Jazz Articles about Seamus Blake

About Seamus Blake

Liner Notes

Jazz fans tend to be fanatical about those artists that most directly speak to their own musical tastes. Over time, a sense of familiarity with the musical personalities of their iconic favorites becomes entrenched, followed by categorization based on style and genre. Those already familiar with Conrad Herwig's musical endeavors over the past 20 years are likely to speak to his great versatility, at home in both jazz and Afro-Cuban musical circles as he is in leading his own varied ...

Liner Notes

Seamus Blake: Bellwether

by C. Andrew Hovan
February 20, 2023

The music speaks for itself. This timeworn axiom has often served as a suggestion that there's an intangible aspect to music's universal language that is somehow beyond mere words. In some cases this may be true, but on the other hand, this outlook has occasionally in the past served as a viable excuse for justifying music of a somewhat dubious nature.In recently talking with saxophonist Seamus Blake by phone from Vancouver, it occurred to me that his “less ...

Liner Notes

Opus 5: Introducing Opus 5

by Josef Woodard
January 31, 2023

The Evident Charms and Secret Powers of Five For all the myriad varieties and contextual possibilities under the rubric of what makes for a valid jazz group, there is something distinctively powerful and tradition-enriched about the number five. Smaller groups tighten up the focus on individual voices involved, and often frame a specified protagonist leader, while larger groupings accentuate the greater good of the team. By contrast, the quintet format, especially in the conventional format of trumpet and tenor sax ...

Album Review

Opus 5: Swing On This

Read "Swing On This" reviewed by Paul Beard

by Paul Beard
August 4, 2022

Recorded in September 2021, at the Samurai Hotel Recording Studio under the direction of Mike Marciano, this is the fifth album from contemporary jazz group, Opus 5. Entitled Swing On This, it comprises eight tracks that average around seven minutes each. Hailing from the Netherlands, Opus 5 is a stylish quintet made up of Seamus Blake on tenor saxophone and Alex Sipiagin on trumpet, with drums by Donald Edwards, bass in the hands of Boris Kozlov and last ...

Album Review

ARC Trio and the John Daversa Big Band: ARCeology: The Music of MSM Schmidt

Read "ARCeology: The Music of MSM Schmidt" reviewed by Jim Worsley

by Jim Worsley
June 10, 2022

What would happen if fusion, already a hybrid of musical genres, was compounded with the sound of big-band? Further, that both genres were stretched well outside the box? An ensemble of bright musical minds came together on just such a project. The results could have been the disastrous soup of too many cooks in the kitchen or, perhaps, something special and creative. Fortunately, they served up an entree which is very much the latter. It starts with quality ...

Album Review

Vivian Buczek: Roots

by Kyle Simpler
April 24, 2022

Since 2003, Vivian Buczek has established herself as a powerful force in the contemporary jazz scene. Her voice is soulful and powerful. She can be sensitive and emotional on a ballad, but then turn around and sing blues songs as if she's been doing it all her life, which she actually has been. With Roots, she brings the listener into her musical world and offers, what she calls, “the most personal album I've ever made." On Roots, Buczek ...

Album Review

Misha Tsiganov: Misha's Wishes

Read "Misha's Wishes" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
March 29, 2022

New York-based pianist and composer Misha Tsiganov, a well-established jazz veteran having appeared on countless albums throughout his career, presents his seventh recording as leader with Misha's Wishes, conceived and birthed during the COVID pandemic, when his time at home offered the perfect opportunity to develop this project. The long-time isolation during 2020 allowed the pianist to write, as he states, “some nice music that people will enjoy," which he certainly accomplishes here, providing seven originals in addition to reimagined ...