Jazz Articles about Steven Bernstein

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Sex Mob: Sexmob Meets Medeski live in Willisau 2006

by Brandt Reiter
November 9, 2009

How best to describe slide trumpeter Steven Bernstein's singular quartet Sex Mob? Maybe we should start with mercurial musical magician Bernstein himself, whose exotic career as sideman, musical director, arranger and composer has included ten years with John Lurie's Lounge Lizards and stints alongside everyone from Bill Frisell to Sam Rivers, the Flying Karamazov Brothers and, oh yes, Bootsy Collins. Or maybe we should look at his career as bandleader, which includes the trumpet-slide guitar-tuba trio Spanish Fly and the ...

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Steven Bernstein - Marcus Rojas - Kresten Osgood: Tattoos and Mushrooms

by AAJ Italy Staff
October 19, 2009

La dimensione musicale allucinata, evocata dai funghi della copertina di questo simpatico e bizzarro disco, rende la propria cifra nel suono assolutamente unico (e a quel che ci risulta senza precedenti) in cui la batteria si incontra con tuba e tromba/tromba a culisse. L'impasto timbrico rimanda solo teoricamente alla tradizione, quella degli ottoni degli anni Venti e delle bande (che in effetti riecheggia nel portamento carnoso di Hofstra), perché poi gran parte di questo lavoro finisce quasi incredibilmente (ma anche ...

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Steven Bernstein / Marcus Rojas / Kresten Osgood: Tattoos and Mushrooms

by Chris Mosey
June 13, 2009

The line-up of slide trumpet, tuba and drums is, to say the least, somewhat unusual in jazz. As is the choice of Hank Williams' “So Lonesome I Could Cry" as a vehicle for improvisation. On Tattoos and Mushrooms, trumpeter Steven Bernstein, tubaist Marcus Rojas and drummer Kresten Osgood go boldly into aural regions where no man has gone before. To put it another way, this is not what Count Basie called “music to pat your foot to." ...

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Millenial Territory Orchestra: We Are MTO

by Tom Greenland
January 22, 2009

The Millennial Territory Orchestra, the lovechild of leader/arranger/slide trumpeter Steven Bernstein, is back with its sophomore release, We Are MTO, a typically boisterous romp through middle-Americana. Starring the same dramatis personae as its debut, the band is an unwieldy cast of character actors, strong individualists all capable of stealing the scene on any given song. Inspired by his researches for the film Kansas City, Bernstein continues to foment and signify on the sound of early '20s jazz ...

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Steven Bernstein: Diaspora Suite

by AAJ Italy Staff
January 5, 2009

Racconta Steven Bernstein, nelle note di copertina di questo Diaspora Suite [nuova tappa di un percorso che ha già prodotto tre splendidi e eterogenei dischi a partire dalla tradizione cantoriale: Diaspora Soul, Diaspora Blues e Diaspora Hollywood], dell'insistenza di John Zorn affinchè il nuovo progetto contenesse tutto materiale originale. Questo desiderio, unito alla reunion - in ricordo di Robert Altman - della band con cui aveva registrato la colonna sonora per il film Kansas City, ha ispirato il trombettista e ...

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Steven Bernstein's Millennial Territory Orchestra: We Are MTO

by Mark Corroto
November 17, 2008

Jazz is fun again. Yes, in the hands of a showman like Steven Bernstein it can be a ball. Whether he is fronting his band Sexmob, playing sideman to Bobby Previte, or arranging tracks for Mario Pavone, he means to entertain us. And entertainment as in “that's show biz folks." Maybe it was his early work with John Lurie's Lounge Lizards or his experience researching regional jazz bands as the musical director for Robert Altman's film Kansas ...

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Steven Bernstein's Millennial Territory Orchestra: We Are MTO

by Troy Collins
November 8, 2008

From his career-defining work on the score to Robert Altman's film Kansas City to his recent arrangements for producer Hal Wilner's various projects, trumpeter Steven Bernstein has ascended from the ranks of the underground to attain a level of recognition that few musicians of his caliber receive.

Bernstein's rough and tumble Sex Mob quartet has been tearing down musical boundaries for well over a decade, but it is his large ensemble, the Millennial Territory Orchestra (MTO), that offers ...