Jazz Articles about Jay Leonhart

Ken Peplowski: Noir Blue

by Martin Longley
May 13, 2010

In his liner notes, saxophonist/clarinetist Ken Peplowski reveals that after hitting fifty, he had no desire to make albums that are going through the motions of record company requirements. Not that such bodies are lately in a position to demand anything. He now intends to make recordings when the inspiration is strong and when the circumstances align in an encouraging fashion. A major part of this disc's genesis seems to be the rapport that Peplowski shares with pianist Shelly Berg. ...

Ken Peplowski: Noir Blue

by Raul d'Gama Rose
April 24, 2010

Ken Peplowski has much to say; not in the sense that he jabbers incessantly, as many men with horns (and embouchures for hire) sometimes do. However, in erudite and leaping ululations, and in warm, wafting glissandos he sings of the gaiety and sadness of life. This he does through clarinet or tenor saxophone, depending on the echo and longevity he wishes his harmonic monologues to have. An old soul, with a spectacular perspective on the past, Peplowski lives in a ...

Ken Peplowski: Noir Blue

by C. Michael Bailey
April 10, 2010

Noir Blue is a slight coloring outside the lines for clarinetist/saxophonist Ken Peplowski. His most recent recordings (with Arbors and Nagel Heyer) have focused on older swing forms and repertoire. Presently, Peplowski is playing pure jazz quartet music with pianist Shelly Berg, bassist Jay Leonhart, and drummer Joe La Barbera. The song choice is anything but standard, thought it never ventures too far from Peplowski's comfort zone.

Noir Blue is heavy on the Ellington/Strayhorn book, clocking in with a third ...

Ben Aronov, Jay Leonhart: Alone Together

by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
April 7, 2008

There's something to be said about the sureness with which Ben Aronov and Jay Leonhart play as a duo. A recording they did in the studio in the '80s was pushed back for years, finally released as Alone Together. The title could not be more fitting. The album stands as a work of syncretism; Aronov was an established jazzman before he met and befriended Jay Leonhart and, by then, Leonhart had made a name for himself in the jazz community. ...

Jay Leonhart Trio: Cool

by Gabriel Medina Arenas
March 23, 2005

Jay Leonhart Trio Cool Sons of Sound 2004

Leonhart says that the music from his new album Cool gets hot, and he's right. It has music taken from films, musical plays and jazz classics. The experienced bassist, who started in music at seven playing banjo and guitar, is a real entertainer and shows us the amiable and comical face of jazz. From the beginning this Cd produces on listeners an involuntary movement of head ...

Jay Leonhart & John Sheridan: Trios

by Brian P. Lonergan
February 5, 2005

Jay Leonhart Trio Cool Sons of Sound 2004

In the liner notes to his new trio album, Cool , bassist Jay Leonhart writes, “I'm afraid 'Cool' isn't nearly as laid back as the title might imply," and he's right. Rather than the style of jazz, the name refers to the Bernstein/Sondheim song from West Side Story , which is just one of the appealing tracks on an album awash in colorful arrangements.

Leonhart's trio, ...

Jay Leonhart: Cool

by Dr. Judith Schlesinger
December 3, 2004

This CD isn't “cool" in the sense of inscrutable players wearing dark shades and attitude. It's more like the “cool" applied to something delightful, like this trio's deft and friendly handling of the material. The jazz on Cool is absolutely solid but never dense--it's playful and flowing, full of imagination and wit.

The trio freshens the familiar with new arrangements. They dare to commit reharmonization on “C Jam Blues," and it works; so does the rubato bass lead ...