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Jazz Articles about Jocelyn Gould
Fraser MacPherson: From The Pen Of...
by Pierre Giroux
Tenor saxophonist Fraser MacPherson was an original. Although he was raised in Victoria, British Columbia, he moved to Vancouver early in his career where he remained throughout his working life. He began to build his reputation as a Lester Young-influenced player, and in the mid '70s recorded his first trio album for West End Records with guitarist Oliver Gannon and bassist Wyatt Ruther. This album was picked up by Concord Records in the late '70s and released in the U.S. ...
Continue ReadingJon Gordon: Stranger Than Fiction
by Angelo Leonardi
Più noto come eccellente sax contralto e leader di un apprezzato quartetto, Jon Gordon torna a incidere un disco orchestrale per la ArtistShare, dopo l'album Evolution del lontano 2009. Registrato nel mezzo della pandemia, con tutte le difficoltà e restrizioni che sappiamo, il nuovo lavoro rinnova la collaborazione col trombonista e arrangiatore Alan Ferber che partecipa al progetto nel triplice ruolo di co-produttore, arrangiatore di un brano ("Havens") e solista di trombone. Il medio organico include anche il clarinetto basso ...
Continue ReadingJon Gordon: Stranger Than Fiction
by Hrayr Attarian
Saxophonist Jon Gordon's superb 13th release as a leader, Stranger Than Fiction, consists of 10 cinematic and captivating originals. Gordon leads a large ensemble of mostly Canadian musicians through his vibrantly textured compositions. The focus is more on dynamic interplay of different band members and orchestral segments than on individual expressions. There are, however, brilliantly virtuosic soloists who seamlessly emerge out of these vividly ebullient works making them even more electrifyingly alive. Opening with delightfully dissonant staccato woodwinds ...
Continue ReadingJon Gordon: Stranger Than Fiction
by Jack Bowers
New York-bred alto saxophonist Jon Gordon has come a long way since he was hailed as something of a prodigy in the mid-1980s and earned first place in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition in 1996. The music performed by Gordon's nonet on Stranger Than Fiction, we are told, “reflects [his] realization that reality takes twists and turns [that are] far more unpredictable than any author would dare write." There are indeed many twists and turns—most ...
Continue ReadingMeet Guitarist Jocelyn Gould
by Sanford Josephson
Growing up in Winnipeg, Canada, in a family that loved singing all the time, Jocelyn Gould played guitar to accompany her own vocalizing. But it wasn't until she was 18 years old that she became serious about jazz. That's when a friend introduced her to the 1965 Verve album, Smokin' at the Half Note, featuring the Wynton Kelly Trio and legendary guitarist Wes Montgomery. That album, she said, “opened with a 13-minute tune called 'No Blues' (written by ...
Continue ReadingJocelyn Gould: Elegant Traveler
by David A. Orthmann
The first thing that attracts attention on Elegant Traveler, Jocelyn Gould's debut as a leader, is her guitar's tone. The sound she coaxes from the instrument has a profound effect on the music as a whole, yet it remains intimate, unpretentious and disarming. Whether Gould is playing a melody, improvising, or offering sparse accompaniment, it is these qualities, instead of an anxious, rapid-fire delivery, which lead the way. Every note is struck with care, stands up on its own, and ...
Continue ReadingJocelyn Gould: Elegant Traveler
by Dan McClenaghan
Guitarist Jocelyn Gould opens her debut album, Elegant Wanderer, with a cooker: Cole Porter's “It's All Right With Me." The tune is artfully arranged for quartet—piano and guitar with bass and drums—and Gould displays some serious chops. She has soaked up the influences of Wes Montgomery, Grant Green, Kenny Burrell and Joe Pass, and she wears that collective mainstream, swinging attitude on her sleeve, not only stylistically, but also in her sense of the joy of creation. Gould's ...
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