Jazz Articles about Jim Connolly

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Jim Connolly and The Gove County String Quartet: Jim Connolly and The Gove County String Quartet

by Troy Collins
September 10, 2007

Jim Connolly and The Gove County String Quartet is the debut of the Santa Barbara-based composer's newest ensemble. Leader of the mercurial chamber music septet The Gove County Philharmonic, contrabassist Connolly largely eschews the Philharmonic's eccentricities in favor of a more refined approach.

While the larger Philharmonic tends towards cinematic flourishes and a circus-like atmosphere that invokes Kurt Weill by way of Carl Stalling, Connolly's string quartet reveals an even richer vein of lyricism.

Drawing inspiration ...

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Jim Connolly: Time Stops To Visit...

by Mark Corroto
November 1, 2002

The music of the Gove County Philharmonic, a seven piece chamber ensemble, reminds me of a scene from the film Fight Club. In it, Brad Pitt works as a movie projectionist in children’s theatre. He splices split-second violent and pornographic images into the movie so they only appear in the subconscious mind of the viewer. While the sweet fairy tale movie plays out, the children cry and scream out for seemingly no apparent reason.

Composer, arranger, and ...

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Jim Connolly & The Gove County Philharmonic: The Circus Doesn't Stop At Gove

by Mark Corroto
September 1, 2000

Just like today’s DJs and rappers, Jim Connolly’s disc opens with the crackle of a diamond needle on vinyl. The rappers use it to signify authenticity; Connolly employs scratchy sounds to set the scene, as in a play. Maybe it’s Musicman, or Oklahoma. A closer inspection reveals this play to be closer to a Jim Jarmusch or Joel and Ethan Cohen production. His Gove County Philharmonic is a chamber circus band or maybe a positive argument for the evolutionary effects ...