Jazz Articles about Natalie Cressman

About Natalie Cressman

Instrument: Trombone

Live Review

Natalie Cressman and Secret Garden: New York, September 6, 2012

by Daniel Lehner
September 21, 2012

Natalie Cressman and Secret GardenDROMNew York, NYSeptember 6th, 2012The trombone is not an instrument that tolerates mediocrity. Because of the instrument's many idiosyncrasies, there's no real chance for the slide instrumentalist to get caught in the purgatory of empty virtuosity often exhibited by up-and-coming guitarists and saxophonists. The practitioners who persevere to make their own sound, like the 20-year-old trombonist/vocalist Natalie Cressman, tend to go right from being decent musicians to being excellent ones. Cressman, ...

Album Review

Natalie Cressman and Secret Garden: Unfolding

Read "Unfolding" reviewed by Jeff Dayton-Johnson

by Jeff Dayton-Johnson
August 15, 2012

Looking for antecedents for trombonist/vocalist Natalie Cressman? All About Jazz's C. Michael Bailey correctly points us to Jack Teagarden, the original singing trombonist. And, in fact, Cressman finds plenty of opportunity in the funkier passages of Unfolding, her debut album, to deploy a fluid and full Teagarden-like sound on the instrument.But Cressman--twenty years old and a student at the Manhattan School of Music at the time of Unfolding's release--also suggests a more contemporary reference: Esperanza Spalding, the superstar ...

Album Review

Natalie Cressman and Secret Garden: Unfolding

Read "Unfolding" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
July 27, 2012

If John the Baptist was supposed to be the reincarnation of the prophet Elijah, then Natalie Cressman is certainly the same for Jack Teagarden. Both sing and play trombone, and that is all that's required for a spiritual connection. Cressman's debut, Unfolding, sports a crazy “Honeysuckle Rose" and a slew of fine originals. Equally capable as a vocalist and trombonist, Cressman--best-known these days as a member of Phish's touring band brass section--is also quite the decent arranger, favoring brass choral ...