Jazz Articles about Jeff Kaiser

The Jeff Kaiser Ockodektet and the Kaiser/Diaz-Infante Sextet: The Alchemical Mass/Suite Solutio

by Jim Santella
October 9, 2004

Two progressive artists lead these ensembles in a creative affair. Quiet spaces are interwoven with loud cacophony. A group of orchestral instruments can be made to sound like many things. Here, Jeff Kaiser and Ernesto Diaz-Infante light creative fires and push their ensembles to the limit.

“The Alchemical Mass" combines the formal sounds of church with the kinds of natural motifs that are commonly found in native religious rites. Primal chants and tribal drums are mixed with the ...

Jeff Kaiser Ockodektet: 13 Themes for a Triskaidekaphobic

by Rex Butters
October 22, 2003

Thematically, the new CD by trumpeter/composer Jeff Kaiser would send Howlin' Wolf running for a rabbit’s foot. 13 Themes for a Triskaidekaphobic features a large band comprised of some of LA’s most creative improvisers including Lynn Johnston, Mike Vlatkovich, Vinny Golia, Jason Mears, Richie West, Dan Clucas, and Kris Tiner. The hyper literate Kaiser named his themes after titles from the novel Tristam Shanty. Clocking in at exactly 1:13:13, the suite proves Kaiser to be a composer of richly varied ...

Jeff Kaiser: 17 Themes for Ockodektet

by Jim Santella
November 1, 2002

Jeff Kaiser’s New Music for large ensemble relies on free group improvisation. By enlisting the support of veteran jazz artists, all of them highly creative improvisers from an avant-garde stance, he’s able to get his message across clearly and with pleasure for the listener. These two suites of Kaiser’s are performed before a live audience. Impressionism makes this combination of classical music and jazz pique your interests throughout the program. There are a few places, such as in “Dirge” and ...

Jeff Kaiser & Brad Dutz: The Order Of Her Bones

by Jim Santella
October 1, 2002

The origins of creative music must go back a lot farther than early European string quartets and small chamber groups from other continents. Music contains such primordial energy that it must surely have begun as one of the very first forms of communication. Imagine early man talking to the spirits. Maybe he and his clan worked at it together. If so, then surely their improvised music must have brought pleasure to the artists as well as to the rest of ...

Jeff Kaiser & Ernesto Diaz-Infante: Pith Balls And Inclined Planes

by Glenn Astarita
August 1, 2000

Many years ago I read where NASA, during one of it’s rocket launches, sent a time capsule up to the heavens which included recordings of Elvis or The Beatles, artifacts, books and mementos that provided a snap shot of mankind’s earthly existence. Of course, this was all intended for the alien’s up above who could possibly figure out what we earthlings had been up to for the last several thousand years. Well, as I listened to this new release titled, ...

Jeff Kaiser/Woody Aplanalp: Asphalt Buddhas

by Mark Corroto
January 1, 2000

Anyone who shares their house with a baby or a puppy understands noise and the tiptoe qualities of silence. Sounds that normally pass beneath our radar screens are picked up, even amplified when one is trying not to wake the baby/puppies. Like the cartoon dogs trying to hold a sneeze ‘til they are miles away from the hibernating bear, new sounds and everyday chatter take on new meaning. For Jeff Kaiser and Woody Aplanalp their music resides where noises are ...

Jeff Kaiser: Ganz Andere

by Mark Corroto
September 1, 1999

“Why can’t we all just get along,” those now famous words spoken by Rodney King have bounced everywhere from Jay Leno’s lips to a tee shirt I saw on a Tibetan monk. But sampling has been around since well before Snoop Doggy. There was The Beatles’ White Album, and “I certainly was drunk at the time” from Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon. It’s in our blood. Ever since the pilgrims borrowed Native American’s corn dogs and decided to ...