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Jazz Articles about Michael Formanek
Tony Malaby: The Cave of Winds
by Mark Corroto
Saxophonist Tony Malaby releases a 21st century version of Sonny Rollins' The Bridge (RCA Victor, 1962). During Rollins' three year voluntary hiatus from performing in the later '50s, he took to practicing on the Williamsburg Bridge near his Lower East Side neighborhood. Malaby, a resident of Jersey City in 2020, was also on a hiatus of sorts, an involuntary one. The pandemic had cancelled all performances, so he took to practicing under a turnpike overpass and soon invited other musicians ...
Continue ReadingBen Goldberg: Everything Happens To Be.
by Jerome Wilson
If you do not listen too closely, there are parts of this download-only release that sound soothing and gentle. That is not really the case and that is the fun part of this music. When the reed players play a pretty or swinging melody line, there is always some irritant factor elsewhere in the band to spice things up. All of these musicians are known for their experimental tendencies and have worked together before in various combinations. The ...
Continue ReadingWarriors of the Wonderful Sound: Soundpath
by Mark Corroto
If we alter President John F. Kennedy's 1962 moon spaceflight speech just a bit, it easily fits the big band adaptation of Muhal Richard Abrams' magnum opus Soundpath, “We choose to perform this composition not because it is easy, but because it is hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept." Accepting the challenge was band leader Bobby Zankel and ...
Continue ReadingBen Goldberg: Everything Happens To Be.
by John Chacona
The music of Ben Goldberg seems to come from a place outside of time--or maybe it comes from several times simultaneously. Maybe it's the instruments he chooses; while the clarinet family has been on the comeback trail in jazz for a quarter century, it's a sound that invariably invokes the New Orleans of a century ago. That's especially true when Goldberg picks up the mellow, woody, Albert-system E-flat instrument on “Cold Weather." That tune's sweet melancholy wobbles perilously close to ...
Continue ReadingThe Pandemic Sessions: Duos, Part 1
by Mark Corroto
After the initial shock of the COVID-19 crisis and subsequent lockdown, artists did what artists do. Unable to tour, many musicians created solo projects. Musicians, like other sentient beings though, crave contact, so when some of the most severe restrictions lifted, duos were formed and production returned. These small positive steps (note: some were recorded before the pandemic) are a glimmer of hope for a return to normalcy. Michael And Peter Formanek Dyads Out Of ...
Continue ReadingWarriors of the Wonderful Sound: Soundpath
by Giuseppe Segala
Nel 2011 il sassofonista di Filadelfia Bobby Zankel, leader della big band The Warriors of the Wonderful Sound e promotore di laboratori di musica contemporanea, propose a Muhal Richard Abrams un lavoro compositivo che avrebbe dovuto essere affidato alla band, con la direzione dello stesso pianista. Operazioni di questo tipo erano già state realizzate da Zankel negli anni precedenti con le musiche per big band di Julius Hemphill, dirette da Marty Ehrlich, poi con composizioni di Rudresh Mahanthappa e Steve ...
Continue ReadingMichael and Peter Formanek: Dyads
by John Sharpe
There can be few instances where a parent-offspring hook-up has proved as potent as Dyads by bassist Michael Formanek and his reedman son Peter. With not a hint of featherbedding, the pair interact as equals on a 72-minute program which alternates six charts penned by both with seven collective inventions. While the bassist has amassed a hefty and distinguished discography, both as leader and go-to sideman for the likes of Tim Berne, Mary Halvorson and Susan Alcorn, this is only ...
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