Jazz Articles about Maria Schneider

Maria Schneider Orchestra: Sky Blue

by Budd Kopman
August 26, 2007

Maria Schneider and her orchestra (and yes, it is an orchestra and not a band) demonstrate everything that is right with ArtistShare specifically and jazz in general, with the miraculous Sky Blue being but the latest example. In a perfect world, ArtistShare would not have to exist, since record companies would deal honestly with the artist and music lovers would actually buy the records and not expect everything digital to be free. However, since ...

Maria Schneider Orchestra: Sky Blue

by John Kelman
August 18, 2007

There's a reason that composer/bandleader Maria Schneider calls her large ensemble an orchestra. The term “big band suggests a number of inherent expectations relating to historical tradition. Schneider's group may be configured like a big band--five reeds, four trumpets, four trombones with an expanded rhythm section--but the music she writes delves into territories considerably farther afield. Sky Blue is a logical follow-up to her Grammy Award-winning Concert in the Garden (ArtistShare, 2004), but there's been significant evolution as well.

Even ...

Maria Schneider Orchestra: Sky Blue

by Jack Bowers
August 17, 2007

If you are fond of lovely music, and are able to look beyond categories and labels to unmask its allure, chances are you'll fall head-over-heels in love with Sky Blue, composer/arranger Maria Schneider's sixth album and third for ArtistShare. Having studied with Bob Brookmeyer and the late Gil Evans, and strived earlier in her career to emulate their style and temperament, Schneider has of late begun listening more to her own heart and composing music that is not only surpassingly ...

Maria Schneider Orchestra: Sky Blue

by Dan McClenaghan
August 7, 2007

Maria Schneider says she takes great pleasure in making people sound their best. In an orchestral setting, nobody does it better. She proved that on Concert in the Garden (ArtistShare, 2004); and she raises the bar with Sky Blue. Schneider, like Duke Ellington before her, writes for her players, and on this disc she has incited seven adventurous and heart-stoppingly gorgeous solos from various long-term band members, wrapping each of their eloquent statements in the grandeur, the majestic ebb and ...

Maria Schneider: Fantasies Come True

by R.J. DeLuke
March 19, 2007

From a certain angle, it would almost appear that composer, arranger extraordinaire Maria Schneider is living in a fantasy world. Her music is highly acclaimed, her performances are killer. The commissions for compositions, conducting and arranging having come steadily, for other musical organizations as well as her own work. Her last recording not only won a Grammy, but is the first recording to do so while being entirely sold over the Internet, at her website, through her association with ArtistShare. ...

Maria Schneider Orchestra Live in Troy, N.Y.

by R.J. DeLuke
February 19, 2007

Maria Schneider is both painter and aural poet, able to provide the listener with a variety of textures, tempos, feelings and facets in her music. Her compositions, moreover, are presented by a superb collection of musicians, as evidenced during her Feb. 9 concert at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall in Troy, N.Y.

Her band toured Europe and South America last year, an endeavor that admittedly tired Schneider, who said before the concert that she had natural misgivings about ...

Maria Schneider Orchestra: Days of Wine and Roses - Live at the Jazz Standard

by AAJ Italy Staff
March 6, 2006

Per gli amanti del miglior jazz orchestrale e per i fans di Maria Schneider questa ristampa è una splendida sorpresa. Pubblicato alcuni anni fa in edizione limitata (in una singolare confezione con due bottiglie di Riesling) il disco viene oggi ristampato dalla Artist Share. L'album, inciso nel gennaio 2000, ribadisce il valore di questa geniale bandleader in una serie di raffinate orchestrazioni offrendoci l'opportunità di valutare il suo valore di compositrice a partire dagli esordi. Molti dei brani sono stati ...