Jazz Articles about Maria Schneider

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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 ...

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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 ...

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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. ...

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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 ...

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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 ...

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

by Bill Bennett
January 29, 2006

Maria Schneider Orchestra Days of Wine and Roses - Live at the Jazz Standard ArtistShare 2005

Originally released in a limited edition--boxed with two bottles of Riesling wine--the reissue of this unique CD is a welcome event for fans of Maria Schneider. There's no wine this time but it still includes a fascinating taste of her older arrangements. There are three that reach back more than twenty years to her studies at the Eastman ...

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

by Edward Blanco
January 5, 2006

Days of Wine and Roses, captured in a live performance at the Jazz Standard in New York, was originally packaged in 2000 with two bottles of Riesling wine for sale, conceived and promoted as a marriage of music and wine, when the project encountered difficulties as the laws governing the sale and ditribution of liquor prevented the sale of the album. Thus Maria Schneider decided to reissue the CD. The Grammy-winning composer/arranger/bandleader dedicated this album to the memory of engineer ...