Jazz Articles about Richard Wyands

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Richard Wyands: As Long As There's Music

by AAJ Staff
January 14, 2004

If you could use some joy in your life, try As Long As There’s Music, a piano trio CD featuring pianist Richard Wyands with bassist Ray Drummond and drummer Grady Tate.

Mr. Wyands has the storytelling aspect of music down pat. Whether it is the romantic conflict in “What’s New" (solo piano), the crisp swing of “Focus," or the exquisite evolution of love in “Stairway to the Stars," he reveals the action, the emotion, and the spirit of ...

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Richard Wyands: As Long As There's Music

by Mike Neely
December 8, 2003

With the help of several independent labels and some of the best bassists and drummers in the business, Richard Wyands has been quietly building a superb body of jazz piano trio recordings. Amazing enough, As Long As There’s Music is his first American recording as a leader. Other trio recordings have been released by European labels such as Steeplechase and Criss Cross. On this outing, Wyands is accompanied by bassist Ray Drummond and drummer Grady Tate - many a pianist’s ...

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Richard Wyands: Half and Half

by C. Andrew Hovan
November 1, 2000

Although he’s been a steadfast mainstream performer since the 1950s, pianist Richard Wyands has recorded surprisingly very few times under his own name. To my account, the only currently available discs by Wyands as a leader are The Arrival for Japanese DIW/Disc Union, Get Out of Town on SteepleChase and the previous Criss Cross side Reunited. Five years separate Half and Half from its predecessor, although the noble results seem to have made the wait somehow worth it in the ...

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Richard Wyands: Half and Half

by David A. Orthmann
August 1, 2000

Although his resume includes stints with major jazz figures such as Charles Mingus, Ella Fitzgerald, and Eric Dolphy, it wasn’t until the 1990s that pianist Richard Wyands had the opportunity to consistently record as a leader. A number of fine discs on the Criss Cross, SteepleChase and DIW labels displayed Wyands’ skills as a strong, imaginative soloist in the swing-to-bop mode, who does some of his best work in the classic trio format.

His latest release on Criss Cross, Half ...