Jazz Articles about Steven Bernstein

Steven Bernstein: Big Four Live & The Harlem Experiment

by Kurt Gottschalk
October 6, 2007

Big Four (Nagl, Bernstein, Akchote, Jones) Big Four Live hatHUT 2007 Various Artists The Harlem Experiment Ropeadope 2007

Retro playing is always a bit of a gambit. Musicians often in the act of recreation lose the sense of creation. Whatever his secret is, trumpeter Steven Bernstein has always been able to ...

Steven Bernstein: Proud Member of the Pre-Computer Absorption Generation

by Paul Olson
November 20, 2006

Trumpeter/composer/arranger Steven Bernstein may be the ultimate Downtown jazz personality. Certainly, he's one of the most ubiquitous and hard-working since he began playing in New York in the 1980s after relocating from California. In addition to playing with, well, everyone, he was a member of the 1990s edition of John Lurie's Lounge Lizards and a co-leader of the 1990s trio Spanish Fly. Meeting producer/impresario Hal Willner (who produced the first Spanish Fly album) led to a long association that's continued ...

Steven Bernstein: Sexotica and Millennial Territory Orchestra Volume 1

by Tom Greenland
September 4, 2006

Sex Mob Sexotica Thirsty Ear 2006 Steven Bernstein's Millenial Territory Orchestra MTO Volume 1 Sunnyside 2006

Slide trumpeter Steven Bernstein knows what the people want: groove, bluesy soul, familiar tunes and humor - all in evidence on his two latest releases. Sexotica, Sex Mob's sixth release, continues a trajectory towards original ...

Steven Bernstein's Millenial Territory Orchestra: MTO Volume 1

by John Kelman
August 10, 2006

It's hard to believe that someone with Steven Bernstein's encyclopaedic musical knowledge has left any stones unturned. Recruited by filmmaker Robert Altman as a musical consultant for Kansas City, the veteran trumpeter from the downtown New York scene became fascinated with the music of the late teens and '20s, when the language of jazz was still being formed. So much so that he turned the experience into an ongoing musical project that echoes the music of bands that toured territories ...

Steven Bernstein: Diaspora Hollywood

by Celeste Sunderland
December 22, 2004

Picture a couple of Jewish grandpas sitting around cracking jokes. Now imagine a Hollywood starlet from the '50s sauntering into a dimly lit club and you've got Diaspora Hollywood , the third installment of trumpet player Steven Bernstein's Diaspora series on John Zorn's Tzadik label. An ode to pioneering geniuses like Franz Waxman and Max Steiner, the disc salutes the great Jewish film composers who left their chilly Eastern European homelands for the sunny, palm-fringed streets of Los Angeles.

Steven Bernstein: Evaluating The Diaspora Series

by John Kelman
November 10, 2004

Trumpeter/composer/bandleader Steven Bernstein may have made his name with groups as far-flung as Sex Mob and the Lounge Lizards, but it is quite possible that his most enduring work, the effort that will be most remembered when people look back at a long and fruitful career, is his series of Diaspora recordings on John Zorn's Tzadik label and its Radical Jewish Culture imprint. By taking traditional Jewish music and reworking it in a variety of contexts, Bernstein has demonstrated just ...

The Frank and Joe Show: 33 1/3

by David Rickert
October 20, 2004

It's easy to forget that in the beginning jazz was music designed for entertainment and not considered serious art. The Frank & Joe Show takes its inspiration from such a time, a bygone era when the audience preferred to jitterbug rather than to just sit and listen. Frank Vignola has already displayed a serious Django jones on his previous albums, yet wisely has avoided recording a CD full of gypsy music when the real thing is so ready and available. ...