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Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestra: Joyful Jazz
by Jack Bowers
One way in which to launch an appraisal of this outstanding seasonal album, the first ever by the world-class Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestra, is to check out its candid--and uncommonly accurate--title. Joyful? Most definitely. Jazz? Without a doubt. For five years, the orchestra's annual holiday celebration has been a welcome tradition for families in the greater Pittsburgh area; now, the ensemble has decided to spread the good cheer to a wider audience by re-creating its exhilarating brand of Joyful Jazz in ...
Continue ReadingThe Pittsburgh Jazz Festival
by Nick Catalano
It is difficult to overestimate the importance of Pittsburgh in the annals of jazz history. Just a few of the legendary names--Ahmad Jamal, Errol Garner, Mary Lou Williams, Billy Eckstine, Billy Strayhorn, George Benson, Ray Brown, Stanley Turrentine--are sufficient to raise the proverbial jazz fan eyebrows. I actually performed there in the halcyon days of bebop and so it was the memory of a gig long ago in the Hill District that drew me back to the scene.
Continue ReadingThe Caribbean Tinge: Live from Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola
by Steve Bryant
Ever since the jazz was created in the clubs and dancehalls of New Orleans, there was always a significant influence from the Caribbean region, specifically from Cuba. The island, which was just a ferry ride from the port city, had such a significant effect on the development of the music that Jelly Roll Morton always spoke of the importance of Afro-Cuban based rhythms (the Spanish Tinge) in creating and performing this nascent music. However, it was the arrival of a ...
Continue ReadingSean Jones: Im•pro•vise-Never Before Seen
by Dan Bilawsky
Sean Jones, the former lead trumpeter of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, never hides behind anything or anyone when he plays. That being said, it's still worth noting that he's pulled back the curtain on this one, revealing more of himself than in the past. This album--his seventh album in ten years on the Mack Avenue imprint--has no overdubs, no percussive window dressing, no other horns sharing space in the front line, and no guests. It's Jones at his ...
Continue ReadingSean Jones: Progress and Passion
by R.J. DeLuke
Trumpeter Sean Jones is always moving forward, developing his sound and getting involved in jazz elbow-deep, believing in its richness and its importance as an American art form. He wants to make an impact and he's doing that, whether with the prodigious technique displayed in his solo projects and spots as a sideman, or as an educator. And lately, it's also directing big bands, because he believes jazz needs to be presented in an orchestral setting.Jones was the ...
Continue ReadingSean Jones: No Need for Words
by Raul d'Gama Rose
Trumpeter Sean Jones has something to say and he says it in his inimitably bright, clear and soaring voice. This is clearly why he is fast becoming associated with the renaissance of the instrument that was brought about by an early mentor, Wynton Marsalis. Jones is a deeply spiritual player. His impulse to adorn notes with joyous phrases and lines comes from gospel roots. He preaches as he lets his trumpet sing and he urges his ensemble of players the ...
Continue ReadingSean Jones: The Search Within
by AAJ Italy Staff
In soli dieci anni Sean Jones si è imposto nel giro dei migliori trombettisti afroamericani e, oltre alla tecnica invidiabile, ha mostrato un approccio emotivo profondo alla composizione ed esecuzione. E' uno di quei musicisti che non suona (o fa suonare) una nota priva di peso, valore e impatto. L'intensità è una costante della sua musica, che in The Search Within giunge alla quinta espressione su CD e lascia un'entusiasmante traccia sull'ascoltatore, coinvolto in una storia per suoni, tramite la ...
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