Jazz Articles about Tracy London

About Tracy London

Album Review

Frank Macchia has recorded some serious sounds in his day. Landscapes (Cacophony, 2008), for instance, with The Prague Orchestra, was a sweeping masterpiece of an album which should have won him some sort of Aaron Copland Award (It was nominated for a Grammy). But the reedist-composer-arranger also has a fun side, with albums like 2012's Swamp Thang (Cacophony), which offered up a set of grungy bayou boogies, blues, funk and New Orleans second line, all in an instrumental setting.

Album Review

Frank Macchia: Songs For Tracy

Read "Songs For Tracy" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
May 14, 2021

Grammy-nominated, multi-woodwind instrumentalist-composer Frank Macchia was in an isolationist, COVID-19 state of mind when he came up with the blueprint for Songs For Tracy. Dog-walking during the quarantine time did the trick. He would, in these sojourns, write down ideas about his emotions and thoughts. The next step was writing the music for these lyrics. Recording involved (almost) an orchestra of one—Frank Macchia overdubbing a swirling sea of woodwinds and keyboard textures, with Brock Avery on drums and ...

Album Review

Frank Macchia / Brock Avery: Rhythm Abstraction: Gold

Read "Rhythm Abstraction: Gold" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
April 13, 2020

Muli-reedist Frank Macchia and percussionist Brock Avery started 2020 with their release of Rhythm Abstraction: Azure (Cacophony), a follow-up to 2018's Rhythm Kaleidoscope (Cacophony), employing its predecessor's approach. Here's how it works. Avery lays down an improvised percussion foundation. Then Macchia steps in with just about every imaginable reed instrument to construct an elaborate orchestration—one step, one saxophone (or flute, or clarinet, or ocarina) at a time. Liken it to Avery serving as a baker, sculpting a cake, then calling ...

Album Review

Frank Macchia & Brock Avery: Rhythm Abstraction: Azure

Read "Rhythm Abstraction: Azure" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
February 2, 2020

Reedman-arranger-composer Frank Macchia didn't take the conventional route in putting his EP Rhythm Abstractions: Azure together. He didn't get a huge orchestra in one studio, pass out the charts and explain to the players what he was trying to do. What he did was pare the personnel down to a minimum and turn drummer Brock Avery loose for some serious improvisation time. Then Machia layered in a whole bunch of reeds—piccolo, flutes (alto,bass, contrabass), clarinets (alto, bass contrabass), saxophones (sopranino, ...