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JC Sanford's Triocracy: Pyramid Scheme
by Mark Sullivan
Trombonist / composer JC Sanford leads an unconventional chamber trio with Andy Laster and Chris Bacas on saxophones and clarinets. As the group name implies, it is a remarkably flexible and democratic small ensemble. Sanford is the main composer, but there are also collective improvisations, guided improvisations, and a few surprising covers. “Rip Tide" opens the set with a series of urgent, ripping passages, which also partake of the danger and aggressiveness of an actual rip tide. “Everything ...
Continue ReadingAndrew Rathbun Large Ensemble: Atwood Suites
by Jerome Wilson
Andrew Rathbun is a Canadian saxophonist who has made a major musical statement here with this collection of suites, two of which are based on the poetry of author Margaret Atwood. Rathbun's writing shows the influence of another Canadian, Kenny Wheeler, in its lush sonority, the frequent gorgeous flugelhorn solos by Tim Hagans and the role of Luciana Souza, who both sings Atwood's poetry with gentle forcefulness and moans wordlessly within the orchestral ensembles, the same way Wheeler often utilized ...
Continue ReadingAndrew Rathbun: Atwood Suites
by Paul Rauch
The mingling of jazz music and poetry is not a new concept. It has always been an amiable, yet at times, uncomfortable fit. From a verse standpoint, it is in many ways liberating. While most vocalized lyrics and spoken word forms rely on rhyme to speak to cadence and rhythm, free verse poetry liberates the narrative from the confinements of structure, and much like an improvising instrumentalist, takes spoken language into a intertwining duality with the melody within harmonic dimension. ...
Continue ReadingAndrew Rathbun: Atwood Suites
by Friedrich Kunzmann
In a way, the Atwood Suites have been in the works for almost two decades. When Kenny Wheeler approached Toronto native Andrew Rathbun in search for a band in 2001, the former furthermore inquired if the latter would like a composition of his own penning to be performed beside Wheeler's “Suite Time Suite." Consequently, the “Power Politics Suite," which makes for the second half of the first CD, was born, with Wheeler's and vocalist Luciana Souza's sound specifically in mind. ...
Continue ReadingAndrew Rathbun Large Ensemble: Atwood Suites
by Dan Bilawsky
The marriage between jazz and poetry is having a true moment in the present artistic sphere. The two have long mixed and mingled, oft proving sympathetic and symbiotic in their multidirectional moves, unique cadences, and improvisational capacities. But never before has the connection been so strong and centralized. With drummer Matt Wilson's triumphant encounter with the work of Carl Sandburg, soprano saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom's exploration of Emily Dickinson's writing, saxophonist Benjamin Boone's collaboration with Philip Levine, and a handful ...
Continue ReadingJC Sanford Orchestra: Views from the Inside
by Angelo Leonardi
Nell'attuale rinascimento del jazz orchestrale JC Sanford non è affatto un esordiente anche se pubblica solo ora il primo disco a suo nome. È membro fondatore con Darcy James Argue del Composers' Federation Pulse, ha operato nel BMI Jazz Composers' Workshop guidato da Jim McNeely e Mike Abene, da anni agisce regolarmente come compositore e direttore d'orchestra collaborando con John Hollenbeck, Joel Harrison, Alan Ferber e Alice Coltrane. Potremmo aggiungere altro sulle sue attività di trombonista ...
Continue ReadingJC Sanford Orchestra: Views from the Inside
by Dan Bilawsky
Views From The Inside is a study in contrasts and opposing forces. It's a work of compression and expansion, sonic saturation and sparsity, and consonance and dissonance. It's music that's alternately grandiloquent and direct, pointing to a place where high art and simple emotional expression aren't at odds with one another. In short, it's everything that's glorious and right about the state of the large ensemble in jazz. JC Sanford, the composer-conductor-trombonist at the helm of this ...
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