Jazz Articles about Michael Feinberg

About Michael Feinberg

Multiple Reviews

Criss Cross Records: The Healing Power Of Authenticity

by Chris May
January 19, 2023

When the founder of the Netherlands-based Criss Cross Jazz label, Gerry Teekens, passed away in 2019, there was an odds-on chance that Criss Cross would leave town with him. That is often the fate, in such circumstances, of organisations led by a singular visionary and defined by their personal aesthetic. The loss of the label would have been sorely felt, for between 1981 and 2019, the label released over 400 albums, every one of them uncompromising and most of them ...

Album Review

Michael Feinberg: Hard Times

Read "Hard Times" reviewed by Troy Dostert

by Troy Dostert
March 22, 2022

Although the Covid pandemic has been devastating to the artistic community, and certainly jazz musicians are no exception, albums like Michael Feinberg's Hard Times point to the possibility of hopeful resilience. With a top-shelf bunch of colleagues and smart compositions with rhythmically crafty arrangements, the bassist's eighth release is a winner, with a plucky spirit and satisfying grooves in abundance. Feinberg pulled this band together in October 2020, and with folks like drummer Jeff Tain" Watts and pianist ...

Album Review

Michael Feinberg: From Where We Came

Read "From Where We Came" reviewed by Jim Worsley

by Jim Worsley
October 5, 2020

At the dinner table or in the studio, there are many subtle methods to interject a staunch conversation starter. Or you can always burst into the room with your hair on fire. Veteran soprano saxophonist Dave Liebman, he of many rich and complex lines past, here opted for the latter approach. After bassist and leader Michael Feinberg opened the record with a mood leveling bass intro, Liebman grabbed the attention of his younger generation bandmates in the Feinberg composition “Louisville," ...

Album Review

Michael Feinberg: Whatever Possessed Me

Read "Whatever Possessed Me" reviewed by Don Phipps

by Don Phipps
April 22, 2018

Tribute bands are glowingly appreciated by fans of great rock acts; perhaps it's time jazz fans got with it! Michael Feinberg's Whatever Possessed Me is a dedication to the works and sound of John Coltrane and his classic quartet with McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, and Elvin Jones. The performances on this album are so good, one can imagine Coltrane's ghost hovering overhead and nodding approvingly. Feinberg has chosen some prime selections from the bop lexicon to infuse with ...

Album Review

Michael Feinberg's Humblebrag: Live at 800 East

Read "Live at 800 East" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
June 17, 2015

Nato ad Atlanta ma stabilitosi a New York nel 2009, il bassista e compositore Michael Feinberg è uno dei migliori jazzmen emergenti del decennio. Poco più che 25enne ha già inciso alcuni dischi a suo nome, tra cui spicca l'Elvin Jones Project, registrato nel 2012 per la Sunnyside con la presenza di nomi illustri quali Billy Hart, Tim Hagans e George Garzone. In quest'album torna a dirigere un focoso quintetto composto da altri notevoli emergenti, come il trombettista Billy Buss, ...

Extended Analysis

Michael Feinberg's Humblebrag: Live at 800 East

by Dave Wayne
July 21, 2014

Blending modern jazz with any aspect of funk or R&B is a risky proposition for a young jazz musician. No matter how personal one's concept may be, or how artfully executed, a segment of the jazz- listening population is going to yell “sellout!" at the first electric bass slap. Though he doesn't do slap bass, Michael Feinberg is unapologetically drawn to the funky, danceable aspects of jazz. He does so without really making any obvious pop or R&B overtures. Live ...

Extended Analysis

Michael Feinberg: The Elvin Jones Project

by Dave Wayne
June 1, 2013

Electronic boops and beeps are the first thing you hear on bassist Michael Feinberg's The Elvin Jones Project. This could either be a good sign or a bad one. Fortunately it's the former, and it acts as an effective reminder that drummer Elvin Jones was a pioneering and exploratory musician whose legacy extends well beyond his years with the legendary John Coltrane Quartet. If he had, say, quit drumming after leaving Coltrane's band, Jones would still be recognized as a ...