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Jazz Articles about Tom Lawton

5
Album Review

Norman David: Intention

Read "Intention" reviewed by Victor L. Schermer


Saxophonist/composer/arranger/band leader Norman David grew up and matured as a musician in Montreal and moved to Boston to study with the late, revered, and multifaceted Herb Pomeroy at the famed Berklee College of Music. While there, in 1980, David founded a large jazz ensemble just a few members short of a full big band called the “Eleventet." It melded the improvisational qualities of a small ensemble with the rich sound and interactional possibilities of a big band. He found it ...

39
Album Review

Jim Levendis: The Big Band Project

Read "The Big Band Project" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Jim Levendis knew that time was running out. In his mid-seventies, the veteran Philadelphia-area trumpeter and educator had contracted ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease), the effects of which were rapidly sapping his energy and ability to function. As the disease progressed, Levendis confided in Len Pierro, a band mate in the Ward Marston band, that there was one thing he would dearly love to do while he was still able: record some of the big-band arrangements he had written over the ...

7
Album Review

Warriors of the Wonderful Sound: Soundpath

Read "Soundpath" reviewed by Mark Corroto


If we alter President John F. Kennedy's 1962 moon spaceflight speech just a bit, it easily fits the big band adaptation of Muhal Richard Abrams' magnum opus Soundpath, “We choose to perform this composition not because it is easy, but because it is hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept." Accepting the challenge was band leader Bobby Zankel and ...

2
Album Review

Warriors of the Wonderful Sound: Soundpath

Read "Soundpath" reviewed by Giuseppe Segala


Nel 2011 il sassofonista di Filadelfia Bobby Zankel, leader della big band The Warriors of the Wonderful Sound e promotore di laboratori di musica contemporanea, propose a Muhal Richard Abrams un lavoro compositivo che avrebbe dovuto essere affidato alla band, con la direzione dello stesso pianista. Operazioni di questo tipo erano già state realizzate da Zankel negli anni precedenti con le musiche per big band di Julius Hemphill, dirette da Marty Ehrlich, poi con composizioni di Rudresh Mahanthappa e Steve ...

10
Extended Analysis

Soundpath

Read "Soundpath" reviewed by Victor L. Schermer


Muhal Richard Abrams (1930-2017) was a revered pianist, composer and teacher of great capability and range who, in addition to his own achievements, inspired and influenced many jazz musicians in both the mainstream and avant-garde categories. Largely self-taught as a result of a personal decision to follow his own path, and early on pursuing church music, big band, blues, bebop and avant-garde jazz in his home city of Chicago, he grasped music from its roots, and so was able to ...

8
Interview

Tom Lawton: Not Less Than Everything

Read "Tom Lawton: Not Less Than Everything" reviewed by Victor L. Schermer


Not known, because not looked for But heard, half-heard, in the stillness Between two waves of the sea. Quick now, here, now, always-- A condition of complete simplicity (Costing not less than everything) --T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets; “Little Gidding" This poetic quotation captures the essence of pianist Tom Lawton. He is a musician who is listening “in the stillness" to serve the whole group, and he ...

10
Interview

Tom Lawton: Jazz and the Modern Art of Man Ray

Read "Tom Lawton: Jazz and the Modern Art of Man Ray" reviewed by Victor L. Schermer


In his book, Jazz Modernism: From Ellington And Armstrong To Matissse And Joyce (Yale University Press 2004), author Alfred Appel depicts the numerous but easily overlooked parallels between jazz music and modern art and literature. Many jazz musicians are art aficionados, and many of the twentieth century's great artists loved jazz and often kept record collections. Jazz icons Miles Davis and Tony Bennett have exhibited their artwork at major galleries. There's only a small distance from the ears to the ...


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