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Kenny Wheeler: Six for Six
by John Kelman
When artists move into their eighties, every new album is a gift. It's difficult enough for any octogenarian musician to maintain his/her game, but especially horn players, for whom embouchure and breath are so essential to tone and reach. Six for Six is, however, a curious gift from expat Canadian trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, who's made Britain his home since the mid-'50s. Recorded in 2008, it's his first sextet recording since 2003's Dream Sequence--and even that album only featured one piece ...
Continue ReadingKenny Wheeler - Norma Winstone - London Vocal Project: Mirrors
by AAJ Italy Staff
Gli 83 anni da poco compiuti sembrano non pesare affatto sull'attività del trombettista anglo-canadese Kenny Wheeler, che continua a mantenere un ritmo realizzativo molto ricco sia quantitativamente che qualitativamente. La sua più recente fatica discografica è questo Mirrors, prima incisione assoluta di un suo vecchio progetto, risalente a una ventina di anni fa, opportunamente rivisto e aggiornato. La composizione era stata commissionata da un trio di cantanti per un festival jazz italiano, e da allora era stata ripresa dal vivo ...
Continue ReadingKenny Wheeler: The Making of "Mirrors"
by Ian Patterson
It often comes as a surprise to people when they discover that trumpeter/flugelhornist/composer Kenny Wheeler is not British. Well, not British born, for although born in Toronto, Canada, in 1930, Wheeler has spent the last 60 years living in England, which surely makes him as English as Ploughman's Lunch or a pint of bitter. The recording Mirrors (Edition Records, 2013) sees the veteran team up with singer Norma Winstone and the London Vocal Project, a 25-piece choir directed by Pete ...
Continue ReadingKenny Wheeler / Norma Winstone / London Vocal Project: Mirrors
by Ian Patterson
That trumpeter/flugelhornist/composer Kenny Wheeler is challenging himself at 80 is surely inspirational. Mirrors represents his first recording where poems provide the music's source, though he composed the music over 20 years ago. The project was then commissioned for five solo voices in 1998, but the combination of Wheeler, singer Norma Winstone and the London Vocal Project, led by Pete Churchill, brings a fluid, suite-like permanency and epic scale to the original concept. Poets Stevie Smith, Lewis Carroll and W.B. Yeats ...
Continue ReadingKenny Wheeler: The Long Waiting
by AAJ Italy Staff
Il titolo del nuovo CD del trombettista canadese Kenny Wheeler, “La lunga attesa," è probabilmente un riferimento al tempo trascorso dal suo precedente lavoro alla guida di un grosso organico; ben 22 anni sono passati infatti da Music for Large and Small Ensembles che, curiosamente, seguiva dopo 22 anni l'unico altro precedente analogo (se si esclude il più orientato al free Song for Someone del 1973) ed esordio discografico di Wheeler, Windmill Tilter. Nel mezzo ci sono stati altri progetti ...
Continue ReadingKenny Wheeler Big Band: The Long Waiting
by John Kelman
Kenny Wheeler Big Band The Long Waiting Cam Jazz 2012 While likely not the reason behind its title, The Long Waiting could easily fit for fans of the Canadian expat trumpeter who has lived in England since the 1950s. Since coming to Cam Jazz in 2004 with his duo recording with longtime pianist and fellow Cam Jazzer John Taylor, Where Do We Go From Here?, Kenny Wheeler has ramped up his output, releasing four more ...
Continue ReadingKenny Wheeler: One of Many
by AAJ Italy Staff
Ascoltare un nuovo CD di Kenny Wheeler è sempre un'esperienza emozionante, che tocca le zone più remote del cuore. Le sue composizioni esemplificano al meglio la forza evocativa della musica, provocando pathos ed intensità emotiva in chi la ascolta. Grazie ad un'intesa profonda con i due fuoriclasse scelti come compagni di viaggio, John Taylor al piano e Steve Swallow al basso, in One of Many Wheeler dà vita ad un iridescente caleidoscopio minimalista, capace di ordire trame dense ed astratte ...
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