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Joe Magnarelli/John Swana: New York-Philly Junction
by Russ Musto
This encore date by the two-trumpet team of Joe Magnarelli and John Swana is (like their first meeting) more collaborative in nature than competitive, and the results are similarly satisfying. Beginning with the title track, a co-written composition from the pair, the twosome show that they would rather work together than try to cut one another. With Eric Alexander's tough tenor filling out the front line and Joel Weiskopf, Peter Washington and Kenny Washington in the rhythm section, the sextet ...
Continue ReadingMike Holober and the Gotham Jazz Orchestra: Thought Trains
by John Kelman
Originally recorded in '96, years before Mike Holober's début small group recording Canyon (Sons of Sound, '03), Thought Trains is only now seeing the light of day, but it continues to assert the pianist/composer/arranger as a dominant new force on the New York scene. And while the larger ensemble context of Thought Trains limits the amount of spontaneous interplay that was prevalent on Canyon , it makes up for that kind of unrestrained exploration with sharp arrangements that make full ...
Continue ReadingMike Holober and the Gotham Jazz Orchestra: Thought Trains
by Dan McClenaghan
There's something about trains, the metronomic, ringing clink-clack of metal wheels on metal track, the fanfare of the whistle, the rhythm and rumble of the coaches being propelled across a countryside. Duke Ellington loved trains, in a day when he and the band used the form of transportion to get from gig to gig. Think of “Take the A Train" and “Track 360." Pianist/arranger/composer Mike Holober loves trains, too, as his second outing as leader attests--the big band set Thought ...
Continue ReadingThe Gotham Jazz Orchestra: Thought Trains
by Jack Bowers
One assumes instinctively that a big–band album named Thought Trains isn’t likely to include such time–worn staples as “Moten Swing” or “One O’Clock Jump.” That’s definitely true of this one, even though it does receive a “jump start” from Mike Holober’s rhythmically vibrant composition, “Jump Down, Spin Around.” All of the compositions / arrangements are Holober’s, and while they may not awaken memories of the Swing Era they surely do swing, which is among the most meaningful components in any ...
Continue ReadingJoe Magnarelli: Mr. Mags
by C. Andrew Hovan
At a time when many contemporary jazz trumpeters seem to be pushing to the extremes (i.e. Russell Gunn’s rap/world beat groove or Dave Douglas’ avant stance), a player like Joe Magnarelli might seem more like a throw back to the past. A great reader and reliable sideman, Magnarelli can run down the bebop or blow pretty, depending on what the situation calls. He also possesses a crisp and burnished tone that is immediately attractive. But it would be unfair to ...
Continue ReadingJoe Magnarelli Quintet: Mr. Mags
by David A. Orthmann
Over the course of several years, with little fanfare, Joe Magnarelli produced a pair of distinctive small band recordings, each of which exhibited craft and artistic license in equal measure.Why Not, andAlways There, both issued on the Criss Cross label, were not merely vehicles for the trumpeter’s full, burnished tone and patient, thoughtful way of developing a solo. These superb discs also reveal Magnarelli as a composer of genuine merit, an arranger who fashions the music in terms other than ...
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