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Jazz Articles about Steve Swell
Mars Williams: An Ayler Xmas Vol. 4: Chicago vs. NYC
by Mark Corroto
For more than a decade, Mars Williams has been making (to borrow a phrase) Christmas music great again. He does so by exchanging the saccharine for the sublime, intersecting holiday classics with the music of Albert Ayler. Born out of his Chicago Ayler repertory band which can be heard on Witches And Devils At The Empty Bottle</em> (Knitting Factory Records, 2000), Williams applied the Gospel and spiritual nature of Ayler's methodology to Xmas music. While the eponymously titled first volume ...
Continue ReadingWhit Dickey: Tao Quartets: Peace Planet & Box of Light
by Giuseppe Segala
Possiamo dire che l'assioma secondo il quale tutti i jazzisti sono sottovalutati, non sia poi così paradossale. Parliamo naturalmente dei musicisti che mettono al primo posto del loro operato il fare artistico e non la realizzazione di un prodotto solo ben accetto sul mercato. Spesso ci troviamo di fronte a musicisti che subiscono tale disattenzione in modo ancora più evidente, se confrontata alla mole e alla qualità del loro lavoro. Quest'ultimo concetto è sottolineato da Clifford Allen nelle ampie note ...
Continue ReadingDave Sewelson: More Music for a Free World
by Troy Dostert
While baritone saxophonist Dave Sewelson may not be as widely-recognized as those whose company he regularly keeps, this long-standing veteran of William Parker's Little Huey Orchestra and the Microscopic Sextet has long been a force in wielding his weighty axe, lending lower-end punch with vigor and dexterity for several decades. Here he's reunited with Parker, drummer Marvin Bugalu Smith and trombonist Steve Swell for a follow-up to a recording from 2018, Music for a Free World (FMR Records). Like its ...
Continue ReadingSteve Swell / Robert Boston / Michael Vatcher: Brain In A Dish
by John Sharpe
It is hard to think of a more complete trombone player on the scene than Steve Swell. While a go-to sideman for the likes of William Parker, Ken Vandermark, Jason Kao Hwang and Tim Daisy, he has also amassed a significant body of work over the years in his own right. Although his output has featured compositions of increasing sophistication, Swell remains a committed and accomplished improviser, and that is the turf he stakes out on the eleven extemporized studio ...
Continue ReadingSteve Swell, Ziv Taubenfeld & Ivo Perelman
by Maurice Hogue
This episode carries on from the previous, playing music from a some of the important independent labels that keep creative music alive. ESP-Disk has been around, survived one crash in the 80s, and is still releasing great music. Son Of Local Colour is a 50-year-later follow up to English pianist Peter Lemer's original Local Colour album for ESP. The label suggested an anniversary concert to celebrate, and the gig at Pizza Express in London was recorded. Prolific saxophonist Ivo Perelman ...
Continue ReadingSteve Swell: Appreciating the Avant Garde Today
by Victor L. Schermer
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6[This is the third of an All About Jazz series of interviews and articles on “The Many Faces of Jazz Today: Critical Dialogues" in which we explore the current state of jazz around the world with musicians, journalists, and entrepreneurs who give us their own unique perspectives. In the first interview of the series, saxophonist Bobby Zankel spoke about his efforts to ...
Continue ReadingSteve Swell: Kanreki: Reflection & Renewal
by John Sharpe
To mark his sixtieth birthday (December 6, 2014), trombonist Steve Swell, long the pre-eminent trombonist on the NYC free jazz scene, invokes the Japanese custom of Kanreki. Although it is said to signal both a rebirth and a handing on of responsibilities, Swell shows no signs of allowing the occasion to inhibit his ambition. Over the course of two discs, Not Two proffers a broad survey of recent outlets for his expression, encompassing seven distinct line ups recorded between 2011 ...
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