Jazz Articles about Jack Mouse

About Jack Mouse

Album Review

Jack Mouse Group: Intimate Adversary

Read "Intimate Adversary" reviewed by Chris Mosey

by Chris Mosey
November 22, 2018

The great Spanish cellist Pablo Casals would sometimes refer to his instrument as his “intimate adversary." Illinois drummer/composer Jack Mouse has borrowed the term as title for a laid-back, carefully orchestrated piece, which he plans as the first movement of a two-part suite. It's the most ambitious number on this, the album of the same name, and some of the ensemble parts have an appropriately Spanish tinge to them. Mouse draws on a wide variety of sources ...

Album Review

Jack Mouse, Scott Robinson, Janice Borla: Three Story Sandbox

Read "Three Story Sandbox" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro

by Alberto Bazzurro
July 7, 2016

In una situazione di prevedibile improvvisazione totale (nessuna dichiarazione in merito), Jack Mouse e Scott Robinson hanno la non trascurabile accortezza, autentico salvavita in condizioni del genere, di limitare la durata dei brani inanellati in quest'ora scarsa di musica (nessun brano raggiunge i sei minuti), affiancati dalla vocalità di Janice Borla per così dire a macchia di leopardo. Notevole la suggestione che aleggia in buona parte del lavoro, anche per la costante capacità dei tre (di fatto ...

Album Review

Jack Mouse & Scott Robinson: Snakeheads & Ladybugs

Read "Snakeheads & Ladybugs" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
December 25, 2014

This may be a brand new release for 2015, but it's been thirty years in the making. Drummer Jack Mouse and man-of-many-horns Scott Robinson have been contemplating putting together an album of freely-improvised duets since the '80s, and now they've finally found the time and place to make it happen. Snakeheads & Ladybugs presents a dozen aural concoctions that mark these men as players with big ears and strong communicative skills. Mouse and Robinson relish the opportunity ...

Album Review

Jack Mouse & Scott Robinson: Snakeheads & Ladybugs

Read "Snakeheads & Ladybugs" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
December 14, 2014

Jack Mouse plays drums; Scott Robinson plays almost everything else. So even though the word “duets" is (properly) used to describe their two-part collaboration on Snakeheads & Ladybugs, the album's concept and resolution go far beyond that. For example, there are no written compositions here, simply perceptive and spontaneous improvisation between two inordinately accomplished musicians. Free jazz? That label would not be misused. There are, on the other hand, prescribed conventions and boundaries to which both participants adhere. Even in ...

Album Review

Jack Mouse Group: Range of Motion

Read "Range of Motion" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
December 20, 2013

Drummer and educator Jack Mouse has a versatile and prolific career. In addition to playing, among many others, with trumpeter Clark Terry, saxophonist James Moody and pianist Stan Kenton he has been actively involved in education as a faculty member at various institutions and as a writer for percussion magazines. His debut album Range of Motion comprises ten of his originals that exhibit a variety of influences and are in a number of different subgenres. There is, for ...