Jazz Articles about Lafayette Gilchrist

Lafayette Gilchrist: Soul Progressin'

by Chris May
September 20, 2008

Baltimore pianist Lafayette Gilchrist has a style which satisfyingly combines two very different aesthetics: the funky and the sophisticated. He's been compared to keyboardists and composers Andrew Hill and Sun Ra, but his approach is more closely rooted in bassist Charles Mingus' work as a leader. Where Mingus' rhythmic and emotional foundation for composition and arrangement borrowed from gospel and the blues, Gilchrist's draws from those music's more recent offspring: hip hop, Washington go-go and funk. Like Mingus, Gilchrist layers ...

Lafayette Gilchrist: Three

by AAJ Italy Staff
November 14, 2007

Dopo due album incisi con la sua funk-band, The New Volcanoes, Lafayette Gilchrist firma il terzo lavoro da leader in trio con basso e batteria, un appuntamento quasi obbligato per ogni pianista jazz. Fattosi conoscere come componente dei gruppi di David Murray e Cassandra Wilson, Gilchrist è un artista legato alla dimensione popolare e ritmica della musica afroamericana, dalle forme tradizionali a quelle contemporanee, al punto che molti rimarranno perplessi da questo disco che accosta il suo stile danzante e ...

Lafayette Gilchrist: Three

by Franz A. Matzner
July 8, 2007

Grounded in Baltimore's blue collar defiance and port city ruggedness, pianist Lafayette Gilchrist's style is fully his own, deliberately iconoclastic and aggressively blunt. And his third outing--aptly titled Three--remains firm in its dedication to this rough hewn tone, even as it translates the big, horn driven sound of his first two recordings to the trio format. Self-taught on the piano and an accomplished jazz autodidact, Gilchrest steadfastly refuses to overtly reveal his extensive knowledge of jazz history ...

Lafayette Gilchrist: Three

by Troy Collins
July 4, 2007

Three is Baltimore-based pianist Lafayette Gilchrist's first trio recording. Typically playing in larger configurations, Gilchrist is the leader of a seven-piece funk band, the New Volcanoes, and primary pianist for tenor saxophonist David Murray's numerous ensembles for the past few years. This stripped-down session is his most revealing record.

The Music According to Lafayette Gilchrist (Hyena, 2004), and Towards The Shining Path (Hyena, 2005), both featured the propulsive horn section of the New Volcanoes. Accompanied by his regular ...

Lafayette Gilchrist: Towards The Shining Path

by Chris M. Slawecki
November 28, 2005

Lafayette Gilchrist is not the next Thelonious Monk. No one could be. But for a cat making just his second album as a leader, this composer/pianist, who also serves in David Murray's quartet and nonet, does suggest some pretty incredible parallels with the unique genius of “the only-est Monk.

For starters, Gilchrist rocks that 4/4 beat harder and funkier than just about any other pianist in memory. He plays as if rubber banded to the downbeat, and ...

Lafayette Gilchrist: Towards the Shining Path

by Franz A. Matzner
November 10, 2005

A captivating live performer, Lafayette Gilchrist has once again translated his distinctive blend of drama, brooding force, and hard-hitting beats into a successful, high-energy, engaging album. The music on Towards the Shining Path, the pianist's ambitious followup to his acclaimed debut album, The Music According to Lafayette Gilchrist, moves like a boxer: methodical, rocking steadily in its deep grooves, yet ready to burst into unpredictable explosions of controlled power and precisely orchestrated fury. Towards the Shining Path ...

New Grooves: Lafayette Gilchrist at Bohemian Caverns

by Franz A. Matzner
September 14, 2004

The darkly lit, basement club Bohemian Caverns just might be the perfect venue for Baltimore raised pianist Lafayette Gilchrist. Both the club's owner and pianist draw on the past glories of Baltimore and Washington's jazz scene, and neither feels any compunction about presenting that history in a totally modernized context. For the club, this means Belgian beer, a mixed menu of classic American fare and Persian cuisine, a music line-up that includes jazz, funk, hip-hop and electronica, and a decor ...