Jazz Articles about Steve Swell

About Steve Swell

Album Review

William Parker, Ellen Christi: Cereal Music

Read "Cereal Music" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro

by Alberto Bazzurro
October 1, 2024

William Parker ci ha regalato nel corso degli anni (in particolare da quando la sua stella, ormai intorno ai cinquanta, ha iniziato a brillare di luce particolarmente marcata) opere importantissime, a suo solo nome o in collaborazione con altri. Ciò precisato per chiarire subito che questo suo nuovo lavoro non appartiene a tale schiera. Vi trova posto una narrazione spesso farraginosa che ripercorre la vita del bassista, con intromissioni--per lo più salvifiche--da parte di Ellen Christi, cofirmataria dell'opera, e altri ...

Album Review

Joëlle Léandre: Lifetime Rebel

Read "Lifetime Rebel" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
September 25, 2024

Joëlle Léandre is the definition of a force of nature. She is unstoppable, unforgettable, and full of boundless energy. It is the nature of her force that recordings like Lifetime Rebel attempt to capture. These four CDs--plus an interview and solo performance DVD--capture a moment, but just a moment of her inexhaustible spirit, before she moves on. Recorded in 2023, Léandre was honored with a lifetime achievement award during New York's Vision Festival. The performances captured are by diverse and ...

Album Review

Hirsh / Swell / Clouse / Parker: Out On A Limb

Read "Out On A Limb" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
September 13, 2024

Can déjà vu be contagious? Or at least a particular quality or disposition that is communicable? This might be the question to ask after sitting down with Out On A Limb by the improvising quartet of Steve Hirsh, Steve Swell, Jim Clouse, and William Parker. The music this unit created spontaneously in April 2024 does not appear from thin air, it is a product of a half-century of innovation and modernism in music. Much of that history has ...

Album Review

Rob Brown Quartet: Oblongata

Read "Oblongata" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
July 28, 2024

Although reedman Rob Brown has a string of small group leadership outings to his name, dating back to his first, Breath Rhyme (Silkheart) in 1990, Oblongata may be one of his finest. The 2022 studio session reunites him with some of his most enduring collaborators, the same crew responsible for From Here To Hear (Rogue Art, 2019), as well as an outstanding appearance at the 2019 Vision Festival, namely trombonist Steve Swell, bassist Chris Lightcap and drummer Chad Taylor.

Album Review

Steve Swell: Dances With Questions

Read "Dances With Questions" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
January 11, 2024

American trombonist Steve Swell plays to the strengths of his talented cast of improvisers on the sprawling multifaceted Dances With Questions, a three-CD box set which documents his three day residency at the 2019 Krakow Jazz Autumn. The center piece is the 70-minute title cut for a dozen musicians, but the album also includes two discs of small group encounters captured in the city's legendary Alchemia club during the previous evenings. Swell, a veteran of the New York ...

Album Review

Steve Swell's Fire Into The Music: For Jemeel: Fire From The Road

Read "For Jemeel: Fire From The Road" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro

by Alberto Bazzurro
December 8, 2023

Oltre tre ore di musica catturate in altrettante esibizioni live fra Texas (due, ottobre 2004) e Canada (la restante, settembre 2005) e oggi rese opportunamente disponibili sono ciò che ci offre questo triplo album composito ma per altri versi assolutamente monolitico. Lo firma un superquartetto, sempre quello, che attraversa i sette ampi brani (il primo occupa l'intero primo cd) con fare deciso, ottima capacità di gestire l'evolversi della musica prodotta, i suoi spazi intestini, felicemente bilanciati fra parti corali e ...

Album Review

Steve Swell’s Fire Into Music: For Jemeel: Fire From The Road

Read "For Jemeel: Fire From The Road" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
April 29, 2023

If listeners only had the one recording, Swimming In A Galaxy Of Goodwill And Sorrow (Rogueart, 2007) from Steve Swell's Fire Into Music, and did not have the pleasure of hearing the quartet live in person, there certainly would be a large blank spot in their metaphorical dance card. The trombonist Swell, bassist William Parker, and drummer Hamid Drake must also mourn the loss of the fourth member of the quartet, alto saxophonist Jemeel Moondoc (1946-2021). Much like Ornette Coleman, ...