Jazz Articles about Michael Adkins

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Michael Adkins Quartet: Flaneur

by Jakob Baekgaard
January 16, 2018

Canadian saxophonist Michael Adkins' third album, and his second on Hat Hut, Flaneur, arrives in a shroud of mystery. Back in 2008, Adkins released his debut for Hat Hut records, Rotator, but as it is turns out, he recorded another album the same year. It seems incredibly prolific, but it took ten years before it was released and here it is. Flaneur shows up as a gift out of nowhere, ten years unaccounted for, but in this ...

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Michael Adkins: Rotator

by Budd Kopman
July 27, 2008

From its very first notes, Rotator, by tenor saxophonist Michael Adkins, makes an extremely strong statement. It is a wonderful record, truly engaging, with so much happening without the slightest hint of congestion, that once over, it almost demands an immediate replay. This is an important recording for the simple reason that the door to modern, intellectually stimulating jazz is opened widely, without ever losing touch with what is musical--physical sound, melody (or the thematic phrase) and ...

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Michael Adkins Quartet: Rotator

by Chris May
April 9, 2008

A gigantic album from an extraordinary “new" tenor saxophonist. Rotator is actually Michael Adkins' second disc as leader, but his first--Infotation (Semblance Records, 2005), recorded back in 2000 and five years finding a label--slipped under the radar of many listeners. Thirty-something Adkins, brought up around Detroit but based in New York since 1998, seems to have sprung fully formed from whatever mould they make great tenor players in.

Adkins' playing has the gravitas of someone 20 years his senior and ...

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Michael Adkins: Infotation

by Mark Corroto
September 25, 2005

For every John Coltrane, there is a Hank Mobley; every Dizzy Gillespie has a Dizzy Reece. Not every tenor saxophonist can be Joe Lovano these days, especially when so very few listeners follow current jazz happenings.

Players like Lovano and tenor saxophonist Michael Adkins, who are technically adept at their instrument, tend to take a back seat to either the innovative avant types or those who play caramelized pop. When an artist like Michael Adkins releases a disc ...