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Alex Goodman: Impressions in Blue and Red
by Friedrich Kunzmann
One thing's for sure: there's a whole lot of music to be heard on Alex Goodman's new double album Impressions in Blue and Red. At 27 tracks and a running time of over 100 minutes, the Canadian jazz guitarist has taken a stand when it comes to quantity on his newest album. Any concern that the quality could suffer as a result is extinguished after the first few bars into the opener. Divided over two different sets according to the ...
Continue ReadingAlex Goodman: Impressions in Blue and Red
by Rob Shepherd
For most, there is a clear divide between musical and visual arts. But for individuals with chromesthesia, a condition where one sees colors when they hear a particular sound, the two can prove inseparable. Throughout history, many jazz musicians have exhibited chromesthesic symptoms, including Marian McPartland, James Francies, and drum legend Elvin Jones. Duke Ellington saw dark blue burlap when he played a D note and light blue satin for a G. Another, guitarist Alex Goodman, shares his experience on ...
Continue ReadingMike Holober: Hiding Out
by Angelo Leonardi
Un decennio dopo Quake (Sunnyside 2009), l'arrangiatore e bandleader Mike Holober riporta sotto i riflettori la newyorchese Gotham Jazz Orchestra in uno scintillante doppio compact che raccoglie due ricercate composizioni ("Flow" in tre movimenti, “Hiding Out" in cinque) e tre brani medio-lunghi (tra cui il delizioso “Caminhos Cruzados" di Jobim in due versioni). Come è ovvio che sia, l'organico registra alcune sostituzioni. Tra i nuovi ingressi il trombettista Marvin Stamm, i sassofonisti Jason Rigby e Bill Drewes, il ...
Continue ReadingMike Holober and the Gotham Jazz Orchestra: Hiding Out
by Jerome Wilson
Mike Holober is a celebrated composer and arranger who has worked for ensembles like the Westchester Jazz Orchestra in New York and the WDR and HR Big Bands in Germany. He is also the leader and founder of the Gotham Jazz Orchestra which here makes its first appearance on record in ten years. Holober makes this return a fruitful one, coming up with a 2CD set featuring two long suites, both with themes involving American landscapes. The first ...
Continue ReadingMike Holober and the Gotham Jazz Orchestra: Hiding Out
by Jack Bowers
Mike Holober has been Hiding Out rather openly for the past ten years or so, waiting for the proper time to gather together his world-class Gotham Jazz Orchestra and record for the first time since 2009's widely acclaimed album Quake (Sunnyside), in which his picturesque compositions and arrangements were compared favorably to those of Duke Ellington and Gil Evans, to name only two. In the interim, Holober has hardly been sitting on his hands, serving time as director of New ...
Continue ReadingMike Holober and the Gotham Jazz Orchestra: Hiding Out
by Dan Bilawsky
If musical polymath Mike Holober is hiding out, he's doing it in plain sight. Constantly in demand, his work as a pianist, conductor, arranger and composer has drawn plenty of attention. In the past 15 years alone he has served as the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Westchester Jazz Orchestra (from 2007-2013), the Associate Guest Conductor of the hr-Bigband (from 2011-2015), and the Associate Director of the BMI Jazz Composer's Workshop (from 2007-2015). In that same stretch of time, ...
Continue ReadingMike Holober and the Gotham Jazz Orchestra: Hiding Out
by Karl Ackermann
Mike Holober's background as a classical pianist and conductor is just one thing that sets Hiding Out apart from the current crop of big band releases. Holober has worked in a variety of settings from solo, duo, and quintet to large ensembles. Two previous recordings with his Gotham Jazz Orchestra were the critically acclaimed Thought Trains (Sons of Sound Records, 2004) and Quake (Sunnyside Records, 2009), comprised of covers and original Holober compositions. On the ambitious double-disc Hiding Out, Holober ...
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