Jazz Articles about Rez Abbasi

Rez Abbasi: Bazaar

by Tom Greenland
February 2, 2007

One of the healthiest trends, it seems, in “our music is a certain restlessness, a dissatisfaction perhaps, with accepting the tradition as is. Rez Abbasi, originally from Pakistan and raised in southern California, now a fifteen-year veteran of the Manhattan scene, is a living embodiment of East-meets-West-meets-East. The music on Bazaar, the guitarist's fifth CD release as leader, reflects Abbasi's itinerate cultural awarenesses and offers yet another indication of where the restless spirit of the music may be headed.

Rez Abbasi: Bazaar

by John Kelman
November 13, 2006

If ever there were an argument for the evolving chemistry of a regularly working group, Bazaar is it. Following the breakthrough Snake Charmer (Earth Sounds, 2005), guitarist Rez Abbasi's core group of organist Gary Versace, drummer Danny Weiss and Indian singer Kiran Ahluwalia has placed more than a few miles under its collective belt, including a March, 2005 club date in Ottawa, Canada and a followup performance at this year's Ottawa International Jazz Festival. Bazaar takes the innovations of Snake ...

Rez Abbasi: Bazaar

by Ian Patterson
November 8, 2006

The nine tunes on Bazaar, Rez Abbasi's fine debut recording for Zoho, have a structural depth which rewards repeated listening, and harmonic and rhythmic qualities which are instantly pleasing to the ear. Abbasi's totally convincing fusion of jazz with southern Asian rhythms and textures is supported by wonderful musicianship throughout.

The opening title track sounds like Ornette Coleman and Don Cherry on a magic carpet ride over India, although the first solo comes not from tabla, sitar-guitar, sax ...

Rez Abbasi: Bazaar

by Jim Santella
November 7, 2006

Guitarist Rez Abbasi interprets nine of his own compositions on this album with a jazz organ trio and guests who explore the connection between East and West through improvised music. His impressions run happy, sad, light, dark, mysterious, open, free and easy. Abbasi retains the mystique of the classic jazz organ/guitar trio while coloring each selection with cultural ties from India and neighboring countries. He wields a sitar-guitar frequently for effect, and he devotes plenty of time toward expressing guitar ...

Rez Abbasi: Snake Charmer

by Ollie Bivens
May 14, 2006

Los Angeles-raised and New York-resident guitarist Rez Abbasi states that “with my music I want to hold onto the the traditional aspects of each form (Indian music and jazz) and unite the best elements of both." The guitarist demonstrates prodigious chops throughout his fourth album, Snake Charmer, an eight-song, sixty-minute journey into jazz-rock fusion, grounded in Indian rhythms and ragas.

Typical throughout, as on the title track, the fleet-fingered Abbasi dances around the propulsive rock-like grooves of drummer Danny Weiss, ...

Rez Abbasi: Out of Body

by Germein Linares
March 29, 2006

Rez Abbasi's Out of Body finds the prolific guitarist creating nine rich and wildly imaginative scenes, with the ample help of trumpeter Ron Horton (sounding a lot like Dave Douglas here), saxophonist Tony Malaby, bassist John Hebert and drummer Bruce Hall.

Though Abbasi credits Jim Hall and Pat Metheny as his primary influences, his approach to the guitar on Out of Body is more akin to Bill Frisell's restless musical mixture of cultures and genres. There seem to be many ...

Rez Abbasi: Snake Charmer

by Jerry D'Souza
August 26, 2005

Indian music has been integrated into jazz in many ways. It has been subject to the harmony of jazz and has also taken the leading role, with jazz harmony in support. There are been many essayists of this fusion, and Rez Abbasi is one of them. But there is something that sets Abbasi apart: his exquisite use of the raga and jazz.

Abbasi's compositions flow gently. As they do, they envelop rich textures, the final product striking in ...