Jazz Articles about Marcus Gilmore

About Marcus Gilmore

Album Review

Craig Taborn / Nels Cline / Marcus Gilmore: Trio Of Bloom

Read "Trio Of Bloom" reviewed by Jack Kenny

by Jack Kenny
September 16, 2025

The concept of a musical “supergroup" is hardly new. It could be argued that Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie's assembly at Massey Hall in 1953 was an early example. This legendary bebop concert, despite the undeniable talent on stage, famously showcased clashing egos, particularly with a less-than-healthy Bud Powell. Charles Mingus even had to re-record his bass lines to ensure his contribution was heard in the final mix. Even earlier, Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and Hot Seven unequivocally ...

Album Review

Craig Taborn / Nels Cline / Marcus Gilmore: Trio Of Bloom

Read "Trio Of Bloom" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
September 15, 2025

Maelstroms come and maelstroms go, but the maelstrom generated by a pumped-up Marcus Gilmore on Ronald Shannon Jackson's “Nightwhistlers," the concussive kicker that jump-starts Trio of Bloom, holds its storm-warning, jazz-rocking, course. That guitarist Nels Cline--cranked by the spirit of Jimi Hendrix via Bill Frisell circa late '87; and keyboardist Craig Taborn (himself a modern acolyte of Horace Silver and John Cage) add their key signatures makes for a hell of an opener. One not soon forgotten. Taborn's ...

Album Review

Sullivan Fortner: Southern Nights

Read "Southern Nights" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
May 17, 2025

On Southern Nights, pianist Sullivan Fortner sets out to capture lightning in a bottle and succeeds with radiant charm. Joined by the impeccable Peter Washington on bass and the restless Marcus Gilmore on drums, Fortner opts for total spontaneity: no rehearsals, no retakes, no isolation. The result is a recording that feels alive and as richly human as a live club set, yet marked by an almost telepathic cohesion. The album opens with the title track ...

Album Review

Jason Palmer: The Cross Over: Live in Brooklyn

Read "The Cross Over: Live in Brooklyn" reviewed by Troy Dostert

by Troy Dostert
February 5, 2025

For a label that just got its start in 2018, it has quickly become evident that Giant Step Arts brings a potent, focused discipline to its documentation of some of the most distinctive jazz talents of our time. Rather than covering the field with as many different musicians as possible, the label's founder, Jimmy Katz, has chosen instead to cultivate close relationships with a relatively modest number--foremost of whom is trumpeter Jason Palmer, who has released three discs on the ...

Album Review

Patricia Brennan: Breaking Stretch

Read "Breaking Stretch" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
September 7, 2024

On her first two albums, vibraphonist Patricia Brennan worked with a quartet comprised of three percussion instruments, herself on vibes and marimba, joined by percussionist Mauricio Herrera and drummer Marcus Gilmore, with a bassist Kim Cass. Momentum in large part, is the name of the game. For Breaking Stretch she expands her musical universe, adding trumpeter Adam O'Farrill and saxophonists Mark Shim and Jon Irabagon. This proved a good move; her musical universe in this septet setting has an energy ...

Album Review

Patricia Brennan: Breaking Stretch

Read "Breaking Stretch" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
August 30, 2024

Wild-willed vibraphonist Patricia Brennan gets straight down to business without any fanciful mission declaration with the Afro-Cuban, effusively powered, clear-the-dancefloor and blow-the-ceiling-off this joint “Los Otros Yo (The Other Selves)," the opening cut of her third album Breaking Stretch. She does so in a captivatingly, wickedly good way. Brennan--who has added much vitality to music by such other big thinkers as Vijay Iyer, Mary Halvorson, Anna Webber, Michael Formanek--began her musical education at 4 years old listening to ...

Album Review

Andy Ezrin: I Was Here

Read "I Was Here" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
May 17, 2024

Pianist Andy Ezrin should be heard more often, and by a far wider audience. Like all commanders of the keyboard, he can make his chosen instrument sing, sigh, sway or soar, as he does the Fender Rhodes and Hammond B3 organ whenever he so chooses. On I Was Here, Ezrin doubles as composer, performing thirteen of his charming compositions in groups ranging from trio to quintet before playing the last one, “Cascades," alone. Saxophonist Donny McCaslin sits ...