Jazz Articles about Sam Newsome

Sam Newsome & Lucian Ban: The Romanian-American Jazz Suite at the Jazz Standard, NYC

by Budd Kopman
July 22, 2008

Sam Newsome & Lucian Ban--The Romanian-American Jazz Suite at the Jazz StandardThe Jazz StandardNew York City, New YorkJuly 1, 2008 The genesis of The Romanian-American Jazz Suite goes back to 2004 when pianist Lucian Ban, whose roots are Romanian and American soprano saxophonist Sam Newsome received the CEC Artslink Award, which supports cross-cultural projects between artists in the United States, Central Europe, Russia and Eurasia. Ban lent Newsome a collection by Iosif ...

Sam Newsome & Lucian Ban: The Romanian-American Jazz Suite

by Budd Kopman
July 22, 2008

The Romanian-American Jazz Suite, by soprano saxophonist Sam Newsome and pianist Lucian Ban, is another very good example of how the jazz aesthetic of personal expression be applied to other music (here Romanian folk music and Christmas carols) and, in essence, subsume it. The project has its genesis in an award given by CEC Artslink to promote cross-cultural projects between the United States and Central Europe, among other regions. Having Romanian roots, Ban lent Newsome a collection ...

Sam Newsome & Lucian Ban: The Romanian-American Jazz Suite

by Terrell Kent Holmes
July 16, 2008

Sam Newsome and Lucian Ban took a handful of Romanian folk songs and gave them jazz arrangements, then combined them with some original songs inspired by Romanian culture to produce The Romanian-American Jazz Suite, an excellent balance of the modern and the traditional, rendered artfully by a first-rate band. “Transylvanian Dance" isn't what one would expect. It's laid-back funk, with Sorin Romanescu scratching on guitar and altoist Newsome and the irrepressible Alex Harding on baritone sax having ...

Meet Sam Newsome

by Steve Armour
August 3, 2007

Courage and vision in the creation of art are rarely rewarded commercially. Sam Newsome proved it does occasionally happen, though the outcome is never certain. After years spent developing a reputation as a first-rate tenor saxophonist alongside Terrance Blanchard, Donald Byrd and Lionel Hampton, Newsome gave up the tenor to concentrate exclusively on the soprano sax. It was a risk, but he developed a musical identity on soprano, and eventually a forward-looking, “cross-cultural jazz" group to present it. His reward ...

Sam Newsome: This Masquerade

by C. Andrew Hovan
January 1, 2002

It's been ten years now since saxophonist Sam Newsome made his debut recording as a leader for Criss Cross Jazz, Sam I Am. Prior to that he had spent five years on the front line of Terrence Blanchard's quintet. Already established within the hard bop community and known as a tenor saxophone stylist of note, Newsome made a bold move in 1995 by focusing exclusively on the soprano horn. Furthermore, he would develop a unique muse in the guise of ...

Sam Newsome: Global Unity

by AAJ Staff
September 1, 2001

Sam Newsome extends his radical departure into the realm of world beat on his latest disc. In 1995 Newsome was an established hard bop saxophonist whose associations included straight-ahead mainstays like Donald Byrd, Lionel Hampton and Terrence Blanchard when he made a 180-degree career switch. He traded in his main ax, tenor saxophone, for the soprano and forswore the inside context for the international grooves of world music.

As the album's title suggests, the music produced here is a melding ...

Sam Newsome: Global Unity

by Glenn Astarita
September 1, 2001

Sam Newsome performs solely on soprano saxophone with his debut for 'Palmetto Records' while continuing his affinity for integrating World rhythms, disparate modalities and endearing melodies into exotic frameworks for jazz-based motifs. Here, the artist views his second 'Global Unity' release as being somewhat of an expansion over his 1999 effort.

Essentially, Newsome's mindset, or approach might spur thoughts of Pat Metheny's 80's group or perhaps the 70's pairing of soprano sax great Wayne Shorter and Brazilian vocalist, Milton Nascimento. ...