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Jazz Articles about Michael Musillami
Guitar Reviews: Michael Musillami, Tomas Janzon and Rafael Rosa
by Jerome Wilson
Here are some interesting recent releases that all feature guitarists, either as bandleaders or sidemen. Michael Musillami Trio Block Party Playscape 2023 Michael Musillami's trio with Joe Fonda on bass and George Schuller on drums has been around since 2003. In that time they have released ten albums, most of which include additional musicians. This is only their fourth true trio recording and it shows how tight their musical communication has become ...
Continue ReadingMichael Musillami Trio: Block Party
by Troy Dostert
A relentlessly active and inventive guitarist whose first recordings date back to the '80s, Michael Musillami began to hit his stride in the '90s alongside veterans of the New York downtown scene such as bassist Mario Pavone, drummer Michael Sarin and saxophonist Thomas Chapin. But one of his foremost partnerships took shape in the early 2000s, when he first teamed with bassist Joe Fonda and drummer George Schuller, themselves long-standing veterans of creative jazz. Twenty years and ten albums later, ...
Continue ReadingMichael Musillami, Peter Madsen: Pictures
by Alberto Bazzurro
Facciamo anzitutto un po' d'ordine: diciannove sono i brani complessivi di questo album; i dispari, tutti molto brevi (massimo 1'41"), sono altrettante libere improvvisazioni (nello specifico Promenades), sorta di intercapedini (nonché di prologo ed epilogo per quanto concerne le tracce 1 e 19) fra i brani pari, tutti intestati a un musicista specifico, pianisti (autore Peter Madsen) e chitarristi (autore Michael Musillami, ma confessiamo di non aver mai sentito nominare Robert Paris, né di averne trovato traccia sul web, almeno ...
Continue ReadingMichael Musillami and Peter Madsen: Pictures
by Troy Dostert
Guitarist Michael Musillami and pianist Peter Madsen have long traveled in the same circles, with Musillami's Playscape label showcasing both musicians in a number of their independently derived projects. But they don't often get to work side-by-side. Aside from Musillami's sextet record, Dachau (Playscape, 2006), the two have only appeared together previously on duo disc, Part Pitbull (Playscape, 2002). Their scintillating renewed partnership on Pictures shows the intervening years have done nothing to diminish their intuitive chemistry and first-rate technical ...
Continue ReadingThree Guitarists: Michael Musillami, Kristen Bromley, and Romain Pilon
by Jerome Wilson
The more adventurous and abstract forms of jazz guitar get a lot of attention these days, but these three releases prove that mainstream guitar players still have a lot to say. Kristen R. Bromley Trio Simply Miraculous Self-produced 2019 Perhaps the most amazing thing about this CD is that it exists at all. Kristen Bromley is a performer and teacher of jazz guitar who broke her arm in 2016. She damaged nerves ...
Continue ReadingMichael Musillami and Rich Syracuse: Dig
by Troy Dostert
Guitarist Michael Musillami and bassist Rich Syracuse continue their engagement with the titans of the jazz world with Dig, their homage to Bill Evans. Like the discs that preceded it, Of The Night (Playscape, 2016), dedicated to Wayne Shorter and Bird Calls (Playscape, 2017), their salute to Charles Mingus, the duo approach this repertoire with both reverence and imagination, producing treatments that avoid simply capitulating to Evans' genius by opening his tunes to creative scrutiny. It's noteworthy that ...
Continue ReadingMichael Musillami, Rich Syracuse: Bird Calls
by Neri Pollastri
Sofisticato lavoro in duo sulla musica di Charles Mingus, certo tra le più feconde dell'intero patrimonio del jazz, ad opera di due esperti musicisti: il chitarrista Michael Musillami,e il contrabbassista di lungo corso Rich Syracuse. Bird Calls è il loro secondo lavoro nella formazione minima --il precedente, of the Night, era dedicato alla musica di Wayne Shorter --cosa che ha permesso loro di sviluppare un fortissimo affiatamento, strumento essenziale per la riuscita di questa che può ben essere ...
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