Jazz Articles about Marvin Stamm

About Marvin Stamm

Album Review

Mike Holober and the Gotham Jazz Orchestra: Hiding Out

Read "Hiding Out" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
October 23, 2019

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 ...

Album Review

Mike Holober and the Gotham Jazz Orchestra: Hiding Out

Read "Hiding Out" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
October 1, 2019

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, ...

Album Review

Mike Holober and the Gotham Jazz Orchestra: Hiding Out

Read "Hiding Out" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
August 12, 2019

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 ...

Album Review

Eumir Deodato: Os Catedraticos 73

Read "Os Catedraticos 73" reviewed by Mark Sullivan

by Mark Sullivan
April 2, 2019

Composer/arranger/keyboardist Eumir Deodato is best known for a series of albums on the CTI label, notably Prelude (CTI Records, 1973) and Deodato 2 (CTI Records, 1973). Os Catedraticos 73 dates from the same period, and employs many of the same musicians. It was recorded between Rio de Janeiro and New York, featuring a Brazilian rhythm section including Azymuth drummer Ivan 'Mamão' Conti, percussion master Orlandivo, and bassist Sergio Barroso, while the horn section features some of New York's top brass ...

Album Review

Mike Holober: Balancing Act

Read "Balancing Act" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
July 11, 2016

Non è facile coniugare raffinatezza formale e tensione emotiva, meticolose orchestrazioni e libertà individuale, sottigliezze cameristiche e momenti jazzisticamente impetuosi. A capo del suo ottetto, Mike Holober offre un appassionante esempio di tutto ciò, realizzando il suo lavoro più maturo e ricercato, a distanza di sei anni dal precedente con la Gotham Jazz Orchestra (Quake, Sunnyside 2009). Pianista, compositore e insegnante al City College e alla Manhattan School of Music di New York, Holober s'è ...

Album Review

Mike Holober: Balancing Act

Read "Balancing Act" reviewed by Mark Sullivan

by Mark Sullivan
November 12, 2015

Pianist/composer Mike Holober has had an active career with big bands (including HR Big Band Frankfurt, WDR Big Band Cologne, Stockholm Jazz Orchestra, and the Westchester Jazz Orchestra in the U.S.). So he brings a refined approach to the composing and arranging on this octet recording. He set himself an ambitious goal: to feature a vocalist, but as another frontline instrument rather than the primary focus. “I wanted to use a singer and lyrics in extended form compositions--not wrapped up ...

Album Review

Mike Holober: Balancing Act

Read "Balancing Act" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
October 14, 2015

Conceptualizing and creating music is a delicate balancing act, leaving composers to strive for symmetry between head and heart, reasoning and intuition, and structure and freedom. Who better to understand that than Mike Holober? Whether penning a piece or playing piano, Holober has always shown himself to be mindful of the need to find harmony between those and other opposing principles. It's his ability to do so that, in large part, has made him such a hot commodity in the ...