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Jazz Articles about Shirantha Beddage
About Shirantha Beddage
Instrument: Saxophone, baritone
BARI-ed Alive: Put It There
by Pierre Giroux
In an era teeming with standard horn sections and predictable lineups, BARI-ed Alive's Put It There stands out as a bold and sonorous declaration of individuality. The sextet's audacious choice to feature three baritone saxophones--masterfully played by Alex Dean, Shirantha Beddage, and Chris Gale--creates a sound that is muscular, bottom-heavy, and perhaps surprisingly buoyant. Rounded out by Jeff McLeod on the Hammond B-3 organ, Andrew Scott on guitar, and Morgan Childs on drums, this group knows how to have fun ...
Continue ReadingCarn Davidson 9: Reverence
by Jack Bowers
The Carn Davidson 9 is a Toronto, Canada-based nonet co-led by trombonist William Carn and saxophonist Tara Davidson whose fourth studio album, Reverence, encompasses a pair of four-part suites, one written by Carn, the other by Davidson. What is most interesting --over and above the depth and quality of the music--is that the suites are not performed sequentially but interspersed, with the first two of Davidson's themes followed by a pair of Carn originals before alternating on the remaining four ...
Continue ReadingCarn Davidson 9: The History of Us
by Jack Bowers
From north of the U.S. border comes The History of Us, a warm-hearted album by the Carn Davidson 9, a Toronto-based nonet co-led by trombonist William Carn and saxophonist Tara Davidson. The album consists of a pair of three-part suites, one by Carn, the other by Davidson, separated by Carn's amiable composition, “Goodbye Old Friend," a fond salute to his late and dearly loved cat, Murphy. Carn's “Finding Home" suite, which leads things off, was inspired by ...
Continue ReadingShirantha Beddage: Momentum
by Dave Wayne
The fact that Momentum is only Shirantha Beddage's third album as a leader since 2007 suggests that he's either putting a lot of thought into his music, or that he has a lot of other stuff going on. One thing he has going on is composing music for the FX television series Fargo. Still, it's kind of interesting that, in today's media- mad world, someone would leave a 4 or 5 year gap between albums. For Momentum, Beddage has reconvened ...
Continue ReadingShirantha Beddage: Momentum
by Franz A. Matzner
The baritone sax is an underutilized part of the jazz arsenal, at least as a lead, soloist instrument. Its deep sonority tends to tilt its use either toward ensemble settings or the cooler styles of soloist work, following the trajectory of Gerry Mulligan's early innovations on the instrument. With Momentum, Canadian composer and multi-instrumentalist Shirantha Beddage unfetters the baritone's capacities, both by exploring the instrument's higher registers and utilizing it in a wide variety of musical settings, while taking full ...
Continue ReadingTake Five With Shirantha Beddage
by AAJ Staff
Meet Shirantha Beddage: Baritone saxophonist Shirantha Beddage is the Director of Jazz Studies at Columbus State University in Columbus, GA, and a Doctoral candidate at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY. Shirantha's new release, Roots and Branches (Jazz Excursion Records, 2007), features a collection of his original works for quartet featuring piano, bass and drums. The works contained within are often tributes to composers that influenced Beddage as a saxophonist and pianist, in addition to other compositions that ...
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