Jazz Articles about Harriet Tubman

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Harriet Tubman: Ascension

by Raul d'Gama Rose
April 26, 2011

The raison d'être for the band, Harriet Tubman, is an almost aching musical yearning for a complete freedom. It is a freedom from genre and certainly on Ascension, complete freedom from style as well as style. This what the 20th Century Spanish poet and playwright, Federico Garcia-Lorca described as the heart of duende, a holistic alternative to style and mere virtuosity, seeking an elevated level of delving into the depths of the soul so that the music dilates the mind's ...

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Harriet Tubman: Ascension

by Mark Corroto
April 10, 2011

It has been forty-six years since John Coltrane took his expanded ensemble into a studio to record Ascension (Impulse!, 1965), and many believe the jazz world has yet to come to grips with its significance and meaning. It has only been eleven years since the power trio Harriet Tubman, expanded into the Harriet Tubman Double Trio, rendered its interpretation of Ascension. Formed in 1998, the Harriet Tubman trio picks up where the short-lived supergroup Power Tools (Bill Frisell, ...

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Harriet Tubman: Prototype

by Mark Corroto
November 1, 2000

The second ‘strange meeting’ between the members of the thumping power trio known as Harriet Tubman was recorded live in New York, Finland, and The Netherlands. Why bassist Melvin Gibbs choose to reincarnate his previous band Power Tools can be answered by noting the sales of powered amps and woofers over the past decade. Gibbs, guitarist Bill Frisell, and drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson conspired in the late 1980s to play noisy loud power-jazz. Gibbs learned it from Sonny Sharrock, played ...

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Harriet Tubman: I Am A Man

by Glenn Astarita
December 1, 1998

Harriet Tubman is: Brandon Ross guitar; Melvin Gibbs bass and J.T. Lewis drums. Titled: “I Am A Man”, this reviewer will deviate from researching any hidden agenda or subliminal message; however, I can ascertain without reservation that these three “NYC Downtown Scene” veterans have produced an enthusiastic outing which traverses many frontiers.

“Freedom of Expression” is an applied concept put forth within the infamous NYC Downtown Scene. In many instances infusions of punk rock-jazz-chamber-world music and so forth materialize in ...