Jazz Articles about Jeff Dingler

About Jeff Dingler

Album Review

Daniel Bennett: The Deconstructed Songbook

Read "The Deconstructed Songbook" reviewed by Konstantin N. Rega

by Konstantin N. Rega
June 15, 2026

Multi-instrumentalist and composer Daniel Bennett takes on a list of covers for his project The Deconstructed Songbook with surprising results. Joined by drummer Koko Bermejo, Jason Yeager on piano, guitarist Nat Janoff and Jeff Dingler on electric bass, the group feels well-rounded. Though Bennett allows himself one original tune near the beginning, it does not feel out of place beside tracks by Horace Silver or Lennon-McCartney. For fans of Joni Mitchell who like the song “Both Sides Now" (even if Judy Collins' version ...

Album Review

Daniel Bennett Group: The Deconstructed Songbook

Read "The Deconstructed Songbook" reviewed by Kyle Simpler

by Kyle Simpler
April 26, 2026

In many cases, the idea of “deconstruction" suggests dismantling something to reveal its inner workings. When it comes to art, this is often done in ways that lean toward the avant-garde. But on The Deconstructed Songbook, veteran saxophonist Daniel Bennett takes a different approach. Rather than tearing down familiar material, he reshapes it into something both familiar and modern, offering a new perspective on a collection of mostly well-known songs. Bennett, an award-winning performer and composer with more ...

Album Review

Jeff Dingler: In Transit

Read "In Transit" reviewed by Friedrich Kunzmann

by Friedrich Kunzmann
December 27, 2017

Living and working between the African and North American continent, bassist Jeff Dingler combines the influences of the two essentially different musical cultures on his sophomore effort, appropriately entitled In Transit, creating a most fluent fusion of Ethio-Jazz in a Bebop context. The musicians enhancing and realizing his musical vision are drummer Gusten Rudolph, pianist Lou Rainone and guitarist Brad Shepik, who himself experiments much in fusing world-music and jazz--just recently apparent on his latest project Human Activity Suite, which ...

Album Review

WM Project: From a Familiar Place

Read "From a Familiar Place" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
December 23, 2017

The WM Project, led by saxophonist Krzysztof Medyna and pianist Andrzej Winnicki, doesn't sound much like the Komeda Project. Medyna and Winnicki have earned well-deserved acclaim for their work in that ensemble that explores the music of their countryman, Krzysztof Komeda. But here, instead of the Polish melancholy, haunting themes and brooding melodies, they take From A Familiar Place into the more American realm of straight ahead, at times even brash bebop with, always, big solid grooves. Two ...

Album Review

Jonathan Saraga Quintet: First Vision

Read "First Vision" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
January 2, 2013

When young artists release their first album, it's always tempting to say they “show potential" or “are off to a good start," but those comments tend to be kindly veiled takes on “you get an A for effort, but should have waited a bit longer." Jonathan Saraga need not worry about having such pacifying comments thrown his way; the trumpeter's First Vision isn't the stuff of amateurs on the brink of musical maturity, it's a stand-up-and-take-notice offering. ...

Album Review

Jonathan Saraga Quintet: First Vision

Read "First Vision" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
December 25, 2012

Trumpeter Jonathan Saraga opens his debut, First Vision with the eleven-and-a-half-minute original, “Guidance," a probing rumination that flares up during his solo. The tune as a whole is a slow burn, but it bursts into high flames as it comes to its conclusion.The leader has assembled a fine quintet of standard configuration--two horns, a chording instrument (here, guitar), bass and drums. The music, all Saraga-penned, has an uncommon freshness coming from a 24 year-old artist who is well ...

Album Review

Jonathan Saraga: First Vision

Read "First Vision" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
December 23, 2012

Award-winning trumpeter Jonathan Saraga's First Vision, is a skillfully conceived and exquisitely realized debut that brings to mind the edgy, envelope-pushing hard bop of many a Blue Note record in the early 1960s. The modal melodies are artfully orchestrated, allowing each musician the full breadth of his spontaneous creativity without resorting to unfettered clamor. Not a single note is wasted. Whether on trumpet or flugelhorn, Saraga's clear, elegiac tone weaves intricate musical tales around the themes. “Guidance," ...