Jazz Articles about Matt Renzi

About Matt Renzi

Album Review

Daggerboard: The Skipper and Mike Clark

Read "The Skipper and Mike Clark" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
March 31, 2026

The rhythm section--more specifically, bassist Henry “The Skipper" Franklin and drummer Mike Clark--is front and center on the fourth recording by San Francisco Bay-area Daggerboard, the brainchild of trumpeter Erik Jekabson and percussionist Gregory Howe, who have enlisted a large array of supporting actors to help refine and sharpen their unique musical vision. That includes a four-member string section on three of the album's ten numbers, two of which ("Tanzanian Skies," the closing “Ruaha Daybreak") were written by ...

Album Review

Matt Renzi: Presenza

Read "Presenza" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
March 15, 2025

On Presenza, reedmanMatt Renzi and his new quartet--the first one featuring a piano--opens with an audacious burst of sound. The tune, “Loving Kindness," one of nine Renzi originals featured here, sounds as if the saxophonist and his quartet mates are serious about the subject, crafting a high-octane burner that takes no prisoners. Renzie tears it up, and the rhythm guys--pianist Dahveed Behroozi, bassist Josh Thurston-Milgrom and drummer Tim Bulkley lay down a jagged backdrop, and Renzi blows like a storm. ...

Album Review

Matt Renzi: Arm-Sized Legging

Read "Arm-Sized Legging" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
September 5, 2020

Arm-Sized Legging, saxophonist Matt Renzi's sixth album as leader, features his Cello Quartet, basically a piano-less jazz trio with cello added, for what purpose it is hard to ascertain. Cellos aren't normally associated with jazz—as some would argue, for good reason—and this session does little to further their cause. Yes, the cello does add another “voice," but whether that voice is gratifying or even necessary rests in large measure in the ears of the hearkener. Clearly, it is not a ...

Album Review

Matt Renzi: Rise And Shine

Read "Rise And Shine" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
February 10, 2014

Continuity and freshness, while theoretically at odds with one another, are the two things that tend to fuel group development in the arts. Only time can create bonds of trust and help to crystallize concepts and language shared between artists, but consistency can breed predictability. So how can an artist balance the scales, allowing their work to benefit from both? The answer--or secret--lies in multi-reedist Matt Renzi's Rise And Shine. For his eighth album as a leader, ...

Album Review

Matt Renzi - Stefano Senni - Jimmy Weinstein: 4 Stories

by AAJ Italy Staff
December 20, 2011

4 stories documenta una session di improvvisazioni che Matt Renzi, Stefano Senni e Jimmy Weinstein hanno inciso nello studio padovano del batterista. Nelle note di copertina, i tre musicisti spiegano che la registrazione della session non era stata fatta con l'intenzione di produrre un disco. La decisione in questo senso è stata presa solo in un secondo momento. Indubbiamente, la lunga frequentazione tra Renzi e Weinstein e l'esperienza di tutti e tre gli improvvisatori hanno contribuito alla riuscita formale e ...

Album Review

Armando Sciommeri: L'attesa

by AAJ Italy Staff
November 25, 2011

L'attesa si riferisce a una seduta di registrazione del luglio 2008 capitanata dal batterista Armando Sciommeri, alla quale hanno preso parte, in due dei sei brani proposti, anche il pianista Alessandro Gwis e il saxofonista Daniele Tittarelli. Tutti originali firmati, o cofirmati, dal leader, tranne la conclusiva “Kary" autografata dal chitarrista Enrico Bracco, che rilasciano una sensazione di pacatezza esecutiva, in quanto siamo nell'ambito di tempi medi e dall'incedere calibrato, caratterizzati da melodie che si intrecciano senza fretta, cantabili e ...

131

Album Review

Matt Renzi: Happy Hour

Read "Happy Hour" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
May 7, 2011

Reedman Matt Renzi's Happy Hour is curiously titled, given the music at hand. A “Happy Hour" brings cheap drinks and cacophonous good times in the bar room to mind. The CD of that name opens with a tranquil reverie, as mystical, inward-looking and spiritually directed as a late-period Impulse! John Coltrane rumination. The trio format is Renzi's primary form of expression. He and bassist Dave Ambrosio, along with drummer Russ Meissner, have performed together as a group since ...