Jazz Articles about Jay Anderson

About Jay Anderson

Album Review

Brian Landrus: Plays Ellington & Strayhorn

Read "Plays Ellington & Strayhorn" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
November 30, 2024

When gathering material for a new recording, one time-honored rule of thumb is that it is hard to stray too far off course when revisiting the musical handiwork of renowned composer Duke Ellington and/or the Duke's virtuosic alter ego, Billy Strayhorn--even if one chooses to lead with an Ellington theme as relatively unknown as “Agra" from 1967's Far East Suite, which baritone saxophonist Brian Landrus does on Plays Ellington & Strayhorn, a graceful and stylish quartet date that also encompasses ...

Album Review

Ryan Truesdell: Synthesis: The String Quartet Sessions

Read "Synthesis: The String Quartet Sessions" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
October 21, 2024

«L'idea di Synthesis--dice Ryan Truesdell presentando il progetto--è nata dalla consapevolezza che molti compositori di jazz traggono ispirazione dalla scrittura per quartetto d'archi di eminenti compositori classici come Bartok, Brahms e Ravel, e dalla necessità di trovare un modo realistico e al tempo stesso stimolante per creare musica insieme». Il giovane orchestratore, divenuto famoso per aver dato vita a inedite partiture di Gil Evans, presenta un progetto di 17 composizioni per quartetto d'archi (alcune in forma di ...

Album Review

Sean Hong Wei & Jeremy Monteiro: The New Jersey Sessions

Read "The New Jersey Sessions" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
July 1, 2024

The New Jersey Sessions is a testament to the vitality of jazz brought to life by pianist Jeremy Monteiro and tenor saxophonist Sean Hong Wei, with the iconic Houston Person adding his legendary sound to a couple of notable tracks. The album serves up a rich tapestry of eight jazz standards (and one original from Monteiro) which provide a road map to blending traditional jazz elements with a modern sensibility by an ensemble which includes trumpeter Alex Sipiagin, bassist Jay ...

Album Review

Judy Niemack - Jay Clayton: Voices in Flight

Read "Voices in Flight" reviewed by Katchie Cartwright

by Katchie Cartwright
August 15, 2023

While veteran vocal improvisers Judy Niemack and Jay Clayton have known each other since the '70s, Voices in Flight marks their first time together in the studio. They have performed some of the album material in live shows since the early 2000s, including their medley of “Body and Soul" and Idrees Sulieman's gorgeous contrafact of it, “Orange Blossoms" ("With You"). Niemack sings the Sulieman tune, highlighting her craft in writing texts for instrumental jazz tunes that match the melodic inflections ...

Album Review

Tim Lin: Empathy

by Jack Bowers
July 2, 2023

Saxophonist Tim Lin, still fresh enough on the scene to be described as a “young lion," tips his horn to a number of his mentors on Empathy, his second album as a leader, following 2021's Romance on Formosa. As on that earlier album, Lin, a first generation Taiwanese-American (from Fremont, CA), has chosen a charming blend of standards and jazz staples to complement a lone original composition, “Fourth Right," by the superb pianist Andy LaVerne. And as before, Lin plays ...

Album Review

Karl Berger: Heart Is A Melody

Read "Heart Is A Melody" reviewed by Dave Linn

by Dave Linn
May 26, 2023

Karl Berger, one of the more unsung and underrated jazz musicians of our time, passed away on April 9, 2023. He had just turned 88 years old. Berger released several dozen albums as a leader and scores more as a sideman. His discography reads like a Who's Who of modern jazz. He recorded with people such as Don Cherry, Bill Laswell, Carla Bley, Anthony Braxton, Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, Charles Mingus, Lee Konitz and John McLaughlin, among many more. Berger ...

Album Review

Lamb Anderson Sorgen: First Mile

Read "First Mile" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
May 6, 2021

You can discredit the human imagination for any number of horrendous things. But when used right, things like First Mile happen. Some odd quirk in the continuum comes along and you find three far-travelled veterans, namely pianist Chuck Lamb (Dry Jack, Brubeck Brothers), drummer Harvey Sorgen (Hot Tuna, Anthony Braxton, Paul Simon, {[Bill Frisell}}) and bassist Jay Anderson (Maria Schneider, Paul Bley, David Bowie, Randy Brecker) in a room in Saugerties, NY making it happen. Making it happen real good. ...