Jazz Articles about Mark Colby

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Roberto Magris Sextet: Sun Stone

by Jerome Wilson
January 16, 2020

Roberto Magris, the prolific Italian pianist who spends a lot of his time in America, has recorded with several different types of groups in his career. This is his first outing with a new straight--ahead sextet that includes Chicago legend Ira Sullivan on alto and soprano saxophones and flute, and it is a strong one. This particular group is steeped in the jazz traditions of the Fifties and Sixties, echoing McCoy Tyner, Art Blakey and Horace Silver at ...

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Roberto Magris Sextet: Sun Stone

by Jack Bowers
November 15, 2019

Italian-born pianist Roberto Magris likes to change things up. He can be seen and heard leading groups from trio to octet and beyond, and meshing quite comfortably into groups of all shapes and sizes. On Sun Stone, his fifteenth recording for JMood Records, Magris fronts an admirable sextet whose front-line includes the venerable Ira Sullivan on flute, soprano and alto saxophones, and the superb tenor saxophonist Mark Colby, abetted by trumpeter Shareef Clayton, bassist Jamie Ousley and drummer Roldolfo Zuniga. ...

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Mark Colby: Reflections

by Jack Bowers
August 12, 2009

Reflections, the eighth CD as leader or co-leader by one of the Chicago area's most undervalued treasures, tenor saxophonist Mark Colby, is a tribute, he writes, to “the things that shaped and moved me when I was just a kid," as well as to friends, family and artists who nourished his growth and served as a catalyst for his becoming a musician. The studio date is dedicated to Colby's father, “who started me on my journey at age eight," and ...

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Mark Colby: Speaking of Stan

by Elliott Simon
February 13, 2006

Almost fifteen years after the death of tenor saxophonist Stanley Gayetzky, aka Stan Getz, the sheer breadth of his musical accomplishments still boggles the mind. Thus it was with some skepticism that I began to listen to Speaking of Stan, tenor man Mark Colby's tribute to the man about whom Trane said, “Let's face it. We would all play like him, if we could. Colby, however, succeeds masterfully in capturing a good bit of the essence of Getz, due in ...

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Mark Colby: Speaking of Stan

by Jack Bowers
November 7, 2005

Mark Colby, who may be the finest tenor saxophonist you've never heard, pays tribute to a close friend on Speaking of Stan--a friend who happened to be one of the most renowned masters of the tenor who ever lived, the incomparable Stan Getz. Colby and Getz first met in 1963, when Mark was fourteen years old and Stan was performing in North Miami Beach, Florida, and they quickly became buddies. “We spent time playing our horns, talking, playing tennis, going ...

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Mark Colby: Tenor Reference

by Jack Bowers
August 2, 2002

There are a great many talented post-bop tenor saxophonists on the scene today, but no more than a handful whom one could easily recognize in a lineup. Here's one -- Mark Colby, a consistently resourceful stylist who's not more widely known among Jazz cognoscenti only because he has chosen to make Chicago his home instead of New York City or Los Angeles. One of the things I've always admired most about Colby -- aside from his gorgeous tone, prodigious technical ...

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Mark Colby: Tenor Reference

by C. Michael Bailey
June 1, 2002

A passel of Tenor...

Mark Colby is best known for performing with the Gerry Mulligan, Jaco Pastorius, Frank Sinatra, Maynard Ferguson, Bob James, Charlie Haden and Mose Allison. In the guise of studio musician, Colby is credited with over 2,000 commercials mostly in the Chicago market. In addition to this professional work, he has served as a member of the DePaul University Jazz Department since 1983. In his spare time, Colby has been able to record a certain brand of ...