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Ed Palermo: Prog vs. Fusion: A War of the Ages
by Jack Bowers
Well, if it walks like a big band and talks like a big band...chances are it's a big band, even though, in the case of Ed Palermo's New York-based 18-piece ensemble, it neither walks nor talks much like any other big band on planet earth. On Prog Vs. Fusion, Palermo casts aside many established harmonic principles in favor of fomenting and supervising a colossal struggle between the powerful forces of progressive rock and fusion. In doing so, ...
Continue ReadingThe Ed Palermo Big Band: Prog vs. Fusion: A War of the Ages
by Kyle Simpler
Sometimes musicians with serious chops take their music a little too seriously. Others, however, manage to combine talent and humor in a way that proves infectious. The Ed Palermo Big Band is one of the best examples of the latter. With albums drawing on such diverse influences as Frank Zappa, Paul Butterfield, and King Crimson, Palermo delivers a foundation of solid jazz infused with a spirit of experimentation and an eye for the absurd. With Prog vs. Fusion: A War ...
Continue ReadingRamsey Lewis, Mick Goodrick & Ted Kooshian
by Joe Dimino
With the song “McQueen" from pianist & composer Ted Kooshian, we start the 780th Episode of Neon Jazz with some good audio elbow grease. From there, we hear the artist Ted first saw in a live venue in the legendary Count Basie. Also, new music from Pedro Neves, Cheryl Ann Spencer and Rich Willey plus a tasty new album from the late, great Ramsey Lewis covering The Beatles “Golden Slumbers." Finally, we say thanks and good-bye to the wonderful guitarist ...
Continue ReadingTed Kooshian: Hubub!
by Edward Blanco
New York pianist and keyboardist Ted Kooshian continues his love affair with classic TV, cartoon themes and the pop scene, on Hubub!, offering a selection of striking originals influenced by his “enthusiastic love for pop culture," which includes tributes to actors Steve McQueen and William Shatner of Star Trek fame. The album's sole standard is Leonard Bernstein's classic “Somewhere" from the West Side Story play, distinguishing this version from so many others with an atypically jaunty arrangement from the pianist. ...
Continue ReadingTed Kooshian: Hubub!
by Jack Bowers
There are two ways of looking at Hubub!, pianist Ted Kooshian's fifth album as leader. The first is, “nothing new here"; and the second, “everything is new here." On the one hand, Kooshian's able quintet hews closely to the post-bop canon which has given rise to its fabric; on the other, they do so within the framework of Kooshian's bright and engaging melodies, none of which seems commonplace or shopworn. Kooshian wrote nine of the album's eleven ...
Continue ReadingScott Whitfield & Friends: A Bi-Coastal Christmas
by Jack Bowers
If trombonist Scott Whitfield's A Bi-Coastal Christmas cannot quicken your inner holiday spirit, that will not be for lack of trying. Whitfield uses every ribbon in the packet and every tool in the shed to help make the season bright, from big band to quintet, from duo to solo (Whitfield's trombone all by itself). Two of the selections were recorded in 2004, four others in 2005, whereas Whitfield's brace of solo tracks was taped in 2020 as he cast off ...
Continue ReadingTed Kooshian's Standard Orbit Quartet: Underdog, and Other Stories ...
by Woodrow Wilkins
Sometimes, a name is all it takes to get attention. Ted Kooshian's Standard Orbit Quartet has such a name. But the name alone doesn't necessarily mean good quality. The band still has to play, and play they do on Underdog, and Other Stories .... The ensemble is comprised of Kooshian on piano, Jeff Lederer on saxophones, Tom Hubbard on bass, and Scott Neumann and Warren Odze on drums. Kooshian, a native of San Jose, California, migrated to ...
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