Jazz Articles about Roy Nathanson

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Roy Nathanson: Subway Moon

by Joel Roberts
June 4, 2009

Subway Moon, alto saxophonist Roy Nathanson's ambitious new album of jazz and spoken word, defies easy categorization. It mixes an accessible brand of avant-garde jazz with R&B, hip hop, Jewish music and multi-vocal harmonies; poignant biographical revelations with humorous observations of urban life; high-art concept with a gritty New York street sensibility. This eclecticism should come as no surprise to those who've followed the co-founder of the playfully experimental Jazz Passengers through his collaborations with Elvis Costello and Deborah Harry ...

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Roy Nathanson: Auditory Circus

by Maxwell Chandler
May 27, 2008

Saxophonist Roy Nathanson was in one of the earliest versions of The Lounge Lizards, which he left to found The Jazz Passengers, a group that slowly morphed into his new ensemble, Sotto Voce. In between he also co-led a duo with keyboardist and composer, Anthony Coleman and released, among others, the ground-breaking album I Could've Been a Drum (Tzadik, 1997).As an independent composer he also scored the work of monologue artist, David Cole. He also scored music for ...

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Roy Nathanson: Sotto Voce

by Brad Glanden
May 14, 2006

The Italian term selected by saxophonist Roy Nathanson as the title of his latest CD connotes a hushing of sung or spoken tones, a deceptive name for a recording with so many worthwhile things to say. On Sotto Voce, the Jazz Passengers co-founder leads an idiosyncratic five-piece through an unholy hodgepodge of pop, post bop, hip-hop and poetry. The unusual mixture succeeds on account of the album's democratic approach, which renders soloistic virtuosity secondary to an overall group concept.

Enlisted ...

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Roy Nathanson: Sotto Voce

by Troy Collins
May 3, 2006

An intriguing combination of spoken word, multipart vocal harmonies and adventurous instrumental jazz with a surprising rhythmic twist, Sotto Voce is not unprecedented in saxophonist/composer Roy Nathanson's discography. With trombonist Curtis Fowlkes, Nathanson is co-founder of the long running Jazz Passengers, those erstwhile guardians of postmodern irreverence. Their career over the past decade has found them reinventing the role of vocals in jazz. Beginning with 1994's In Love, which featured a slew of guest vocalists, including further collaborations with Deborah ...

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Andy Summers: Peggy's Blue Skylight

by Todd S. Jenkins
March 1, 2001

The former Police guitarist assays the multifaceted works of Charles Mingus on this compelling disc, offering updates of the temperamental bassist’s timeless compositions. Summers previously tackled solid material by Mingus, Wayne Shorter, Thelonious Monk and other jazzmen on his 1997 project The Last Dance of Mr. X, with bassist Tony Levin and drummer Gregg Bissonette. Peggy’s Blue Skylight finds Summers and a wider cast mining Mingus’ legacy more deeply, revealing that these classic tunes still have plenty to offer contemporary ...

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Roy Nathanson: Fire At Keaton's Bar & Grill

by Mark Corroto
June 1, 2000

Roy Nathanson has always been a storyteller. In the late 1980s, his band with Curtis Fowlkes, called the Jazz Passengers, echoed the voices he heard from his New York streets. Deranged and Decomposed and Broken Night/Red Light, both nearly impossible to find recordings, spoke of multi-ethnic ramblings, preachers, and strange drugs. Nathanson also wrote music for performance artist David Cale, accenting his tales. Later work with the Lounge Lizards and the nineties reincarnation of the Jazz Passengers with vocalist Debbie ...