Jazz Articles about John Lake

About John Lake

Album Review

Il nome di Rin Seo si aggiunge al numero delle talentose musiciste di origine asiatica che nell'ultimo ventennio hanno mostrato d'aver creativamente assimilato l'idioma musicale afro-americano. Tra esse non mancano le orchestratrici che ottengono risultati eccellenti anche grazie alla solida preparazione negli studi classici. Nata in Corea 36 anni fa, Rin Seo s'è laureata in composizione classica a Seul e s'è trasferita negli Stati Uniti per studiare al Berklee College of Music. Dopo il diploma ha conseguito un master ...

Album Review

John Yao: Points In Time

Read "Points In Time" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
February 3, 2026

Attivo sulla scena di New York da vent'anni, John Yao s'è distinto come docente (al Berklee College e al Queens College), trombonista di sezione in big band (Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra) e solista in altri organici ( Paquito D'Rivera, Eddie Palmieri, Danilo Perez, </a>Chris Potter) oltre che leader di propri gruppi, con cui ha inciso sei album. Uno di questi (Flip Flop, 2015) ha visto il suo debutto come caporchestra, attività che gli ha procurato i riconoscimenti del ...

Album Review

Rin Seo: City Suite

Read "City Suite" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
October 18, 2025

There is no doubting which metropolis Korean-born composer Rin Seo had in mind when writing City Suite, the panoramic opening salvo and centerpiece on the debut recording by her fourteen-member Rin Seo Collective, as the suite's first movement is titled “The Big Apple." Seo moved to New York City, her present home, after coming to America to study jazz performance and composition at Boston's Berklee College of Music. The suite's three movements are thematic, and Seo's portrayal ...

Album Review

Peter Lenz: Breathe

Read "Breathe" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
September 10, 2025

Dopo aver espresso ottime doti di strumentista e leader col quintetto Silent Flow e col quartetto Lithium, il batterista austriaco debutta con successo nel campo dell'orchestrazione, scegliendo di operare con tre differenti organici: una big band di 17 elementi (nei brani “Enclouded" ed “Eleanor"), una big band ampliata a un quartetto d'archi (in “Between Lines" e “Von Inneren Grenzen") ed un ensemble da camera comprendente quartetto d'archi, tre fiati, contrabbasso e batteria (in “Breathe") Volendo dirigere personalmente gli ...

Album Review

John Yao and His 17 Piece Instrument: Points In Time

Read "Points In Time" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
August 4, 2025

The insuperable spirit of swinging big-band jazz is everywhere apparent on Points in Time, the seventh recording by New York-based composer, arranger and trombonist John Yao, and the second with his marvelous 17-Piece Instrument, a decade after its well-received debut, Flip-Flop. (See Tao, 2015). As on that earlier album, the playlist consists of seven of Yao's original compositions (and one outlier) written with the band in mind to exemplify in musical terms experiences and emotions Yao has ...

Album Review

John Yao and his 17 Piece Instrument: Points In Time

Read "Points In Time" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
July 13, 2025

Trombonist and composer John Yao presents a heartfelt and personal retrospective with Points In Time. This ambitious album delves deeply into the emotional and professional journey he has undertaken over the past twenty years in New York City. Leading his precisely coordinated ensemble, aptly called His 17-Piece Instrument, comprised of talented musicians from various points along Yao's timeline. The eight original compositions in this session stem from key moments in Yao's life and artistic development. This work is not just ...

Album Review

Brad Goode: Polytonal Big Band: The Snake Charmer

Read "Polytonal Big Band: The Snake Charmer" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
February 22, 2025

"Polytonal," according to Webster's, denotes “the simultaneous use of two or more musical keys." Denver-based trumpeter and educator Brad Goode makes full use of that technique on The Snake Charmer, the debut recording by Goode's well-named Polytonal Big Band. When all has been written and played, two things are clear: first, Goode is a world-class big-band composer-arranger and master of his horn; and second, polytonality is simply a fresh approach to the music, one that in no way interferes with ...