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Jim Rotondi: Reverence
by C. Andrew Hovan
Not since the days of Alfred Lion and Blue Note Records have we seen such a healthy stable of mainstream jazz artists develop as those men who currently make up the hard bop ensemble One For All. Eric Alexander, Steve Davis, David Hazeltine, Joe Farnsworth, and Jim Rotondi are all at the top of their games and not only work collaboratively as a team, but also boast sizable catalogs as leaders for a variety of labels. In the case of ...
Continue ReadingJim Rotondi: Destination Up
by C. Andrew Hovan
Among the current crop of mainstream jazz trumpeters, Jim Rotondi stands head and shoulders above the crowd. With a crackling extroverted style akin to that of Lee Morgan, Rotondi possesses an incisive harmonic sense and the knack for telling a story. Via his work with the hard bop collective One For All and a reliable set of albums as a leader for Criss Cross, Rotondi has emerged as a major talent deserving of wider recognition.
Rotondi’s first release for Sharp ...
Continue ReadingJim Rotondi: Destination Up
by David A. Orthmann
These days taking a place in the modern mainstream of jazz is no simple matter. A single-minded devotion to a handful of influences, to name one pitfall, does not bode well for finding a singular voice in a musical tradition that places a premium on individuality. There is an abundance of young, technically proficient musicians who can’t seem to escape the long shadows of the elders who inspired them to perform in the first place. A player is more likely ...
Continue ReadingJim Rotondi: Destination Up
by David A. Orthmann
These days taking a place in the modern mainstream of jazz is no simple matter. A single-minded devotion to a handful of influences, to name one pitfall, does not bode well for finding a singular voice in a musical tradition that places a premium on individuality. There is an abundance of young, technically proficient musicians who can’t seem to escape the long shadows of the elders who inspired them to perform in the first place. A player is more likely ...
Continue ReadingJim Rotondi: Excursions
by C. Andrew Hovan
One of the next major talents yet to be discovered by the jazz public at large, trumpeter Jim Rotondi is a dynamo full of the kind of bristling trumpet fire that distinguished such predecessors as Freddie Hubbard and Woody Shaw. Over the course of his first two Criss Cross dates, Introducing Jim Rotondi and Jim’s Bop Rotondi proved that he was a capable mainstream player with great promise in terms of developing his own voice. Now with Excursions he goes ...
Continue ReadingJim Rotondi: Excursions
by David A. Orthmann
During the course of Excursions, his third disc as a leader for the Criss Cross imprint, Jim Rotondi continually finds ways of breathing new life into the straight-ahead, three horns and rhythm format. Rotondi has written and chosen a variety of tunes ranging from up and medium tempo swingers (“Angel Eyes,” “Shortcake,” “Little Karin”) to a bossa nova (“Excursions”), to ballads (“Little B’s Poem,” “What Is There To Say”). Further, he writes and utilizes arrangements by the band members that ...
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