme the tune fractures schizophrenically, with Ignaz Dinne soaring melodically up front on alto while Burk plays a roiling counterpoint behind him. This startling, clever effect sounds like two open music sites on the Internet playing ...
Continue ReadingGreg Burk: Ivy Trio
by AAJ Italy Staff
La figura di Greg Burk sta rapidamente acquisendo i riconoscimenti che merita. Visto che da qualche anno s'è trasferito a Roma, il pubblico italiano ha modo di apprezzare uno dei pianisti più creativi delle generazione tra i trenta e i quarant'anni: ci sono infatti varie occasioni per ascoltarlo dal vivo ed i suoi dischi per la Soul Note sono facilmente reperibili. Questo lavoro in trio, appena pubblicato dalla 482 Music, risale al 24 luglio 2003 ed è quindi contemporaneo del ...
Continue ReadingGreg Burk: Ivy Trio
by Nic Jones
It takes its time, this music. On first listen it comes on like the work merely of an accomplished piano trio that ticks all those boxes labeled with qualities such as technical accomplishment, urbanity, harmonic sophistication and the like. Further listening, however, reveals something a whole lot more worthwhile.
The spirit of Herbie Nichols stalks the ugly beauty of “Hupid Stumid and that's a cause for celebration, resonating as it does in a historical sense with Burk's belief in music ...
Continue ReadingGreg Burk: Ivy Trio
by Jerry D'Souza
Pianist Greg Burk found the perfect ambience in a study lounge of a Harvard University dormitory to record this album. He says that the environment was as close to his childhood living room as a studio could be. Burk also reveals that he was contemplating the direction the music would take while swimming in Walden Pond. More, the music here was like sharing a bottle of wine with old friends.
Burk's approach and feelings have a ...
Continue ReadingGreg Burk: Ivy Trio
by John Kelman
Time can be a funny thing. Recorded prior to his last trio disc, Nothing, Knowing (482 Music, 2005), Greg Burk's Ivy Trio shares more in common than just format. Ivy Trio provides alternate views of three Burk originals--"Look to the Neutrino, “Blink to Be and “Operetta --but with a trio featuring bassist Jonathan Robinson and drummer Luther Gray in place of Nothing, Knowing's higher-profile rhythm team of bassist Steve Swallow and drummer Bob Moses. The tunes are well worth revisiting--or ...
Continue ReadingGreg Burk: The Way In
by Budd Kopman
It has been said that a jazz musician exposes his or her soul and is existentially naked when improvising in front of an audience. However, those perfect performances are rare, and most of the time they are just good. At these most common times, a player falls back onto things he has done before, maybe even the night before, and pulls it off for listeners who probably don't know the difference. Jazz musicians tend to fall into ...
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