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Jazz Articles about Jeremy Pelt
Somi: Zenzile: The Reimagination Of Miriam Makeba

by Angelo Leonardi
Il legame musicale e simbolico con l'Africa resta centrale nella produzione artistica di Somi, la vocalist e cantautrice statunitense dai genitori africani giunta al successo con gli album The Lagos Music Saloon e Holy Room. Il suo nuovo progetto è dedicato a Miriam Makeba, che avrebbe compiuto 90 anni il 4 marzo, data di pubblicazione del presente album. I brani in scaletta, tutti presi dallo storico repertorio della cantante, sono condivisi col musical Dreaming Zenzile, che Somi ...
Continue ReadingTrumpet Master Jeremy Pelt - Hard Bop and More

by Russell Perry
Emerging as a recording artist in 2002, trumpeter Jeremy Pelt's warm tone and thoughtful improvisation initially brought hard bop legends Lee Morgan and Freddie Hubbard to mind. After two decades, his mature post-bop work evidences a willingness to experiment with sound and ensemble make-up. Miles Davis's Second Great Quintet and his electric period both emerge as influences from time-to-time interspersed with straight ahead acoustic dates. You can count on Jeremy Pelt for inventive improvisation, impeccable tone, nuanced performance and a ...
Continue ReadingChien Chien Lu: The Path

by Dan Bilawsky
For vibraphonist Chien Chien Lu, the path to jazz wasn't direct. She rode a contemporary classical percussion track into her twenties in her native Taiwan, but, as it turned out, that drive was less about reaching a destination than it was about the act of discovery: A growing desire for musical freedom and adventure eventually set Chien Chien on a different course, steering her toward jazz and a life in New York. Now, after making herself comfortable in the jazz ...
Continue ReadingBlack Art Jazz Collective: Ascension

by Ian Patterson
The name has obvious political resonance. Indeed, the raison d'être of the Black Art Jazz Collective, the sextet founded by Wayne Escoffery, Jeremy Pelt and Jonathon Blake in 2013, is to celebrate African American excellence on the one hand, and--not unrelated--to raise political consciousness on the other. The BAJC's debut album,Presented By The Side Door Jazz Club (Sunnyside Records, 2016) paid homage to W. E. B. Dubois and Barack Obama, while recalling, too, the history of slavery. Ascension plows a ...
Continue ReadingGerald Cleaver & Vioilet Hour: Live at Firehouse 12

by Stefano Merighi
Gerald Cleaver incarna brillantemente la versione versatile del jazzista contemporaneo. Batterista e compositore, origini a Detroit, Cleaver giostra con fierezza e senso funambolico all'interno di tutti gli stili dominanti nella scena odierna. Può contribuire alla raffinatezza di gruppi accasati alla ECM, navigare a vista in organici del tutto sperimentali ("Farmers by Nature," Black Host"), mantenere legami di lunga data con autori affini o inaugurarne di inediti come quello con Larry Ochs (il duo Songs in the Wild Cave" ...
Continue ReadingBlack Art Jazz Collective: Ascension

by Jack Bowers
On Ascension, the Black Art Jazz Collective, a like-minded sextet co-founded in 2012 by trumpeter Jeremy Pelt and saxophonist Wayne Escoffery to salute the artistry of their mentors and musical heroes while moving the idiom forward into the twenty-first century, is unbending in its allegiance to the straight-ahead canon espoused by the architects of modern jazz. It's a stance that gives rise to pluses and minuses. On the upside, this is splendid music, rhythmically and melodically pleasing, ...
Continue ReadingConnie Han: Iron Starlet

by C. Andrew Hovan
At the 2019 Detroit Jazz Festival, pianist Connie Han dazzled the crowd with a superb and well-paced set which was one of the best performances of the weekend. Although her Mack Avenue debut, Crime Zone, had hit the streets in 2018, Han's musical acumen was still hovering below the radar of most jazz listeners. The key to Han's refreshing approach is that she operates in a zone that respects the lexicon while also finding new territory of its own to ...
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