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Jazz Articles about Michael Zilber
Jason Keiser: Kind of Kenny
by Andrew Gilbert
Over the past decade San Jose guitarist Jason Keiser has carved out a sterling reputation as a bandleader whose musical passions range across North America's expansive soundscape, and this album extends his exploration into arrestingly lyrical territory. After highlighting Woody Shaw's treasure trove of intervallic leaping post-bop gems on 2023's Shaw's Groove, he turns his attention to another undersung trumpet maestro with Kind of Kenny, a deep dive into the ravishing music of Canadian composer Kenny Wheeler (1930-2014).
Continue ReadingMike Clark & Michael Zilber: Mike Drop
by Paul Rauch
A first encounter with saxophonist Michael Zilber in a live setting leaves a very large impression. Enshrouding the marvelous facility and deeply melodic approach to improvisation is “the sound" which allows the listener to receive the music in a soulful way. When that sound and imagination are driven by the post-bop mastery of drummer Mike Clark, illuminating things can and will take place.Celebrating a ten-year friendship, Zilber and Clark laid down this session in Oakland in 2018 for ...
Continue ReadingMichael Zilber: East West / Music for Big Bands
by Jack Bowers
On East West, his first-ever big-band enterprise, Canadian-born saxophonist Michael Zilber leads world-class ensembles in New York City and San Francisco, which speaks volumes about his artistry and gravitas. Zilber not only plays saxophone on both bands, he composed eight of the fourteen numbers on this handsome two-CD set and arranged all of them. Even while playing and recording in smaller groups on both coasts and in Canada, Zilber had been writing and setting aside big-band charts ...
Continue ReadingMichael Zilber: Originals For the Originals
by Paul Rauch
Saxophonist/composer Michael Zilber is better known by fellow musicians than by the jazz public, this is an unfortunate truth. The Vancouver, B.C., native moved to Boston in his late teens, then to New York City to begin his musical odyssey. Musicians there recognized his prodigious talent, resulting in recordings with jazz royalty such as Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Stitt, the Brecker Brothers and Dave Liebman. Zilber has spent the last 25 years in the San Francisco area, though he ...
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