Home » Jazz Articles » Liberty Ellman
Jazz Articles about Liberty Ellman
Liberty Ellman Trio at Crescent Arts Centre
by Ian Patterson
Liberty Ellman Trio Crescent Arts Centre Belfast, N. Ireland April 13, 2018 Liberty Ellman was short his pedals for this Moving On Music gig at Crescent Arts Centre--lost somewhere in transit--but he certainly wasn't short of musical ideas during a constantly engaging ninety-minute set. With four releases in twenty years Ellman maybe isn't the most prolific of leaders yet this only tells part of the story, for the New York-based guitarist--a cornerstone of ...
Continue ReadingLiberty Ellman: Radiate
by Stefano Merighi
Ascoltando Radiate si coglie immediatamente la comunanza linguistica che stringe quel manipolo di musicisti abituati ad incidere per la PI, forse la migliore etichetta odierna di jazz contemporaneo. Si percepiscono i medesimi studi giovanili, i medesimi sviluppi creativi, quella telepatia esecutiva che rende interessante una performance jazzistica. Anche quando la prima impressione è quella di una musica derivativa. Sì perchè, assodato che Liberty Ellman è un signor musicista, chitarrista intelligente e compositore scaltro, non ...
Continue ReadingLiberty Ellman: Radiate
by Dan Bilawsky
Guitarist Liberty Ellman works at the crossroads of intellectual inquisitiveness and rabid expressionism. That's been evident both in his own small but impressive discography and in his musical travels with Henry Threadgill's Zooid over the past fifteen years. On Radiate--Ellman's first album in nine years, third on the Pi Recordings imprint--those two roads quickly meet. The album-opening “Supercell" proves to be a deep-grooving masterpiece that plays unification and disconnection against each other to create something magical. Damion ...
Continue ReadingLiberty Ellman: Radiate
by Troy Collins
Radiate is guitarist Liberty Ellman's fourth album under his own name since 1997 and his third for Pi Recordings, following 2006's Ophiuchus Butterfly. Ellman's output as a bandleader over the years has been secondary to his role as an in-demand sideman however, working with such luminaries as Vijay Iyer, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Myra Melford, and Jason Robinson--hence his somewhat limited discography. Most significantly, Ellman has been a charter member and sole guitarist in renowned composer Henry Threadgill's longstanding Zooid ensemble, serving ...
Continue ReadingStephan Crump with Rosetta Trio: Reclamation
by AAJ Italy Staff
Sedici corde. Sei, quelle della chitarra elettrica di Jamie Fox (Dr. John, Blood, Sweat & Tears). Sei, quelle della chitarra acustica di Liberty Ellman (Henry Threadgill Zooid, Vijay Iyer). Quattro, quelle del contrabbasso di Stephan Crump (Steve Lehman, Joel Harrison). Sedici corde che danno origine al Rosetta Trio. Un album di debutto, Rosetta, entrato nella lista dei migliori dieci del 2006 secondo diverse riviste specializzate statunitensi, un secondo album, questo Reclamation, che conferma la bontà del progetto. Ma dal quale ...
Continue ReadingLiberty Ellman: Ophiuchus Butterfly
by AAJ Italy Staff
Liberty Ellman giunge al terzo disco da leader e il salto di qualità è evidente rispetto alle ottime potenzialità espresse in Tactiles. A differenza di quanto spesso accade coi lavori dei chitarristi, quest'incisione non è focalizzata sullo strumento a sei corde ma ha una prospettiva ampia e articolata, prettamente compositiva. Partner per alcuni anni di Henry Threadgill ma anche di Steve Coleman, Vijay Iyer, Mat Maneri e Rudresh Mahanthappa, Ellman evidenzia una scrittura influenzata dai primi due artisti (quando guidavano ...
Continue ReadingLiberty Ellman: Ophiuchus Butterfly
by Troy Collins
Ophiuchus Butterfly is guitarist Liberty Ellman's third release as a leader, but his widest exposure has come as guitarist in Henry Threadgill's acoustic Zooid ensemble. From the distinctive opening notes of the title track, one can hear that Ellman has been absorbing lessons from the master. Blending Threadgill's taste for multiethnic rhythms and Eastern scales with his own loose interpretation of urban M-Base funk, Ellman delivers a truly forward-thinking album. Ellman's second album for Pi features an eclectic ...
Continue Reading
