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Jorge Cariglino: After the Storm
by Fran Kursztejn
Spanish-Argentinian guitarist Jorge Cariglino has maintained an important influence on the jazz game in Madrid for most of his life. He teaches in there, plays with a variety of local and international masters and bolsters an under-reported community to new heights of experimentation and collaboration, despite an unusually slim catalogue of recorded works. After the Storm is more than just a welcome showcase of a talented musician reintroducing his craft to the rest of the world. It is also an ...
Continue ReadingTim Warfield: One For Shirley
by C. Andrew Hovan
Jimmy Smith and Larry Young have continually set the benchmark for creative endeavors involving jazz and the Hammond B-3 organ, Smith being acknowledged for bringing the technical virtuosity of be-bop to the instrument and Young for expanding the vernacular based on the forward-thinking implications of John Coltrane. Somewhere in between these two, a colorful range of styles proliferated throughout the '50s and '60s, from the cocktail jazz of Milt Buckner to the soulful grooves of “Big" John Patton. But it ...
Continue ReadingClark Gibson: Counterclock
by Pierre Giroux
Saxophonist Clark Gibson's Counterclock demonstrates the synergy that can be generated by an outstanding group of performers, including trumpeter Sean Jones, trombonist Michael Dease, Hammond B-3 organist Pat Bianchi, vibraphonist Nick Mancini and drummer extraordinaire Lewis Nash. While pushing the boundaries, the set list, with one exception, is made up of original compositions by Gibson and Mancini. The opener, “Conflict," captures Gibson's emotive alto saxophone work as he is pushed along by Nash's drumming and Bianchi's ...
Continue ReadingShawn Purcell: 180
by Jack Bowers
Guitarist Shawn Purcell's latest CD, 180, is all about swinging; Purcell's trio (Pat Bianchi on Hammond B3 organ, Jason Tiemann on drums) nestles squarely into the groove on the double-quick opener, “Cat and Mouse," which sets an upbeat tone for the album as a whole. The rhythm seldom flags on Purcell's sunny compositions (he wrote all but one of the album's eleven numbers). An exception to the rhythmic rule is the lone standard, Johnny Mercer & Paul ...
Continue ReadingPat Bianchi: Something to Say: The Music of Stevie Wonder
by Victor L. Schermer
This album is a tribute to Stevie Wonder, who beyond his popularity and fame has always been a an exceptional musician. It features four superb musicians, an organ trio consisting of Pat Bianchi on Hammond B-3 organ, Paul Bollenback on guitar, and Byron Landham on drums, with Wayne Escoffery as guest tenor saxophonist that honors Wonder's work with artistry and attention to his unique style. It synthesizes the jazz swing idiom with R&B/ soul music, both of which inspired Wonder ...
Continue ReadingPat Bianchi: Something to Say: The Music of Stevie Wonder
by Jack Bowers
When considering pop artists whose music might readily lend itself to a jazz milieu, Stevie Wonder's name isn't one that springs readily to mind. Organist Pat Bianchi, however, felt that Wonder had Something to Say in a jazz context, so he set about canvassing Wonder's art and reimagining it in terms of an organ trio, accentuating the composer's singular gift for melody and harmony and replacing the lyrics with solos by organ, guitar and (in two instances) tenor saxophone.
Continue ReadingPat Bianchi: B3 Master
by R.J. DeLuke
It may be that young Pat Bianchi had little choice but to follow a career in music. After all, his father and both his grandfathers played professionally in his hometown of Rochester, NY, an area that also produced the likes of the Mangione brothers (Chuck and Gap), pianist Frank Strazzeri, saxophonist Gerry Niewood and drum legend Steve Gadd. “When I came to music, jazz was probably a given because the grandfathers—Pat Bianchi and Richard Zona, sax and trumpet, ...
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