Jazz Articles about Peter Bernstein

Peter Bernstein

by Andrey Henkin
December 26, 2009

Last month, Peter Bernstein arrived at Smalls, armed with his guitar and a small amp, to play an intimate solo gig. The crowd was a good one for an early evening set on a Wednesday and was bolstered by the presence of legendary trombonist Roswell Rudd. As the Yankees were winning the World Series a borough away, Bernstein was deciding tunes on the spot, running through pieces like “It Could Happen To You" and Monk numbers like “Light Blue" and ...

Peter Bernstein: Monk

by George Kanzler
January 6, 2009

How and by whom a piece of music is presented profoundly influences how it's heard. This would seem to be a truism, but it is one often contradicted. Case in point: a band begins playing a Duke Ellington standard and there's recognition and approval from the audience, the “I like Duke" effect. When this happens with a singer beginning “Satin Doll" the irony is lost. Ellington disliked those Johnny Mercer lyrics so much he rarely presented a vocal version of ...

Joe Magnarelli: Hoop Dreams

by David A. Orthmann
September 15, 2006

Over the past dozen years trumpeter Joe Magnarelli has gradually transformed a bebop-derived vocabulary into a highly personal style. Utilizing a full-bodied tone that never turns strident, Magnarelli invites the listener to focus on the substantive dimensions of his playing, rather than drawing attention to technique, velocity and influences. Beautifully crafted melodies spring from his horn in varying shapes and sizes. Sometimes he'll sustain a chain of thought for several measures; in other instances he'll parcel out a complete idea ...

Peter Bernstein Trio: Live at Smoke

by Tom Greenland
December 14, 2005

Peter Bernstein Trio Live at Smoke Mel Bay Records 2005

Peter Bernstein is the ultimate guitar anti-hero. Without the usual prestidigitation and pyrotechnics of his ilk, without an incessant impulse to chart new stylistic frontiers, Bernstein is nevertheless a guitarist's guitarist and a musician's musician. On his first DVD release, Peter Bernstein Trio: Live at Smoke, he makes a convincing case that less can be more, that old can be new.

Bernstein's trio, featuring ...

Peter Bernstein Trio: Live at Smoke

by John Kelman
September 8, 2005

Peter Bernstein Trio Live at Smoke Mel Bay Records MB20961DVD 2005

Since the early 1990s, guitarist Peter Bernstein, organist Larry Goldings and drummer Bill Stewart have clocked a lot of musical time together. Recording and gigging as the Peter Bernstein Trio, the Larry Goldings Trio, or the Bill Stewart Trio as the situation demands, they've evolved the kind of chemistry that can only come from a longstanding and purely cooperative relationship. With the only ...

M.T.B.: MTB - Consenting Adults

by C. Andrew Hovan
June 1, 2000

One has to wonder why it took over five years for this 1994 recording to make its debut. Certainly the quality is up to Criss Cross standards and the spirit of the session is unquestionably robust. Still, now that Brad Mehldau, Mark Turner, and Peter Bernstein (the first letters of their last names gives us M.T.B.) have become more established artists, this peek at an earlier effort is sure to initiate some lively discussion. In the cases of Turner and ...

Melvin Rhyne: Kojo

by C. Andrew Hovan
October 1, 1999

Taking advantage of the cyclical nature of fads and stylistic “ins" and “outs," Melvin Rhyne is lucky to be part of the current renaissance movement involving the classic sound of the Hammond B-3 organ and the type of funky fare that was prosperous and bountiful during the ‘60s. Of course, Rhyne was around during the heydays as a member of Wes Montgomery’s touring trio. Now this Milwaukee resident has caught the other side of the upswing with a renewed interest ...