Jazz Articles about Rachel Therrien

About Rachel Therrien

Album Review

The DIVA Jazz Orchestra: Swings Broadway

Read "Swings Broadway" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
May 26, 2022

At the ripe old age of thirty (closer to a hundred in big-band years), the superlative New York-based, all-female DIVA Jazz Orchestra remains as frisky as a newborn colt, swinging up, down and around Broadway with abandon on its thirteenth album, a brisk and colorful tribute to the Great White Way that shines brightly from start to finish. The album opens and closes in a mid-1950s vein, raising the curtain with Steven Feifke's breezy, well-grooved arrangement of ...

Album Review

Chad Lefkowitz-Brown and the Global Big Band: Open World

Read "Open World" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
October 18, 2021

There are times, thanks to the indestructible human spirit, when even the most horrendous scourge--say, a global pandemic that has claimed millions of lives in countries around the world--can lead to the occasional silver lining, a small yet persistent light at the end of a very dark tunnel. Case in point: Open World, a superlative new album by saxophonist Chad Lefkowitz-Brown (commonly known as Chad LB) and the Global Big Band, whose name describes exactly what it is: an ensemble ...

Album Review

Arturo O'Farrill: Virtual Birdland

Read "Virtual Birdland" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
May 12, 2021

Whenever an obstacle presents itself--even one as devastating and disruptive as a global pandemic--it's a sure bet that musicians will find a way around it, a way to keep making music even in the most grievous circumstances. Jazz musicians have been especially creative during the Covid-19 scourge, using social media, the internet and any other means at their disposal to share their music with the world. True, the paychecks aren't as large or as regular as once they were, but ...

Album Review

Rachel Therrien: Vena

by Mike Jurkovic
April 6, 2020

A hot organ intro accompanies the simple, fifty-two second, folk-dance breeze of “Folks Jam" before sweeping you into the grander, ballroom dance that is “V for Vena." It's an alluring intro to trumpeter/flugelhornist Rachel Therrien's fifth album as a leader. You quickly hear the beauty of Therrien's playing: there's no need to nerdily testify which horn she's playing on any given solo (even if you could spot the difference). Just gasp and when she's done soaring or imploring, ...

Album Review

The DIVA Jazz Orchestra: DIVA + The Boys

Read "DIVA + The Boys" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
February 18, 2020

The all-female DIVA Jazz Orchesta has a boy-meets-girls story threaded into its origin, as drummer Stanley Kay served as the impetus behind the group's formation. Therefore, it's only fitting that the ladies have a few gentleman over to join them for some high times in the music every now and then. This eight-song set, recorded live at Pittsburgh's Manchester Craftsmen's Guild in March of 2017, finds clarinetist Ken Peplowski, dearly departed trumpeter Claudio Roditi, trombonist Jay Ashby, and ...

Album Review

The DIVA Jazz Orchestra: DIVA + the Boys

Read "DIVA + the Boys" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
February 11, 2020

After more than twenty-five years as one of the world's most renowned big bands, drummer Sherrie Maricle's superlative all-female DIVA Jazz Orchestra invited a quartet of “the boys" onboard to help ensure the ensemble's twelfth album's success. Even though DIVA needs no consorts to affirm its unremitting mastery, it is nonetheless pleasurable to witness these talented women sharing the stage and blowing up a storm with such esteemed guest artists as clarinetist Ken Peplowski, trombonist Jay Ashby and (it hurts ...

Album Review

Rachel Therrien: Pensamiento

Read "Pensamiento" reviewed by James Nadal

by James Nadal
January 7, 2017

The music of Colombia is as unique as the geographical layout of the country itself. Having two distinct coastal expanses divided by the Isthmus of Panama, the Caribbean or eastern Atlantic region, and the western Pacific region; each offering a diverse blend of musical styles and rhythms, representing the Spanish, African, and Indigenous cultures prevalent in the area. Trumpeter Rachel Therrien in 2014 went on a national tour of Colombia with the Gypsy Cumbia Orchestra, and was exposed to the ...