Jazz Articles about Lafayette Gilchrist

Lafayette Gilchrist: Dark Matter

by Jerome Wilson
September 25, 2019

It would seem almost impossible by this point for a jazz pianist to avoid common modern influences like Bud Powell, Bill Evans, McCoy Tyner or even Cecil Taylor, but somehow Lafayette Gilchrist falls outside all of those parameters. On this solo concert recorded at the University of Baltimore in 2016, he shows a keyboard style built on materials like stride, gospel and go-go, the infectious party music from the Baltimore-Washington DC area, all turned into its own unique sound.

Lafayette Gilchrist: Dark Matter

by Franz A. Matzner
July 1, 2019

Recorded live, pianist Lafayette Gilchrist's second solo recording, Dark Matter, embraces the long history of jazz bound to the beat and textures of a specific time and place, rather than stylistic pedigree or lineage of influencers. Its rhythms are the jackhammer throb, subway rattle, and relentless pulse of Baltimore, Philly, and Washington, D.C. It's textures the rust laden steel, aged brick, languid nights, and hardened density of these original East Coast cities; our remnants of the railroad era, bastions of ...

Mihály Dresch - Lafayette Gilchrist - Mátyás Szandai - Hamid Drake: Sharing the Shed

by AAJ Italy Staff
November 25, 2010

Com'è noto, i festival jazz offrono ai musicisti non solo un palcoscenico su cui esibirsi, ma anche un'opportunità per incontrare altri musicisti ed avviare nuove collaborazioni. Nel caso specifico, il festival è il Mediawave di Oriszentpéter (Ungheria). L'incontro, quello tra il sassofonista Mihály Dresch, ed il pianista Lafayette Gilchrist. Il resto l'ha fatto la lungimirante etichetta BMC, affiancando alla coppia sax-pianoforte la sezione ritmica Szandai-Drake. Il risultato è questo Sharing the Shed, nel quale troviamo in scaletta brani prevalentemente a ...

Lafayette Gilchrist: Soul Progressin'

by Jay Deshpande
July 21, 2009

On Soul Progressin', Lafayette Gilchrist mixes a funky sensibility with, above all else, a sense of play. The album showcases the young pianist's compositions in a no-holds-barred, gutsy display of honest sound. Throughout, Gilchrist is supported by the strong horn section (two trumpets, three saxophones) that defines his band, the New Volcanoes. Gilchrist presents a range of compositions on the album, but all of them straddle a line between genres while maintaining a genuinely personal, distinct feel. ...

Lafayette Gilchrist: 3

by Chris M. Slawecki
March 15, 2009

3 is Gilchrist's third album and his first trio release. He composed, arranged and throws every throbbing note down in the company of his Baltimore homeboys “Blue" Jenkins on bass and Nate Reynolds on drums. “The sound I was hearing in my head is coming from when I first heard Money Jungle," Gilchrist explains. “It's a trio record with Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, and Max Roach. To me, it sounds like an orchestra being played by a trio. I was ...

Lafayette Gilchrist: Soul Progressin' & Live in Berlin

by Brandt Reiter
January 10, 2009

Lafayette Gilchrist Soul Progressin' Hyena 2008 David Murray Live in Berlin Jazzwerkstatt 2008

I first heard pianist Lafayette Gilchrist in 2003, playing a one-night-stand duo gig with reed colossus David Murray. Gilchrist honed his chops in Baltimore and DC and worked under the national radar until Murray took him under his ...

Lafayette Gilchrist: Soul Progressin'

by Troy Collins
November 12, 2008

Baltimore-based pianist Lafayette Gilchrist stripped away the five-piece horn section of his octet, The New Volcanoes, fron his previous session, Third (Hyena Records, 2007), for an intimate trio exploration of hard- hitting funk. Soul Progressin' is the third album in his discography to feature the massed horns of The New Volcanoes, following in the footsteps of The Music According to Lafayette Gilchrist (Hyena, 2004), and Towards The Shining Path (Hyena, 2005).

Gilchrist draws from local Washington D.C.-based go-go, ...