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Jazz Articles about Rufus Reid

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Album Review

Nick Finzer: Legacy

Read "Legacy" reviewed by Pierre Giroux


In the realm of jazz, the legacy of J.J. Johnson looms large and immutable, casting an indelible shadow over the trombone's narrative. It is with reverence and a touch of audacity that trombonist Nick Finzer undertakes the task of honoring this titan with his album Legacy a centennial celebration of JJ Johnson. Joined by a stellar ensemble featuring Renee Rosnes, who served as the pianist in Johnson's quintet from 1989 to 1997, bassist Rufus Reid and drummer Lewis Nash, Finzer ...

17
Album Review

Chris Rottmayer: Being

Read "Being" reviewed by Jack Bowers


On Being, his fourth album as leader, Wisconsin-based pianist Chris Rottmayer has chosen to appraise the music of pianist Mulgrew Miller, as written for and performed by the Woody Shaw Quintet. Russ Johnson sits in for Shaw on trumpet and flugelhorn, while the celebrated bassist Rufus Reid and drummer Matt Endres round out the quartet's capable rhythm section. Half of the album's ten numbers arose from Rottmayer's study of Miller's work with Shaw; the other five are ...

3
Album Review

Chris Rottmayer: Being

Read "Being" reviewed by Troy Dostert


Pianist Chris Rottmayer has been a valued presence in the Madison, Wisconsin jazz scene for some time, both as a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin and as the leader of a couple of well-conceived albums. His Sunday at Pilars (Pilars, 2019) and So in Love (self-released, 2020) reveal a self-assured musician who can handle classic repertoire with authority. But his latest effort, Being, ups the ante by offering a collection of his own compositions, in this instance animated ...

36
Album Review

John La Barbera Big Band: Grooveyard

Read "Grooveyard" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Composer/arranger John La Barbera has been at the top of his game for more than half a century, and Grooveyard is simply another example of his undiminished artistry. Besides arranging everything--superbly, as always--La Barbera wrote six of the session's ten charming songs, escorting other treasures by Carl Perkins, Dave Brubeck, Curtis Fuller and Elvin Jones. As he writes his handsome and colorful big-band charts, La Barbera is always careful to observe Rule No. 1: they have to ...

5
Album Review

The John La Barbera Big Band: Grooveyard

Read "Grooveyard" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello


The geometry, if you will, of a terrific big band recording is such that the three major elements--the players, the arrangements, and the performance--balance in every regard. Grooveyard from the John La Barbera Big Band is such an offering. The album features ten masterfully selected, arranged, and performed selections, each containing outstanding section, solo, and ensemble playing. Wes Montgomery's “Grooveyard" launches a hip, swinging first course in which tenor man Pat La Barbera and guitarist Brandon Coleman ...

1
Radio & Podcasts

Rufus Reid and Remembering Dr. Lonnie Smith

Read "Rufus Reid and Remembering Dr. Lonnie Smith" reviewed by Joe Dimino


We begin the 721st Episode of Neon Jazz with the legendary bassist Rufus Reid with the song “Sweet Loraine." The jazz world lost an icon, a master and a friend in Dr. Lonnie Smith and we pay tribute to his life through song and an interview conducted with the show some years back. This hour is full of great tunes from the likes of Leon Lee Dorsey, Jakob Bro and Larry Fuller. There is new music out from the very ...

1
Album Review

Frank Kimbrough: Monk's Dreams: The Complete Compositions of Thelonious Sphere Monk

Read "Monk's Dreams: The Complete Compositions of Thelonious Sphere Monk" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Fino a che punto può spingersi la rilettura del songbook monkiano senza alterare l'estetica e la profondità emotiva del suo autore? Le rivisitazioni degli ultimi decenni hanno privilegiato l'esaltazione dei suoi tratti asimmetrici (le melodie sghembe, i conflitti ritmici, le armonie dissonanti) usando quei brani come pretesto per esplorazioni d'avanguardia. Quando si è usato quel repertorio in chiave mainstream (come palestra per sequenze d'assoli sulle armonie) se n'è svuotata la specificità, l'essenza profonda. Molti hanno usato l'uno ...


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