Home » Jazz Articles » Michael Bisio
Jazz Articles about Michael Bisio
Allen Shawn/Michael Bisio: Improvisations
by Karl Ackermann
Classical pianist and composer Allen Shawn is not a familiar name in the jazz world. He comes from a well-known artistic family, the son of long-time The New Yorker editor William Shawn, and brother of actor and playwright Wallace Shawn. Allen Shawn received degrees from Harvard and Columbia Universities and teaches at Bennington College in Vermont. In that academic setting, Shawn would come to know fellow teacher and bassist Michael Bisio. Their duo project, Improvisations, is an unusual undertaking for ...
Continue ReadingRich Halley: The Shape Of Things
by Dan McClenaghan
Nobody rips it up like Portland, Oregon-based tenor saxophonist Rich Halley. Whether he is playing with his West Coast crews on sets like The Literature (Pine Eagle Records, 2018) or The Outlier (Pine Eagle Records, 2016), or recording with his New York City compatriots on Terra Incognita (Pine Eagle Record, 2019). And now we have--with, again, the New Yorkers--The Shape of Things, where Halley continues to prove he can be counted on to shake the walls and rattle the windows ...
Continue ReadingMatthew Shipp: The Unidentifiable
by Dan McClenaghan
We can talk about a Bud Powell school of the piano trio, or a Bill Evans school of the piano trio, but maybe it is time to start talking about Mathew Shipp's trio school, with bassist Michael Bisio and drummer Newman Taylor Baker. Shipp has been around the jazz scene for three decades. He has developed a distinctive voice. He sounds like no-one else. If you can't start your own school under those circumstances, then when can you?
Continue ReadingBrian Groder Trio: Luminous Arcs
by Alberto Bazzurro
Il sessantasettenne trombettista newyorchese Brian Groder, alla testa di un trio coi fiocchi, confeziona uno di quegli album che rappacificano con la storia del jazz e le sue diramazioni. Solido quanto scevro da ogni banalità o facile aggancio con tracciati troppo battuti, Luminous Arcs, inciso alla fine del 2018 e uscito giusto un anno dopo, è infatti uno di quei lavori capaci di mantenere i piedi saldi per terra, memori di una tradizione che non si fa ...
Continue ReadingMatthew Shipp Trio: The Unidentifiable
by Karl Ackermann
With each successive project, the prolific Matthew Shipp takes the art form to seemingly unstainable heights and then persists in pushing the bar further along. Shipp began his recording career with a trio project, Circular Temple (Quinton Records, 1992) featuring William Parker and Whit Dickey, two artists that have retained close professional ties to the pianist/composer. Shipp has recorded a dozen trio albums with seven personnel line ups. His thirteenth project in that format, The Unidentifiable, features bassist Michael Bisio ...
Continue ReadingWhit Dickey: Tao Quartets: Peace Planet & Box of Light
by Giuseppe Segala
Possiamo dire che l'assioma secondo il quale tutti i jazzisti sono sottovalutati, non sia poi così paradossale. Parliamo naturalmente dei musicisti che mettono al primo posto del loro operato il fare artistico e non la realizzazione di un prodotto solo ben accetto sul mercato. Spesso ci troviamo di fronte a musicisti che subiscono tale disattenzione in modo ancora più evidente, se confrontata alla mole e alla qualità del loro lavoro. Quest'ultimo concetto è sottolineato da Clifford Allen nelle ampie note ...
Continue ReadingMichael Bisio: Accortet
by John Sharpe
A history of the accordion in jazz would be a slight volume. The accordion sits midway between horn and keyboard, and perhaps it's a surprise given its versatility that it doesn't have a higher profile. Klezmer influenced companies apart, the rollcall at the exploratory end of the spectrum would include Anthony Braxton (of course), The Claudia Quintet, and Gato Libre, but not too much else. To that roster must now be added Michael Bisio's Accortet. The bassist's outfit investigates the ...
Continue Reading
