Jazz Articles about Jimmy Bruno

Jimmy Bruno: Midnight Blue

by Charles Chapman
August 1, 2001

Jimmy Bruno's new release, Midnight Blue, is his best to date. Bruno's past releases, though technically flawless, seemed to cater to the jazz elite and did not open the door for the rest. With “Blue Midnight," he not only opens the doors, but he also commands your presence--and won't let you go until the album ends. Bruno has been a respected professional for many years, but on this new CD he plays like a hungry young lion. He is going ...

Jimmy Bruno: Midnight Blue

by Charles Chapman
August 1, 2001

Jimmy Bruno’s new release, Midnight Blue, is his best to date. Bruno’s past releases, though technically flawless, seemed to cater to the jazz elite and did not open the door for the rest. With “Blue Midnight," he not only opens the doors, but he also commands your presence--and won’t let you go until the album ends. Bruno has been a respected professional for many years, but on this new CD he plays like a hungry young lion. He is going ...

Jimmy Bruno & Joe Beck: Polarity

by Jim Santella
June 1, 2000

Veteran guitarists Joe Beck and Jimmy Bruno work well together and share an appreciation of beautiful sound as applied to jazz's mainstream. Most of the feature work is from Bruno, 46, who plays a seven-string guitar. Beck, 54, plays an instrument of his own creation. His alto guitar is tuned down a fifth and offers the artist a means for providing both bass line and accompaniment. Tone quality remains of paramount importance throughout the duo session.

“Summertime" moves at a ...

Jimmy Bruno and Joe Beck: Polarity

by AAJ Staff
May 1, 2000

What we have here is a superb, unique, and highly listenable two-guitar album. But- don't be fooled- it is not what one might think- it is not a “duel of the guitars." Rather, it is a genuine collaborative effort in which one guitarist complements the other to produce a beautiful and integrated sense of musical ensemble capitalizing on the “polarity" of Bruno's virtuosic theme and variations combined with Beck's rhythms, chordal accompaniments, and riffs on his self-developed “alto guitar," an ...

The Jimmy Bruno Trio: Live at Birdland II

by Jack Bowers
July 1, 1999

As its title indicates, this is the second recording made by guitarist Jimmy Bruno’s trio during recent gigs at New York’s fabled Birdland, and as with the first, the listener is treated to two sessions for the price of one, with tenor saxophonist Scott Hamilton making it a quartet on the second half of the program (on Live at Birdland I, the trio’s guest was alto saxophonist Bobby Watson). That’s quite a contrast, as Hamilton is as laid–back as Watson ...

Jimmy Bruno Trio: Live At Birdland II

by Jim Santella
June 1, 1999

With guest Scott Hamilton sitting in on half the album, Jimmy Bruno’s session oozes with guitar and bass technique. However, as happens sometimes, the increased technical prowess causes Bruno’s session to lose some of its swing. His guitar pick produces blistering single-note runs that thrill the listener. In doing so, he’s overlooked the need for added variety and for the space to let things simmer. Bruno was born to a musical family. His mother was a singer and his father ...

The Jimmy Bruno Trio with special guest Scott Hamilton: Live At Birdland II

by Ed Kopp
June 1, 1999

Guitarist Jimmy Bruno's 1997 release Live at Birdland was widely praised as a masterwork of straight-ahead jazz guitar. Live at Birdland II should garner similar accolades.Bruno learned jazz guitar by imitating his dad, a well-regarded Philadelphia picker who played with Nat “King" Cole. Today Jimmy Jr. is a dazzling technician often compared to fellow Philadelphian Pat Martino.Bruno and his trio get off to a sizzling start on this set with the bop-oriented “Reticulation," based on Gershwin's ...