Jazz Articles about John Escreet

About John Escreet

Album Review

Improvisation is the core of jazz, and hearing it live is the best possible experience. However, there are different levels of improvisation, ranging from stretching the melody, to playing over a tune's changes, or taking off during a particular composition. The presence of melody, harmony and rhythm as well as structure can vary to a wide degree. Arguably, the highest form of “creative improvised music" is that which just happens without any planning and where the players have widest ears ...

Album Review

John Escreet: The Unknown

Read "The Unknown" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
November 10, 2016

Stepping into the void without a map, compass, or guide can be an incredibly scary experience. But the very same scenario can also be liberating. Musicians freed of the shackles of preconceived ideas are the ones, after all, who speak the lingua franca of jazz--improvisation, that is--in its purest dialect. And improvisation doesn't get any truer than when there's a blank canvas to work with. That's all there is to know about The Unknown. Or is it? ...

Album Review

John Escreet: Sound, Space and Structures

Read "Sound, Space and Structures" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro

by Alberto Bazzurro
July 22, 2014

Inciso a fine settembre 2013, questo lavoro del trentenne pianista inglese John Escreet, autore della suite in nove parti che lo compone, vanta anzitutto il non indifferente dono della partecipazione di Evan Parker, musicista generoso che non ha mai lesinato la propria adesione a prove discografiche e concertistiche di musicisti anche--come si suol dire--emergenti o di fresca emersione. Qui la presenza di Parker, poi, si rivela particolarmente rispettosa del contesto complessivo, pur non mancando ovviamente i riflessi ...

Album Review

John Escreet: Sound, Space and Structures

Read "Sound, Space and Structures" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
June 24, 2014

Nascent pianist, composer John Escreet has created a buzz in progressive jazz spheres, while paving a golden path since his well-received debut album, Consequences (Posi-Tone, 2008). The young British Renaissance man teams with fellow countryman and iconic saxophone improviser Evan Parker and frequent collaborators, bassist John Hebert and drummer Tyshawn Sorey on an album that is conspicuously modeled after its title. Escreet and associates united with Parker for a few sets at John Zorn's New York City venue ...

Extended Analysis

John Escreet: Sabotage and Celebration

by Phil Barnes
December 20, 2013

Doncaster born pianist John Escreet recorded this exhilarating modern jazz record in his adopted home of New York on 7 November 2012 informed, he has said in a recent interview, by two events. The first, Hurricane Sandy, was responsible for his incarceration in his Brooklyn apartment for long enough to write and fine tune the material for this collection, while the second was the increasingly polarised US political situation in the lead up to the 2012 Presidential election itself held ...

Album Review

John Escreet: Sabotage and Celebration

Read "Sabotage and Celebration" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
October 25, 2013

The music of composer and pianist John Escreet is a profound discovery. Each of his releases has been a revelation and an opportunity to scrutinize a major talent in the midst of his creative process. Not satisfied to work within 'the jazz tradition,' he assimilates multiple styles and musical models into his compositions. Drawing from 20th century classical, electronica, free jazz, and funk sensibilities, he sculpts a highly organized sound, often out of chaos. That said, Sabotage and ...

Extended Analysis

John Escreet: Sabotage and Celebration

by Andrew Luhn
October 24, 2013

Since his move to New York in 2006, English-born pianist John Escreet has achieved widespread recognition for his adventurous compositions and his seemingly restless creativity. On Sabotage and Celebration, Escreet augments an already formidable quintet with strings, brass, guitar, and vocals, making it his most ambitious and creative work yet. Escreet composed most of the material in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, when most of New York City was shut down for a week. Frustrated and stuck ...