Home » Jazz Articles » Rich Halley
Jazz Articles about Rich Halley
Rich Halley: The Shape Of Things
by Hrayr Attarian
Accomplished saxophonist Rich Halley has an easily recognizable style which is marked with his brassy, rough-hewn tone, innovative ideas and simmering passion. After starting his own Pine Eagle label, in 2010, Halley added eleven stimulating albums to his discography, featuring bassist Clyde Reed and his son, drummer Carson Halley. In 2019 Halley started fronting the equally distinctive Matthew Shipp Trio. The fiery and captivating The Shape of Things is the quartet's second collaboration and expands on the themes explored on ...
Continue ReadingRich Halley: The Shape Of Things
by Troy Dostert
One thing is certain when approaching a Rich Halley recording: it's likely that you will hear the history of the saxophone in his playing. He's as capable of filling the room with fractured sound as he is in gently ruminating over a haunting phrase, and bop licks are as common as noisy abstraction on his albums; indeed, one might find all of these traits within the same piece. On his latest, The Shape of Things, he's fortunate to have the ...
Continue ReadingRich Halley, Matthew Shipp, Michael Bisio, Newman Taylor Baker: The Shape Of Things
by Karl Ackermann
In 2019, with almost two-dozen albums as a leader, Rich Halley broke his twenty-year streak of recording without a pianist as part of his various formations. It was Matthew Shipp who altered the saxophonist's course on Terra Incognita (Pine Eagle Records) which featured Shipp's trio with bassist Michael Bisio and drummer Newman Taylor Baker. That successful project leads to The Shape of Things, which picks up and moves forward from where that stimulating and satisfying album left off.
Continue ReadingRich Halley: The Shape Of Things
by Dan McClenaghan
Nobody rips it up like Portland, Oregon-based tenor saxophonist Rich Halley. Whether he is playing with his West Coast crews on sets like The Literature (Pine Eagle Records, 2018) or The Outlier (Pine Eagle Records, 2016), or recording with his New York City compatriots on Terra Incognita (Pine Eagle Record, 2019). And now we have--with, again, the New Yorkers--The Shape of Things, where Halley continues to prove he can be counted on to shake the walls and rattle the windows ...
Continue ReadingRich Halley: Terra Incognita
by Neri Pollastri
Ultimo di una lunga serie, quest'album di Rich Halley vede il settantatreenne tenorsassofonista di Portland affiancato da quello che, in buona sostanza, è il trio del pianista Matthew Shipp, con Michael Bisio al contrabbasso e Newman Taylor Baker alla batteria. Formazione dunque di grande prestigio e affiatatissima, la quale si mette alla prova su sei improvvisazioni, per metà anche molto lunghe ("The Journey," raggiunge i diciassette minuti).La musica è di grande libertà, condotta in interazione dialogica e fondamentalmente ...
Continue ReadingRich Halley: Terra Incognita
by Jerome Wilson
On paper this is a very promising match-up: uninhibited tenor saxophonist Rich Halley backed by the relentless force of pianist Matthew Shipp and his current trio. For the most part, the resulting session delivers on its promise although at times Halley's playing is shoved so far to the front of the mix it drowns out everything else. This is especially true on the first track, “The Opening." Halley's long, steely lines are so overpowering that only the surface agitation of ...
Continue ReadingRich Halley, Satoko Fuji, Ramon Lopez & More
by Maurice Hogue
Those artists who have been able to sustain long careers and consistently move the music forward must be celebrated, and this episode recognizes two such examples who have new recordings out at the moment: Be Known: Ancient/Future/Music from Chicago's Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, the group put together in 1976 by percussionist Kahil El'Zabar, and Terra Incognita from tenor saxophonist Rich Halley who decided to head to New York to hook up with musicians there. There's much to like in both albums. ...
Continue Reading
