Jazz Articles about Joel Ross

About Joel Ross

Album Review

The history of modern jazz contains only a handful of bass players who have both led their own groups and been visionary in their compositions and approach. Charles Mingus, Charlie Haden, Dave Holland, Jaco Pastorius and Christian McBride are those who come to mind. With the release of his 10th album, Unjust, Ben Wolfe shows he belongs in that group. Wolfe began his musical career as a classical bassist and studied at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in ...

Album Review

Billy Valentine: Billy Valentine And The Universal Truth

Read "Billy Valentine And The Universal Truth" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
April 24, 2023

Dopo quarant'anni d'assenza dal mercato, l'etichetta Flying Dutchman torna con una produzione intensa e avvincente, che ci riporta ai suoi anni migliori. Protagonista è Billy Valentine, soul singer degli anni settanta tornato alla ribalta cinque anni fa (col sorprendente quanto ignorato Brit Eyed Soul) e qui accompagnato da formazioni che includono Jeff Parker, Joel Ross, Immanuel Wilkins, Pino Palladino, Theo Croker, Larry Goldings, Linda May Han Oh, e altri nomi di primo piano. Bob ...

Radio & Podcasts

Joel Ross, Willem Breuker and More

by Jerome Wilson
January 18, 2023

This show has an eclectic mix of jazz with saxophonists, singers, and even vibes and harp. Artists heard include Joel Ross, Joel Harrison, Ray Charles, Dee Dee Bridgewater, and the Willem Breuker Kollektief. Playlist Henry Threadgill Sextett “I Can't Wait Till I Get Home" from The Complete Novus & Columbia Recordings of Henry Threadgill & Air (Mosaic) 00:00 Alexandra Grimal/Lee Konitz/Gary Peacock/Paul Motian “Awake" from Owls Talk (Marge) 00:52 Omer Avital Qantar “Just Like The River Flows" from ...

Live Review

Joel Ross Live at Dazzle

by Douglas Groothuis
October 1, 2022

Joel Ross QuartetDazzleDenver, COAugust 16, 2022 Vibraphonist Joel Ross held top billing with his hot quartet at Dazzle Jazz on Friday night. Ross's debut was the acclaimed 2019 KingMaker, on Blue Note. This was followed by Who are You? (2020) and the pensive and soulful octet recording, Parable of the Poet (2022), both on Blue Note. Having been mentored and taught by vibraphonist Stefon Harris in 2017, Ross won the DownBeat Critics Poll Rising Star ...

Album Review

Various Artists: Black Lives - From Generation to Generation

Read "Black Lives - From Generation to Generation" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
May 19, 2022

Indeed, African Americans are the architects of several musical formations, hearkening back to Scott Joplin's development of 'ragged' rhythms i.e., Ragtime, along with blues, funk, jazz, and other genres, often evolving into various tangents and offshoots. And on this comprehensively entertaining set produced by Belgian Stefany Calembert with assistance from her husband and acclaimed bassist Reggie Washington, they righteously bestow Black Music as a “source of moral truth and potent weapon against racism." Numerous stars such as saxophonist ...

Album Review

Joel Ross: The Parable Of The Poet

Read "The Parable Of The Poet" reviewed by Chris May

by Chris May
April 22, 2022

The story of jazz is part musical and part social, the two strands interacting to shape, on one hand, the sound we hear and, on the other, the demographic who make it and constitute its audience. Viewed from London, the semiology surrounding New York-based vibraphonist Joel Ross' octet, heard on his third Blue Note album, The Parable Of The Poet, tells a social story as much as it does a musical one. The octet's optics (check the ...

Album Review

Marquis Hill: New Gospel Revisited

Read "New Gospel Revisited" reviewed by Chris May

by Chris May
March 4, 2022

Chicago-born trumpeter Marquis Hill released his first album while still in college and in 2022, just over a decade later, he has retooled it on New Gospel Revisited, recorded live in his hometown with a fresh lineup and tweaked instrumentation. It is a terrific disc. Like his near contemporary and fellow trumpeter Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, Hill holds his music to be part of a broad musical continuum that includes genres other than jazz, notably hip hop. ...