Jazz Articles about Mike Holober

About Mike Holober

Album Review

Pianist/composer Mike Holober has had an active career with big bands (including HR Big Band Frankfurt, WDR Big Band Cologne, Stockholm Jazz Orchestra, and the Westchester Jazz Orchestra in the U.S.). So he brings a refined approach to the composing and arranging on this octet recording. He set himself an ambitious goal: to feature a vocalist, but as another frontline instrument rather than the primary focus. “I wanted to use a singer and lyrics in extended form compositions--not wrapped up ...

Album Review

Mike Holober: Balancing Act

Read "Balancing Act" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
October 14, 2015

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 ...

Album Review

Westchester Jazz Orchestra: Maiden Voyage Suite

Read "Maiden Voyage Suite" reviewed by AAJ Italy Staff

by AAJ Italy Staff
November 22, 2011

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 ...

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Album Review

Mike Holober & The Gotham Jazz Orchestra: Quake

by Elliott Simon
March 15, 2009

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 ...

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Live Review

Mike Holober and the Gotham Jazz Orchestra at The Jazz Standard, NYC

by Budd Kopman
February 25, 2008

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 ...

Album Review

Westchester Jazz Orchestra: All In

by AAJ Italy Staff
January 11, 2008

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 ...

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Album Review

Mike Holober: Wish List

Read "Wish List" reviewed by Michael P. Gladstone

by Michael P. Gladstone
November 2, 2006

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 ...