Jazz Articles about Ian Smit

About Ian Smit

Album Review

It was pretty much etched in stone that by the middle of the Grateful Dead's second set--and those second sets of its post-Jerry Garcia spin-offs--there occurred a period of musical and mental improvisation they wisely named “Space." That indefinite stretch of musical time aptly defines the dreamscapes within of course. Hosted by the Hudson Valley collaborative of Rick Savage- trumpet/flugelhorn, Ian Smit-guitar/fx, pianist/composer Joe Vincent Tranchina, bassist Steve LaSpina and drummer Pete MacDonald the disc's ten lucid fluidities hit the ...

Album Review

Tom Nazziola: Reflections On Love

Read "Reflections On Love" reviewed by Neil Duggan

by Neil Duggan
August 18, 2024

Many albums feature arrangements of standards, so what does it take to stand out from the crowd? Solutions to the problem include choosing the seldom-played lesser-known standards, changing the chords to reharmonize the songs while keeping the melody and changing the instrumentation throughout the album. Tom Nazziola uses all these tools on his album Reflections On Love. Nazziola is a pianist and Grammy-nominated composer of film scores and orchestral music. He has also contributed to Broadway productions and ...