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Jazz Articles about Jeff Lederer
Joe Fonda: Joe Fonda & Bass Of Operation
by Jerome Wilson
The bassoon is rarely heard in a jazz context, but bassist Joe Fonda got the idea to use the instrument in a free-swinging small group format. He incorporated Michael Rabinowitz, one of the few improvising bassoonists around, into a quartet with two of his long-time collaborators, drummer Harvey Sorgen and reed player Jeff Lederer. Fonda's original idea was for Lederer to play tenor saxophone in the group, but Lederer decided instead to play higher-pitched reeds, clarinet, flute, and piccolo. The ...
Continue ReadingJoe Fonda: Joe Fonda & Bass Of Operation
by Mike Jurkovic
Only bassist /composer Joe Fonda--who cut his teeth and honed his humor in the company and camaraderie of such global visionaries as Wadada Leo Smith, Anthony Braxton, Barry Altschul, Paul Bley, and Annette Peacock-- can stand defiantly at the epicenter of a free jazz and classical quartet and ease the ensemble through either door with the deceptively sly and boozy opener “Deja Vu for DC." It whirls. It twirls. It is a whole lot of fun and a particularly ...
Continue ReadingSilvano Monasterios: The River
by Jack Bowers
To enhance his musical excursion along The River, composer, arranger and pianist Silvano Monasterios invited eight talented companions on board to share the ride. He did not make it easy for them. As envisioned by Monasterios, this river is by turns placid or turbulent, sparse or overflowing--but invariably tricky to navigate and tame. The entire work, he writes, is “a suite of what I consider Venezuelan music," and was inspired by the people in his native land ...
Continue ReadingJeff Lederer: Guilty!!!
by Mark Corroto
Note to conservative Republicans: stop reading this review now. Note to self: There cannot be but a handful of folks who are both MAGA and jazz and improvised music listeners. Jeff Lederer's Guilty!!! recalls a time when jazz was at the forefront of the zeitgeist. Max Roach, John Coltrane, and Charles Mingus were creating music about and during the civil rights movement. Elsewhere Neil Young was protesting the four dead at Kent State, while Graham Nash was recruiting ...
Continue ReadingMatt Wilson: Good Trouble
by Jerome Wilson
Drummer Matt Wilson continues his tradition of recording humorous and humanistic jazz here with the debut of a new quintet, Good Trouble, which includes both old and new associates. This group has a two-saxophone front line with Wilson's long-time colleague, Jeff Lederer on tenor sax, and Tia Fuller on alto sax. They complement each other well as they blow through the strutting rapture of “Albert's Alley" and the dancing shuffle beat of Ornette Coleman's “Feet Music." The group's ...
Continue ReadingAndrea Wolper: Wanderlust
by Jerome Wilson
Andrea Wolper is an active jazz singer, composer, and educator but this album is her first recording since 2011. On it, she reestablishes herself as a creative vocalist and arranger who can excel in many different styles. She also benefits from the support of excellent musicians such as reed player Jeff Lederer and violinist Charles Burnham. Wolper performs several of her own compositions as well as tunes by others such as Abbey Lincoln and Carole King. Among her ...
Continue ReadingAndrea Wolper: Wanderlust
by Dan Bilawsky
Itinerant creatives manifest in both literal and figurative terms. Yes, they most clearly present in true formal fashion, traveling from place to place, sharing their art wherever they may roam. But their venturesome virtues extend to the interior, too. In fact, what's often of the greatest importance and interest is the roving surrounding and propelling their work--exploration of narrow paths, walks through obscured alleys and hideaways, and time spent in secret sanctums that offer peace and space to think in ...
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