Jazz Articles about John Lindberg

John Lindberg: Western Edges

by John Sharpe
July 2, 2017

Released simultaneously with Born In An Urban Ruin (Clean Feed, 2016), Western Edges reveals yet another facet of bassist John Lindberg's interest. The Raptor Trio reunites Lindberg with saxophonist Pablo Calogero, a comrade from NYC's loft jazz era, when both were 16 years old. Calogero, who was also involved in proto hiphop groups, has been little heard of on the jazz scene, apart from featuring on Lindberg's Trilogy Of Works For Eleven Instrumentalists (Black Saint, 1985). And on this showing ...

John Lindberg BC3: Born In An Urban Ruin

by John Sharpe
January 24, 2017

Acclaimed bassist John Lindberg's trio on Born In An Urban Ruin possesses a distinctive and deeply personal sound in keeping with the man himself. That's down to both the novel instrumentation with long time associate Kevin Norton mostly on vibes and Michigan native Wendell Harrison on clarinets, and the character of Lindberg's writing. The essential humanity inspiring each piece is revealed in Lindberg's liners, but reinforced by their warmth, memorable hooks and multi-threaded nature which sidestep the potential for chamber ...

John Lindberg / Anil Ereslan: Juggling Kukla

by John Sharpe
June 19, 2016

Bassist John Lindberg is best known for his tenure with jazz heavyweights like trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, and saxophonists Roscoe Mitchell and Anthony Braxton. Equally deserving acclaim are his own swinging but adventurous outfits such as the quartet which waxed A Tree Frog Tonality (between the lines, 2000) and The Catbird Sings (Soul Note, 2000). But none of those will prepare listeners for his duet with Turkish cellist Anil Ereslan. Across seven spontaneously created cuts on a limited edition LP, ...

John Lindberg - Karl Berger: Duets 1

by J Hunter
May 26, 2007

Bassist John Lindberg describes his thirty-year creative partnership with pianist/vibraphonist Karl Berger as a “symbiosis," which Wikipedia defines as “the living together in... prolonged close association of members of two usually different species, with beneficial or deleterious consequences... If you accept that definition on its face and apply it to Duets 1, you must admit the results of Lindberg and Berger's collaboration have been nothing but beneficial.

Duets 1 is made up of a series of improvisational mosaics; ...

John Lindberg / Karl Berger: Duets 1

by Troy Collins
May 11, 2007

With roots in the vocalized timbre of the blues, the conversational nature of the duet has become commonplace in jazz. The conceptual inroads made in the post-war years further expanded traditional notions of rhythm, melody and harmony, allowing even greater expressive freedom for such intimate dialogues.

Coming from different generations but arriving at the same aesthetic outlook, pianist/vibraphonist Karl Berger and bassist John Lindberg share a proclivity for lyrically contemplative free jazz. Espousing the liberated lyricism of such ...

John Lindberg / Karl Berger: Duets 1

by Karl A.D. Evangelista
May 3, 2007

There are many kinds of duo albums, but the more successful ones treat the burden of cooperation as a psychological, and not merely aesthetic, endeavor--conscious that a sense of human sensitivity is necessary to register great conversation (much rarer, it would seem, than intelligent art). None of this goes to say that pathos and fury can serviceably replace careful planning and good ideas, only that closeness demands intimacy and, well, two people alone are often closer than two people in ...

John Lindberg / Karl Berger: Duets 1

by Matthew Miller
March 22, 2007

When it comes to duo playing, chemistry is everything. Each performance is an intimate conversation, an open setting for two musical minds to converge and go where the music dictates. Bassist John Lindberg and keyboardist/vibraphonist Karl Berger have been playing together for over thirty years, developing the cohesion and intimacy that make for great performances. Duets 1 is a monument to their mutual sensitivity and singular artistic vision. Lindberg's bass lines and bowed accompaniments provide a flexible ...