Home » Jazz Articles » Phil Grenadier
Jazz Articles about Phil Grenadier
Bruce Gertz: Octopus Dreams
by Jack Bowers
Veteran bassist and composer Bruce Gertz, who has more than 20 albums under his belt in a career spanning more than half a century, wrote and arranged every number on his latest recording, Octopus Dreams, wherein his skills in every realm are essential to its outcome. As a bassist, Gertz is sharp and perceptive; as a composer, quite capable within his area of preference, which basically encompasses contemporary post-bop jazz. In other words, Gertz writes well without ...
Continue ReadingJerry Bergonzi: Extra Extra
by Alberto Bazzurro
L'italo-americano Jerry Bergonzi è notoriamente uno dei sommi sacerdoti del tenorsassofonismo contemporaneo--vogliamo definirlo post-coltraniano? nel suo caso più che mai--che sta a indicare di fatto l'ultimo mezzo secolo di musica afroamericana, in pratica ciò che è arrivato dopo lo svolgersi delle avanguardie storiche (in quanto tali, appunto, non perché dopo si siano esaurite, per buona sorte), alle quali non ha mai guardato con troppa attenzione. Il fatto che sia nato (a Boston) nel 1947 ci dice come questo ...
Continue ReadingMelissa Kassel & Tom Zicarelli Group: Moments
by Anastasia Bogomolets
Take a little bit of cool jazz, add boldly inventive vocals at times distinctly rooted in the realm of free jazz, gently sprinkle with bebop solos here and there, and season with heartfelt lyrics. Mix until smooth. Enjoy Moments by Melissa Kassel and the Tom Zicarelli Group. “I do not believe the studio always captures the essence of a live performance where everything is naturally spontaneous," Kassel notes. Yet, with this recording, she has undoubtedly achieved that goal. ...
Continue ReadingDial and DeRosa: Keep Swingin'
by Jack Bowers
Keep Swingin', a splendid new album from pianist Garry Dial and drummer Rich DeRosa, features “the music of Charlie Banacos." Charlie who? you may ask. And the answer is, there are jazz educators, and then there was Charlie Banacos, whose talent and ingenuity in the classroom influenced and inspired countless jazz musicians for more than fifty years. During that time, he designed more than a hundred courses of study and wrote half a dozen books on composition and improvisation.
Continue ReadingClub d'Elf: You Never Know
by Chris M. Slawecki
You Never Know is the Club d'Elf studio album that captures the whirling, overlapping orbits of acoustic, electric and exotic sounds of the floating improvisational collective, which has recorded and performed together for more than two decades, with crisp studio clarity. But more importantly, You Never Know celebrates light born from darkness. Bassist and bandleader Mike Rivard, the sole constant in the collective's 24-year run, suffered a near-death experience from a pulmonary embolism which struck him while he ...
Continue ReadingClub D'Elf: You Never Know
by Chris May
Near-death experiences can reboot the mind, separating the important from the trivial. It seems to have worked like that for bassist and composer Mike Rivard, founder and leader of Boston's world-dub-jazz band Club D'Elf. A few years back, Rivard was nearly felled by a pulmonary embolism while seeking spiritual insight in the Amazonian rain forest. A long, dark period of depression followed, before Rivard emerged recharged into the light, having been sustained in large part by gnawa, the Moroccan trance ...
Continue ReadingPhil Grenadier: Shimmer
by Glenn Astarita
Boston, MA, based trumpeter Phil Grenadier is a highly regarded jazz artisan, performing and recording with famous crooners, rock bands and ingratiating his wares within numerous progressive jazz fronts. He's also taught at New York City's prestigious Mannes College of Music and for the most part, has enjoyed status as a go-to session ace amid a stockpile of impressive accomplishments. His leadership skills and consummate technical gifts shine radiantly on Shimmer. Indeed, the musicians must have had ...
Continue Reading
