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Jazz Articles about Russ Gershon
About Russ Gershon
Instrument: Multi-instrumentalist
Russ Gershon: Time Traveler, Four Million Years Later
by Ian Patterson
Twenty-five years is a long time in jazz. When saxophonist/composer/bandleader Russ Gershon founded the Either/Orchestra back in 1985, trumpeter Miles Davis was on the crest of his jazz/funk comeback wave, and the so-called Young Lions movement fronted by trumpeter Wynton Marsalis was coming into prominence, just as Weather Report--the last of the great '70s fusion bands--was coming to an end. In those days, the orchestras of Cab Calloway, Buddy Rich and Sun Ra were still touring, and you could also ...
Continue ReadingEither/Orchestra: Mood Music for Time Travelers
by Ian Patterson
As saxophonist/founder Russ Gershon has noted, the 25-year history of the Either/Orchestra constitutes a quarter of jazz's eventful history. The changes in this large ensemble's music in part reflect wider trends and at the same time are the results of an organic evolution as members have come and gone. In the early years, Gershon plumbed the jazz cannon for repertory in addition to composing original material. However, arrangements of songs by Bob Dylan, Bing Crosby and Robert Fripp pointed to ...
Continue ReadingEither/Orchestra: Mood Music for Time Travellers
by AAJ Italy Staff
Dopo la felicissima perentesi africana del 2005 (documentata dal vivo in Live in Addis ma gia' presente in parte su Afro-cubism) l'orchestra di Russ Gershon celebra i 25 anni d'attività con un nuovo album, l'undicesimo. È certamente un bel traguardo, su cui nessuno avrebbe scommesso quando l'organico si mise assieme, quasi per gioco a casa del sax tenore, complici “una cassa di birra e degli spartiti". Gershon è un bandleader e arrangiatore versatile e aperto, che guarda con interesse alle ...
Continue ReadingEither/Orchestra: Mood Music for Time Travellers
by Jerry D'Souza
The past 25 years have been a time of transition for The Either/Orchestra. Members have come and gone and come back again. Their music has imbibed several styles and genres and grown all the richer. One of the sagest moves they made was the long, and fruitful, collaboration with Ethiopian music and with musicians that included Mahmoud Ahmed, Getachew Mekurya and Mulatu Astatke,For this recording, Russ Gershon wrote a couple of tunes geared to the organ after he ...
Continue ReadingEither/Orchestra: Mood Music For Time Travellers
by Bruce Lindsay
A sense of calm and well-being pervades the Either/Orchestra's Mood Music For Time Travellers, investing its ten tunes with a warmth and good humor that makes the music immediately accessible, and also hides some of the compositions' complexities. It's a calm that comes from experience and confidence, this album celebrating Either/Orchestra's 25th year. The Massachusetts-based group, led by saxophonist and composer Russ Gershon, has a strong reputation for its work with Ethiopian musicians on albums such as ...
Continue ReadingEither/Orchestra Handles All Tough Turns of Jazz Road
by R.J. DeLuke
Saxophonist Russ Gershon is on the horns of a dilemma with his sparkling band, the Either/Orchestra, the rock-solid 10-piece organization that churns out all kinds of music. The surprising sounds are steeped in jazz, but like a Luis Tiant pitch, the thunder the band emits can come from just about any angle. Critics have loved them. Yet gigs aren’t as plentiful as they should be for such a stellar group. Gershon – who’s tired, in a way, of winning Downbeat ...
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