Jazz Articles about Marcus Rojas

Marcus Rojas: Dancing with a Tree

by Michael Blake
August 5, 2018

Sometimes musicians transcend what is considered normal technique. They discover new worlds of sound and establish concepts previously unknown; concepts that even defy the practical methods that the inventors of the instrument intended. One person I know that has done just that is Marcus Rojas. In third grade he decided to play the tuba and, even though his family asked why he wouldn't play a more common instrument like trumpet or trombone, he stuck with it. Today, Marcus is one ...

Billy Martin's Wicked Knee: Heels over Head

by AAJ Italy Staff
March 26, 2013

Fondato dal batterista co-leader dei Medeski, Martin & Wood, Billy Martin, Wicked Knee è un assortito quartetto che ha pubblicato da poco Heels over Head, un album ricco di ritmo, nato - come espressamente dichiarato da Billy Martin - per intrattenere ascoltatori capaci di lasciarsi andare al divertimento. In netta antitesi alla musica cervellotica di alcune avanguardie, quella proposta dalla band americana contempla contaminazioni reggae, rap, ska e si rifà alla musica tradizionale d'oltreoceano, non solo statunitense (ne sia un ...

Marcus Rojas: Finding the Sound World

by Sean Patrick Fitzell
May 19, 2007

Scurrying through the apartment, he was already running late for a rehearsal. Passing bags of CDs, many of which he played on, and un-hung framed photos from tours and bands past, he rummaged for keys, money for cab, the music to be rehearsed, mouthpiece. When he gathered everything, Marcus Rojas slung his tuba over his shoulders and stole out the door. It's a familiar scene for the 44-year-old, who's been riding the resurgent interest in tuba for ...

Dave Douglas: Mountain Passages

by Brandt Reiter
February 23, 2005

A chunky stew of countless cultural influences and myriad musical forms, jazz has always stolen freely from just about anything it could get its hands on. This unfettered kleptomania has always been key to music's vibrant nature, yet at the same time has made the music itself increasingly difficult to define. Case in point: pathologically restless trumpeter/composer Dave Douglas' Mountain Passages , the first release by his newly minted Greenleaf label. The 41-year-old Douglas, who seems intent on ...

Dave Douglas: Mountain Passages

by Jim Santella
January 31, 2005

Dave Douglas wrote the music for Mountain Passages at the request of the festival at The Sound of the Dolomites. The band hiked up to Rifugio Boe in Valle di Fassa and to Rifugio Brentei, near Madonna di Campliglio in the Alps of northern Italy, and played the music for hundreds of fans who had hiked up to hear them. Later, they put the music together again in a studio.Douglas' modern mainstream jazz offers various moods. The band ...

Dave Douglas/Nomad: Mountain Passages

by John Kelman
January 20, 2005

With trumpeter Dave Douglas the only clear thing to expect is the unexpected. His work has ranged from tribute albums to Wayne Shorter and Booker Little to Eastern European explorations with his Tiny Bell Trio; from the electronica of Freak In to post-Miles excursions on The Infinite. While developing a personal vernacular that blends staggeringly through-composed music with flights of pure improvisation, Douglas has steadfastly stuck to a philosophy asserting that everything is permitted.

The only rule is: there are ...

Michael Blake: Drift

by AAJ Staff
February 1, 2002

Blake is an improvising saxophonist who, because of his personal interests and the label he’s on, is often mistakenly relegated to the Worldbeat sections. To be honest, this disc only grabbed me halfway through, but when it did, it grabbed hard, and has sustained repeated listening.

The title cut, “Drift,” is echoed à la old ECM, and has lots of little percussion making the mournful tune very world-weary. Kimbrough, listed as playing only piano, is on an electric model. Scherr’s ...