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Jazz Articles about Kerry Politzer
Kerry Politzer: Alternate Route
by Paul Rauch
Pianist Kerry Politzer had released eight albums before Alternate Route (Whirlwind, 2025), though to many jazz listeners they essentially flew under the radar. Politzer is a Portland, Oregon-based musician on the faculty at the esteemed jazz studies program at Portland State. With this, her ninth offering, more attention and accolades are bound to come her way. The album of ten original compositions not only lends a strong focus on her adept compositional and instrumental skills, it also welcomes in a ...
Continue ReadingNew Music From Politzer, Davis, West, Genovese & More
by Bob Osborne
This set moves through solo sketches, trio interplay, and full ensemble fire, tracing acoustic and electric textures across studio, live, and archival formats. It opens with flowing piano, moves into exploratory trio improvisation, and shifts between guitar meditations, reworked soul and rock standards, and tightly arranged ensemble writing. Abstract textures and ambient passages emerge mid-set, followed by groove-based phrasing, UK archival material, and layered acoustic duets. The final track dips into the archive for a rhythm-forward piece built around bass ...
Continue ReadingKerry Politzer: Diagonal
by Dan McClenaghan
Portland, Oregon-based pianist Kerry Politzer has a thing for bossa nova. Her immersion into sounds from Brazil comes into full blossom with her sixth album, Diagonal. Brazil's bossa nova sound came to world wide attention initially via the music from saxophonist Stan Getz on Jazz Samba (Verve, 1962), followed by early 1960s recordings from Antonio Carlos Jobim, Joao Gilberto, and guitarist Charlie Byrd. The popularity of the sound remains strong nearly seventy years beyond its initial introduction, due ...
Continue ReadingKerry Politzer: Below the Surface
by Dan McClenaghan
Pianist Kerry Politzer's relocation to Portland, Oregon seems to have given her music a boost. Always a fine mainstream artist, whether working the trio or quartet modes on Blue in Blue (Piloo Records, 2010) or Labyrinth (Palisonic Records, 2005), now her first “Portland disc," Below the Surface, finds her in a common quintet setting--trumpet/saxophone and rhythm section--making uncommonly modern sounds. Politzer has crafted a sound that goes much more into the groove than her previous outings did. The ...
Continue ReadingKerry Politzer: Voice And Voicings
by George Colligan
The following interview is reprinted from George Colligan's blog, Jazztruth. Kerry Politzer is one of my favorite musicians, period. (Yeah, she's my wife, you gotta problem wit dat? No, I see the potential conflict of interest, but hey, it's all about who you know, right?) Seriously, Politzer is one of the most underrated musicians around. She has five amazing CDs to her name. She is a truly gifted jazz pianist and composer; however, a few years ...
Continue ReadingKerry Politzer Quartet: Blue In Blue
by AAJ Italy Staff
Kerry Politzer vanta un percorso simile a quello di molti pianisti statunitensi. Approccio precoce allo strumento, studi al conservatorio, innamoramento per il jazz, primi riconoscimenti, album di debutto pluripremiato, ingaggi a go-go, coccolata da pubblico e discografici. Ma si sa il rischio di adagiarsi sugli allori è sempre dietro l'angolo e questo Blue in Blue sembra confermarlo. Perché è un album che scorre via senza sussulti, senza particolari emozioni, semplicemente un pianotrio, elegante e raffinato, troppo elegante e raffinato, meglio ...
Continue ReadingKerry Politzer Quartet: Blue in Blue
by Dan McClenaghan
Two of the most enduring and popular ensemble set-ups in jazz are the piano trio--piano/bass/drums--and the piano trio, with a saxophone joining in. Pianist Kerry Politzer combines formats on Blue in Blue, with six tunes featuring her trio and four more with guest saxophonist Donny McCaslin.While You Took Me In (Polisonic Records, 2007) featured Politzer in a more pop-leaning mood, Blue in Blue finds her back in mainstream jazz land, sculpting a sound that mixes up piano influences ...
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