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Mike Holober: Balancing Act
by Dan Bilawsky
Conceptualizing and creating music is a delicate balancing act, leaving composers to strive for symmetry between head and heart, reasoning and intuition, and structure and freedom. Who better to understand that than Mike Holober? Whether penning a piece or playing piano, Holober has always shown himself to be mindful of the need to find harmony between those and other opposing principles. It's his ability to do so that, in large part, has made him such a hot commodity in the ...
Continue ReadingWestchester Jazz Orchestra: Maiden Voyage Suite
by AAJ Italy Staff
Fiore all'occhiello dell'odierno jazz orchestrale di New York, la Westchester Jazz Orchestra prova a rivisitare il classico album Maiden Voyage di Herbie Hancock. Questi arrangiamenti per big band tessono nuove trame intorno ad alcune composizioni divenute oggi fondamentali nel repertorio jazz. Aggiornate soluzioni orchestrali rileggono il modello con atmosfere swinganti ed efficaci, e con pregevoli assoli che lasciano il segno. Riproporre capolavori come “Dolphin Dance" e “Maiden Voyage" poteva trasformarsi in un esercizio pericoloso, ricco di trappole. Ma a scongiurare ...
Continue ReadingMike Holober & The Gotham Jazz Orchestra: Quake
by Elliott Simon
Duke Ellington's legacy is alive and well with pianist Mike Holober and The Gotham Jazz Orchestra. Holober makes use of the increased musical scope that 17 pieces give him to weave compositional strength within a sound that sways more than swings. Some of the finest jazzers New York City has to offer join Holober for this session. Their individual talents are certainly showcased but the strength of this release is how Holober fits them all together to ...
Continue ReadingMike Holober and the Gotham Jazz Orchestra at The Jazz Standard, NYC
by Budd Kopman
Mike Holober and the Gotham Jazz OrchestraThe Jazz StandardNew York City, New YorkFebruary 11, 2008 That The Jazz Standard was packed on a very cold Monday night for the early set, and sold out for the second set, is a tribute to the following that pianist/composer Mike Holober has built, notwithstanding the friends of the band and the press that were in attendance. This eighteen-piece group (4 trumpets, 4 trombones, 5 ...
Continue ReadingWestchester Jazz Orchestra: All In
by AAJ Italy Staff
Fondata e diretta da Mike Holober, la Westchester Jazz Orchestra è un ensemble di all-stars del miglior jazz newyorkese di oggi. Diciassette sono i suoi elementi, che pur mirando ad un compatto suono di gruppo, mettono anche qui in mostra diverse individualità. Dai trombettisti (Jim Rotondi, Marvin Stamm), al pianista (Ted Rosenthal), sono tutti eccellenti musicisti, motivati ad esaltare gli arrangiamenti brillanti del leader, dimostrando slancio, inventiva e vigore interpretativo. Grande mestiere e tecnica impeccabile individuale, ma non solo. Il ...
Continue ReadingMike Holober: Wish List
by Michael P. Gladstone
Wish List is pianist/composer/bandleader Mike Holober's third album, in addition to appearances in the piano chair for the Pete McGuiness Jazz Orchestra, the Jason Rigby Quartet, the Pete McCann Quintet and the Anita Brown Jazz Orchestra. Holober is a New York-based pianist who previously had worked with Nick Brignola's group and whose style has been influenced by such modal pianists as Bill Evans and Herbie Hancock.His first album, Canyon (Sons of Sound, 2003), was produced by another modal ...
Continue ReadingMike Holober: Wish List
by David Miller
The great thing about jazz is that you may think you know a lot about a lot, but in reality you don't know jack. It seems every time I pop in a new record, I learn about a new artist I've never heard before. In listening to Mike Holober's Wish List, I was lucky enough to learn about three: Holober, Tim Ries, and Wolfgang Muthspiel. Wish List is simple enough. It's a straight-ahead recording, with a track ...
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