Home » Jazz Articles » Jason Rigby
Jazz Articles about Jason Rigby
Mike Holober and the Gotham Jazz Orchestra: Hiding Out
by Jerome Wilson
Mike Holober is a celebrated composer and arranger who has worked for ensembles like the Westchester Jazz Orchestra in New York and the WDR and HR Big Bands in Germany. He is also the leader and founder of the Gotham Jazz Orchestra which here makes its first appearance on record in ten years. Holober makes this return a fruitful one, coming up with a 2CD set featuring two long suites, both with themes involving American landscapes. The first ...
Continue ReadingMike Holober and the Gotham Jazz Orchestra: Hiding Out
by Jack Bowers
Mike Holober has been Hiding Out rather openly for the past ten years or so, waiting for the proper time to gather together his world-class Gotham Jazz Orchestra and record for the first time since 2009's widely acclaimed album Quake (Sunnyside), in which his picturesque compositions and arrangements were compared favorably to those of Duke Ellington and Gil Evans, to name only two. In the interim, Holober has hardly been sitting on his hands, serving time as director of New ...
Continue ReadingMike Holober and the Gotham Jazz Orchestra: Hiding Out
by Dan Bilawsky
If musical polymath Mike Holober is hiding out, he's doing it in plain sight. Constantly in demand, his work as a pianist, conductor, arranger and composer has drawn plenty of attention. In the past 15 years alone he has served as the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Westchester Jazz Orchestra (from 2007-2013), the Associate Guest Conductor of the hr-Bigband (from 2011-2015), and the Associate Director of the BMI Jazz Composer's Workshop (from 2007-2015). In that same stretch of time, ...
Continue ReadingMike Holober and the Gotham Jazz Orchestra: Hiding Out
by Karl Ackermann
Mike Holober's background as a classical pianist and conductor is just one thing that sets Hiding Out apart from the current crop of big band releases. Holober has worked in a variety of settings from solo, duo, and quintet to large ensembles. Two previous recordings with his Gotham Jazz Orchestra were the critically acclaimed Thought Trains (Sons of Sound Records, 2004) and Quake (Sunnyside Records, 2009), comprised of covers and original Holober compositions. On the ambitious double-disc Hiding Out, Holober ...
Continue ReadingJason Rigby Detroit-Cleveland Trio: One
by Hrayr Attarian
The stimulating One is saxophonist Jason Rigby's third release as a leader and the most accomplished addition to Rigby's discography. The sparse trio setting and the intimate ambience allow Rigby to showcase his multifaceted compositions and his superb improvisational skills. They also demonstrate the sublime synergy among the band members as well as Rigby's command of his instrument.The tense “Dorian Gray," for instance, opens with bassist Cameron Brown's nimble and swinging refrains. Drummer Gerald Cleaver brings a funky ...
Continue ReadingJason Rigby: Detroit-Cleveland Trio: One
by Dan McClenaghan
The saxophone/bass/drums format has its challenge: the lack of a harmonic instrument to add depth and structure to the sound. Sonny Rollins put out a classic of the form: A Night At The Village Vanguard (Blue Note, 1958). But he's Sonny Rollins, and all the other saxophonist aren't. Same thing with Ornette Coleman and his two At The “Golden Circle" Stockholm sets (Blue Note, 1965), wonderful and dynamic sounds that sit on the top of the heap of his form. ...
Continue ReadingJason Rigby: One: Detroit-Cleveland Trio
by Troy Dostert
Jason Rigby's first two releases as a leader, Translucent Space (2006) and Sage (2009), were widely acclaimed both for Rigby's sophisticated compositions and for his voice as an emerging saxophone talent. On these albums, the first with a nonet and the second with a quintet, Rigby evoked the sound of mid-to-late 60s Miles and early fusion, with arrangements that were disciplined and complex but which hinted at openness to the avant- garde. On One: Detroit-Cleveland Trio, Rigby's third ...
Continue Reading
