Jazz Articles about James Genus

like 4

Luba Mason: Triangle

by Jim Worsley
October 6, 2020

The rather smarmy “Bach, Stevie Wonder, and Janette Monae" opens this live performance. While disconcerting, the tide shifts dramatically with The Beatles' John Lennon-Paul McCartney classic “Ticket to Ride." It is reimagined in a sultry and just short of brilliant manner. Luba Mason's vocal phrasing brings an entire new essence to this tune. Bassist James Genus plays a line throughout which is a slow groove with a lot of feeling. Vibraphonist Joe Locke solos in spectacular fashion, while percussionist Samuel ...

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Dave Douglas Quintet: Live at the Jazz Standard

by John Kelman
December 13, 2007

Trumpeter Dave Douglas' a six-night run at New York's Jazz Standard in December, 2006, was relatively revolutionary in the jazz world. Every set, featuring his longstanding quintet, was recorded and made available the following morning in downloadable MP3 format. The twelve sets included nearly everything from The Infinite (RCA, 2002), Strange Liberation (RCA, 2003) and Meaning and Mystery (Greenleaf, 2006), as well as fourteen new pieces. Live at the Jazz Standard collects the best performances of this new material into ...

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Yosvany Terry Cabrera: Metamorphosis

by AAJ Staff
April 23, 2006

Intersections between Afro-Cuban music and jazz tend to be characteristically raw and visceral, drum-heavy and tilted toward bodily motion. This particular flavor of Latin jazz very rarely approaches the level of cosmopolitan integration, intellectual consistency and postmodern literacy that marks Metamorphosis. 34 year-old saxophonist Yosvany Terry Cabrera, who grew up in Camaguey, Cuba, wrote seven of the eight pieces on the record, for which he provides helpful background in the extended bilingual liner notes. His compositions effectively mirror his leadership, ...

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Yosvany Terry: Metamorphosis

by James Taylor
April 21, 2006

Yosvany Terry Cabrera has been turning heads in the New York jazz community since he arrived in the city in 1999. The Cuban-born musician's stateside debut will be the first introduction to this rising star for many, however. Metamorphosis is a stellar debut from a talented young saxophonist and master chekere player whose credentials speak for themselves and whose compositions are fresh and vibrant.Frequent collaborators Avishai Cohen (trumpet), Mike Moreno (guitars), Venezuelan-born Luis Perdoma (piano) and Dafnis Prieto ...

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Yosvany Terry Cabrera: Metamorphosis

by Matt Cibula
April 8, 2006

When I was a teenager in Oregon, I used to listen to lots of fusion and jazz-funk on a great radio station out of Portland. I didn't exactly go around telling anyone this, but I liked it just fine all the same. I felt a little better later, when all that stuff got sampled by hip-hop producers and I realized that there had been a lot of little Bob James nerds like me.

I say this because this album by ...

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Mike Clark: Summertime

by Riel Lazarus
May 5, 2003

It's safe to say that drummer Mike Clark is most commonly associated with funk. Since his days as a member of Herbie Hancock's legendary Headhunters, Clark has been considered one of the foremost trapsmen of the genre. But funk is only a small part of what this veteran artist is capable of, and Summertime may finally spell the end to this unfortunate pigeonholing. As evidenced by his appearance last month at the Blue Note, Clark is every ...

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Mike Clark: Summertime

by Jim Santella
March 3, 2003

Pianist Billy Childs and drummer Mike Clark make a great rhythm team. Their modern mainstream journey through new originals and familiar favorites swings with a surging intensity that’s stirred gently – not shaken. It’s your daddy’s music in a new picture frame.

”Summertime,” a personal favorite, is treated to a harmonic makeover. Using darkness and mystery, a quintet with Clark, Childs, Chris Potter, Jack Walrath and James Genus presents this gem as it’s never been shown before. ...