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Jazz Articles about Michael Vlatkovich
Vlatko: Subjective Experience In A Commercial Free Zone
by Glenn Astarita
West Coast purveyor of novel jazz concepts, trombonist and shrewd improviser, Michael Vlatkovich skirts the perimeters of expressionistic jazz rock and most all things jazz related, featuring electric guitarist Tom McNalley's impressive, quirky off-kilter voicings and stinging expeditions. It's a production that's framed on the outside schema, as the leader's compositions present a brooding and flourishing set of circumstances, built upon layers, abstractions, and the requisite improvisational encounters. The lengthy album title duly implies that Vlatkovich is blending ...
Continue ReadingTrombone x 4 (x 4)
by Alberto Bazzurro
Che ci sia un trombone a guidare la cosiddetta front line di un gruppo jazz, ammettiamolo, non è merce poi così usuale. Ci fa quindi piacere, amando particolarmente il suono rotondo, pieno, evocativo dello strumento, legare uno con l'altro quattro album che praticano tale formula, incisi e pubblicati nel giro di pochi mesi, tra la fine del 2013 e il marzo 2014, e tutti in quartetto, con tre strumenti ricorrenti e un quarto, invece, variabile. Multitudes Telepathic ...
Continue ReadingMichael Vlatkovich Quartet: You're Too Dimensional
by Glenn Astarita
Longtime and prominent affiliate of California's progressive jazz sector, trombonist Michael Vlatkovich has nurtured strong relationships with multi-reedman Vinny Golia, tenor saxophonist Rich Halley and others of note. Yet Vlatkovich has long been considered as one of the finest improvising trombonist's within modern jazz and the avant-garde jazz spectrums. He's comfortable in a variety of settings, while recently cutting some vibrant trio outings for his independent label, Thank You Records. With this outing he reemerges with a quartet formation and ...
Continue ReadingVlatkovich Tryyo: Pershing Woman
by Glenn Astarita
Southern California-based trombonist Michael Vlatkovich leads a power-packed trio, captured live at a Michigan venue. The trombonist is firmly entrenched in the region's avant-garde and progressive jazz loop, alongside cohorts such as multi-reedman Vinny Golia, pfMentum Records proprietor and trumpeter Jeff Kaiser and other notables. Here, the trio generates a lot of positive hoopla and excitement as the live recorded sound contains a slight echo that hovers like an aura and summons an analog sense of purity. The ...
Continue ReadingMichael Vlatkovich: Three3
by AAJ Italy Staff
L'ottimo trombonista americano Michael Vlatkovich (nato a St. Louis, nel Missouri, ma residente in California dal 1973) continua la sua corsa con progetti legati alla formazione in trio (che lui chiama tritet) registrata dal vivo, alternando immancabilmente la sezione ritmica. In questo caso ci troviamo a Denver, non troppo lontano dalla calda California che è il territorio di base di questi musicisti, anche se il Colorado è decisamente agli antipodi, almeno per quello che riguarda il clima e il modello ...
Continue ReadingTransvalue: Book III - The '58 Retractable Hardtop
by AAJ Italy Staff
Difficilmente etichettabile questo Book III dei Transvalue, gruppo che il trombonista Michael Vlaktovich e il poeta e vocalist Chick Britt tengono assieme, con cadenze irregolari, da quasi trent'anni. L'aria che si respira è marcatamente zappiana, anche se le atmosfere musicali sono spesso prossime alle moderne big band. All'interno vi respirano jazz e poesia, pop e reading, assoli jazzistici non privi di forte lirismo e caos sfrenato, coretti tra l'ironico e il malinconico, passaggi di grande spessore. Difficile, se non impossibile, ...
Continue ReadingMichael Vlatkovich: Across 36 Continents
by Mark Corroto
West Coast trombonist Michael Vlatkovich displays some mature yet nonconformist writing and arranging on Across 36 Continents. The eccentricities prepared for this ten-piece small orchestra make for fresh and at times freewheeling music-making. Then again, Vlatkovich is known for being a bit unconventional. His recent work has been in duets: Call And Response (pfMentum), with poet Dottie Grossman; and Chobraty (Nine Winds), with tubaist William Roper.
Here he enlists some of his usual suspects and playing partners: trumpeters ...
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