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Jazz Articles about Russ Johnson
PlainsPeak: Someone to Someone
by Glenn Astarita
Jon Irabagon's PlainsPeak delivers a soulful homecoming via a love letter to Chicago with its debut, Someone to Someone. Ditching the tech-heavy sprawl of his earlier work like Server Farm (Irabbagast, 2025), the leader returns to Chicago's gritty roots with a lean acoustic quartet that is all heart and sly wit. Irabagon, a Chicago-born saxophonist and winner of the Thelonious Monk Competition, leads with his alto's warm expressive tone. He is joined by trumpeter Russ Johnson, a longtime ...
Continue ReadingRuss Johnson: To Walk On Eggshells
by Glenn Astarita
Russ Johnson, a Chicago-bred trumpeter with a knack for adventurous jazz, joins forces with Swiss bassist Christian Weber and drummer Dieter Ulrich, both stalwarts of the Zurich jazz scene. Johnson's resume boasts collaborations with everyone from Lee Konitz to his own genre-bending Russ Johnson Quartet, while Weber and Ulrich have carved out reputations as nimble improvisers, notably in projects such as Oliver Lake's For A Little Dancin (Intakt, 2010) and Co Streiff's sextet. This nine-track album is a ...
Continue ReadingJon Irabagon / PlainsPeak: Someone to Someone
by Jack Kenny
Jon Irabagon is a musician whose complexity is both exhilarating and daunting. His restless energy, deep self-reflection, remarkable achievements and sharp intellect combine to create a figure who constantly provokes questions--about music, originality and the very nature of artistic expression. In 2011, Irabagon undertook a bold experiment: With Mostly Other People Do The Killing, he recorded Blue (Hot Cup, 2014), a note-for-note recreation of Miles Davis's iconic Kind of Blue (Columbia Records, 1959). This endeavor recalls Gus Van ...
Continue ReadingRuss Johnson, Christian Weber, Dieter Ulrich: To Walk On Effshells
by Alberto Bazzurro
Tutti a firma dei tre performers, con prevalenza di Johnson, i nove brani che compongono questo CD, inciso a Zurigo nel lontano dicembre 2009. Lo firma in maniera “democratica" un trio agguerrito sia in diversi degli episodi di cui sopra che proprio negli esiti complessivi, sempre esemplari per lucidità e capacità di condurre la musica lungo i sentieri scelti di volta in volta. C'è parecchia improvvisazione, è chiaro, ma il fatto che ciascun momento del disco rechi una e una ...
Continue ReadingMatt Ulery: Mother Harp
by Mike Jurkovic
With 15 albums of adventurous composition and daredevil artistry behind him, Chicago-based bassist-composer-bandleader Matt Ulery is, as they say back home, no slouch. And on his 16th, the raucously-inflamed and infectious Mother Harp, he follows his rock 'n' roll heart to the finish line and beyond. Mother Harp is a bevy of crazy-good stuff packed with a punk-rock punch you do not hear authentically or authoritatively anymore anywhere these days. Today it all sounds categorical, as if AI ...
Continue ReadingAndy Baker: From Here, From There
by Scott Lichtman
Andy Baker has crafted an uplifting recording featuring his trombone plus trumpet, upright bass and drums--no chordal instruments. From Here, From There is a fresh take on swing/bop ballads that melds top-notch instrumentalists--Baker, Russ Johnson on trumpet, Clark Sommers on bass and Dana Hall on drums--with beautiful compositions and cover arrangements. Baker luxuriates in “the incredible freedom you get, without explicit chords, to stretch the color of the solo and negotiate anything from there." The sparse 4-piece orchestration ...
Continue ReadingChris Rottmayer: Being
by Richard J Salvucci
One thing is for sure. If a listener comes upon a recording based on the music of Mulgrew Miller and Woody Shaw, there are unlimited possibilities for a harmonic education. Both players were revered for their sophistication and the beauty of the melodies they created. So it hardly seems odd that someone, here pianist Chris Rottmayer, would have made an academic study of what they were doing. Ordinarily, even an academic might think “what a frightful idea," but Rottmayer understood ...
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