Jazz Articles about John Hollenbeck

John Hollenbeck's Claudia Quintet and Large Ensemble at Two NYC Venues

by Martin Longley
November 23, 2007

The Claudia QuintetCornelia Street CaféNew York, NYOctober 13, 2007 The John Hollenbeck Large EnsembleJazz StandardNew York, NYNovember 5, 2007 Drummer and composer John Hollenbeck comes across as a combination of benign control freak and supremely modest humorist. He's very much the director of his (and his bandmates') pieces, applying some beautifully precise drum-patterns that also have a slippery funkiness sitting alongside their new-music accuracy. He's ...

The Claudia Quintet: For

by Mark Corroto
September 21, 2007

Drummer John Hollenbeck's Claudia Quintet has created a sound. Let's not call it jazz, or chamber music, or rock for that matter. It is the Claudia sound, period. The trouble, of course with being original, is that the pigeon-holers cannot pigeonhole you and the radio folks won't play you. But then, everyone with an ear for the edge can hip their friends to this Claudia sound.

Not that Hollenbeck and company make it easy for you. Their fourth ...

The Claudia Quintet: For

by John Kelman
August 11, 2007

While it's invariably the intention of any group to make each new record an improvement or, at least, an evolution over the last one, it's rare that it actually happens with inevitable consistency. Bucking the trend since its eponymous 2001 CRI debut, percussionist/composer John Hollenbeck's Claudia Quintet has managed to make each successive release somehow different than its predecessor while not losing site of the markers that define this eclectic and stylistically defiant chamber ensemble. In many ways one wants ...

Claudia Quintet: For

by Troy Collins
July 1, 2007

The brainchild of percussionist John Hollenbeck, the Claudia Quintet has navigated the boundary lines between free jazz, contemporary composition, progressive rock and electronica so successfully that its output is virtually uncategorizable. For, the aptly titled fourth album from the ceaselessly inventive group, offers a slight departure from its last record.

Semi-Formal (Cuneiform, 2005), used brief minimalist interludes to segue from one tune to another, much like a suite. Less conceptually arranged, this album is comprised of a varied ...

Scott Fields Ensemble: Beckett

by AAJ Italy Staff
April 18, 2007

Scott Fields è un chitarrista che definire jazz sarebbe molto riduttivo. La definizione che lui stesso dà della sua musica è “post-free jazz”, ed “exploratory music”. In realtà, il suo maggior riferimento è il sistema tonale di Stephen Dembski, compositore che il chitarrista ha conosciuto nel 1991. Beckett, album dedicato allo scrittore irlandese, è comunque il suo album più “jazzistico” (virgolette d'obbligo). Sporadicamente infatti (ad esempio in “Come and Go”, oppure al ventesimo minuto di “What Where”) è possibile rinvenirne ...

John Hollenbeck: Joys & Desires & Sequence

by Ty Cumbie
January 13, 2007

John Hollenbeck & Jazz Bigband Graz Joys & Desires Intuition 2005 Jorrit Dijkstra + John Hollenbeck Sequence Trytone 2006

Jazz' tradition police may have a necessary role to play, but that role is purely negative if it inhibits the music's continued creative mutation, especially as manifest in new work by iconoclastic ...

The Claudia Quintet: Semi-Formal

by AAJ Italy Staff
November 21, 2006

Memori della gustosa prova precedente, è con ghiotte e baldanzose aspettative che inseriamo nel lettore l’ultimo album del Claudia Quintet. Purtroppo, varcato il primo promettente squarcio, il gusto si guasta un poco e subentra l'amarezza per l'aver osato sperare troppo. Là dove I, Claudia era una precisa sincera originale affermazione d'identità, Semi-Formal raffredda gli entusiasmi e irrigidisce le fibre, rettificando gli angoli di quelle spezzate che nell'album precedente erano così provvidenzialmente sghembi, serrandosi su ampi pannelli mono-cromi/toni costruiti per ridimensionamenti ...