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Jazz Articles about Peter Erskine
Chris Standring: Wonderful World
by Richard J Salvucci
Many years ago, there was a radio station, WJBR, broadcasting from Wilmington, Delaware. The call sign stood for Just Beautiful Radio and that was precisely what you got. No-one called it easy listening or anything like that--it was the early 1960s--but listeners got a predictable dose of Percy Faith, Ray Conniff, Frank Chacksfield, nothing too challenging. The announcers had a predictable style as well—modulated, mellow, reassuring. In those days, with the possibility of nuclear war never far from anyone's mind, ...
Continue ReadingChris Standring: Wonderful World
by Pierre Giroux
Chris Standring is a Los Angeles-based contemporary jazz guitarist who was originally raised in Buckinghamshire, England. He has always had an itch to record an album of standards and that was scratched with the release of Wonderful World . Through the marvels of technology, Standring was able to record the trio tracks in several locations in California with some bold face names such as Peter Erskine, Chuck Berghofer and Randy Brecker, while the orchestral input was arranged and conducted by ...
Continue ReadingChris Standring: Wonderful World
by Jack Bowers
Wonderful World, the fourteenth album as leader by British guitarist Chris Standring, was no doubt recorded with the best of intentions. And make no mistake, the music is warm and lovely, furnishing an opulent showcase for Standring's mellow guitar. Aside from that, however, there's not a whole lot to say. Standring's “orchestra" consists of a nineteen-member string section, while Geoff Gascoyne's syrupy arrangements call to mind popular string-laden sessions from the 1950s and '60s, “easy listening" albums for “late-night lovers" ...
Continue ReadingPasqua, Erskine, and Oles: The Art of the Jazz Trio
by Jim Worsley
"We've known each other and have been playing together for fifty years now," was proudly, if even more sentimentally, reminisced by pianist Alan Pasqua in reference to drummer Peter Erskine to an intimate and appreciative audience at Sam First in Los Angeles during a recent performance. Bassist Darek Oleszkiewicz, who has been part of the mix for a “mere" twenty years, rounded out this stellar and superbly connected trio. Pasqua's warm hearted moment also included a remembrance of the late ...
Continue ReadingDrummers Roundtable: Peter Erskine, Steve Gadd and Nate Smith
by Joseph Vella
Dan Bonsanti: Cartoon Bebop
by Jack Bowers
The malicious coronavirus pandemic that brought most of the world to its knees in 2020 has spawned the use of several reanimated words including “virtual," whose meaning is “sort of here but not really," as in virtual video chats, conference calls, exhibits, films and even musical performances. “Virtual" has spread its tentacles into almost every walk of life including jazz, via YouTube and other creative channels. And now, it seems, to big bands as well. Cartoon Bebop, the third album ...
Continue ReadingBrian Scanlon: Brain Scan
by Nicholas F. Mondello
Woodwind artist Brian Scanlon has established himself as one of the most respected of the go-to players working the L.A. studio scene. His offerings in the Grammy®-winning “Big Phat Band" have lent plenty to that unit's success. In the intriguingly named Brain Scan, Scanlon moves out into the leader's spotlight with a superb nine-cut effort featuring some superlative solo and killer small ensemble work. Eight of the diversely-grooved cuts are Scanlon originals, many of which are contemporized ...
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