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Marc Copland: John
by Dan McClenaghan
Pianist Marc Copland crossed paths with guitarist John Abercrombie in the early '70s, playing in drummer Chico Hamilton's group. Copland was, at the time, a saxophonist. The collaboration there began a fifty year friendship and multiple Abercrombie/Copland collaborations . Abercrombie passed away in 2017. John is Copland's eulogy for him, solo piano renditions of a set of his friend and mentor's compositions In 2018 Copland also released a tribute to another late partner in music, bassist Gary Peacock, ...
Continue ReadingMarc Copland: John
by Mark Sullivan
Pianist Marc Copland met guitarist John Abercrombie when he first went to New York as an alto saxophonist, playing with him in Chico Hamilton's quartet in 1971. Copland returned to New York as a pianist in the early 1980s, and first recorded with Abercrombie on the album That's For Sure (Challenge, 2001), followed by several others. He was Abercrombie's pianist for his final quartet albums, 39 Steps (ECM, 2013) and Up And Coming (ECM, 2017), and toured with him for ...
Continue ReadingDoxas Brothers: The Circle
by Dan Bilawsky
Family figures squarely into The Circle. For tenor saxophonist Chet Doxas and drummer Jim Doxas, brotherhood is both a literal and figurative tie. These siblings have been playing music together in various configurations from their earliest days, so their bonds truly extend from blood to bandstand. And with their father manning the board for this quartet session recorded at the family homestead in Pointe Claire, QC, it's all Doxases on deck. This album's title references the crescent ...
Continue ReadingFrancesco Cataldo: Giulia
by Dan Bilawsky
There's pure, undiluted beauty emanating from the jewel of an introduction on Francesco Cataldo's Giulia. The Italian guitarist's patient and pristine lines set the scene for “I Tuoi Colori (Prologo)," and his equally graceful band mates—pianist Marc Copland, bassist Pietro Leveratto and drummer Adam Nussbaum—join him, slowly drifting out toward cool blue waters like those spied through the window on the album's cover. There's mystery in the setting, for sure, but also an easy satisfaction. And so it goes for ...
Continue ReadingMarc Copland: And I Love Her
by Mike Jurkovic
Perhaps you glance quickly at the song titles on the back cover and haphazardly say to yourself or your phone or your new imaginary friend “What?!"Afro-Blue" again?" and just as haphazardly put the disc down and move on to Billie Eilish. But, if you take a moment-you'll-never-get-back to pause and listen, you'll hear drummer Joey Baron and bassist Drew Gress parachute from the upper ether, already in mid-conversation, laying out a vapor trail framework for Marc Copland's piano to voice ...
Continue ReadingMarc Copland: And I Love Her
by Dan McClenaghan
In any discussion concerning the best of the modern piano trios in jazz, Marc Copland's name has to come up. Pianist Copland--who, oddly, began his jazz career as a saxophonist--shuffles trio mates often, having employed bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Paul Motian, and drummer Jochen Rueckert, and drummer Bill Stewart and bassist Drew Gress, in a sort of musical-chairs approach unlike that of other current top-shelf piano trio guys such as Brad Mehldau and Fred Hersch, who both employ steadier ...
Continue ReadingMarc Copland: And I Love Her
by John Kelman
There was a time when Marc Copland was releasing multiple albums every year, sometimes as many as three or four, like in 2009, when the veteran pianist (who began his musical life as a saxophonist) released his second solo piano album, Alone (Pirouet); an intimate duo date with veteran bassist Gary Peacock, Insight (Sketch); and the final entry in Copland's New York Trio triptych of piano trio recordings, Night Whispers (Pirouet). Times have changed, and while releases under ...
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