Jazz Articles about Russ Johnson

About Russ Johnson

Album Review

Andy Baker: From Here, From There

Read "From Here, From There" reviewed by Scott Lichtman

by Scott Lichtman
October 24, 2024

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 ...

Album Review

Chris Rottmayer: Being

Read "Being" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci

by Richard J Salvucci
October 10, 2024

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 ...

Album Review

Geof Bradfield: Colossal Abundance

Read "Colossal Abundance" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
August 8, 2024

In the summer of 2023, saxophonist Geof Bradfield and trumpeter Chad McCullough launched Calligram Records--a label focusing on the Chicago creative music scene and its branches. The first batch of albums was strong, with showcases for each of the label heads' respective combo projects, trumpeter Russ Johnson's chordless quartet, and newcomer tenorist Arman Sangalang. A wide variety of offerings followed--the global stew of Atlantic Road Trip's first flight, a kicking trio date from guitarist Scott Hesse, a broad-minded gathering with ...

Album Review

Ethan Philion: Gnosis

Read "Gnosis" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
July 15, 2024

L'impronta di Charles Mingus torna a caratterizzare il secondo album di Ethan Philion, il contrabbassista di Chicago che ha felicemente debuttato due anni fa con Meditations on Mingus (Sunnyside). Rispetto a quel progetto dedicato alle composizioni politiche del contrabbassista ci sono differenze formali e sostanziali che rendono la nuova opera diversa e ancor più coinvolgente: le composizioni sono tutte di Philion (eccetto la mingusiana “What Love," già riscrittura di uno standard di Cole Porter); il tentet di allora è sostituito ...

Album Review

Chris Rottmayer: Being

by Jack Bowers
March 4, 2024

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 ...

Album Review

Chris Rottmayer: Being

by Troy Dostert
February 29, 2024

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 ...

Album Review

Ethan Philion: Meditations On Mingus

Read "Meditations On Mingus" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
February 28, 2024

Questa rilettura del songbook mingusiano, conferma la potenza evocativa e l'attualità di quelle composizioni. La scelta da Ethan Philion ha privilegiato brani che testimoniamo l'impegno civile e politico del contrabbassista di Nogales e sono particolarmente d'attualità oggi. Il disco di apre con un brano dal titolo emblematico, “Once Upon A Time There Was A Holding Corporation Called Old America," che Charles Mingus non registrò mai in studio ma è presente nella registrazione live (a lungo introvabile) di At ...