Jazz Articles about Vicente Archer

About Vicente Archer

Album Review

"The jazz bandstand is where true democracy lives," the great saxophonist and composer Jimmy Heath told a young Helen Sung. “Everyone must understand their role and come prepared by doing the hard work of study and practice," he said. “Each person will get to say their piece, but it is in the act of integrating as a band that the musicians ultimately create something bigger, richer, and deeper." Oracles launches into a time and place where divisions are deep and ...

Album Review

Caleb Wheeler Curtis: Ritual

Read "Ritual" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro

by Alberto Bazzurro
April 16, 2026

Alla testa di un gruppo nuovo di zecca (le incisioni risalgono all'ottobre 2025) che evolve dal quartetto fino al sestetto, il polistrumentista newyorchese Caleb Wheeler Curtis confeziona un album (il sesto a suo nome) dai colori piuttosto decisi, sia sui brani più tirati che, anche, su quelli più compassati (almeno parzialmente): non manca mai qualcosa in grado di accendere la musica, già per suo conto alquanto solare, aperta, estroversa, non esente da una spina dorsale funkeggiante, anche per la presenza ...

Album Review

Dara Starr Tucker: Time Wouldn't Wait

Read "Time Wouldn't Wait" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
March 24, 2026

L'ultimo album della cantante Dara Tucker conferma la sintesi tra l'estetica dominante nella prima parte della sua carriera (i quattro album dal 2009 al 2019 per Watchman Music, impegnati di jazz, blues e soul) e quella più incline al neo-soul e al pop, presente in Dreams of Waking--Music for a Better World (Green Hill 2021) e nel successivo Dara Starr Tucker del 2023. È un aggiustamento dovuto (forse) a esigenze di mercato che non pregiudica il buon gusto e la ...

Album Review

Orrin Evans and the Captain Black Big Band: Walk A Mile In My Shoe

Read "Walk A Mile In My Shoe" reviewed by Steve Plever

by Steve Plever
August 4, 2025

A glance through the track list--with covers of Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye and two swing-era vocal standards--could give you the wrong impression. Yes, this is a very accessible and soulful album, but it is serious and heartfelt jazz, with Orrin Evans' personal stamp making it work. Blues, soul and gospel sounds share the stage here with swing, straight-ahead and avant-garde influences--no surprise given Evans' decade of playing with the Mingus Big Band. Evans' piano sets the tone ...

Album Review

Danny Grissett: Travelogue

Read "Travelogue" reviewed by David Weiner

by David Weiner
July 23, 2025

On Travelogue, pianist Danny Grissett leads a trio through a rich set of performances distinguished by his evocative themes, diverse song structures, and lovely, dancing approach to the keyboard. Grissett's inventive and highly interactive bandmates are drummer Bill Stewart and bassist Vicente Archer. This is the trio's third Grissett-led outing, and Archer has accompanied the pianist on all seven of the recordings he's led. Grissett composed most of Travelogue's tracks. His tuneful compositions easily deliver on the promise ...

Album Review

Susan Hinkson: Just in Time

Read "Just in Time" reviewed by Katchie Cartwright

by Katchie Cartwright
May 10, 2025

In 2025, radio programmers are apt to carp about singers who continue to cover the Great American Songbook. There are new songs and songwriters to explore, they say, and it is true. But for lovers of mainstream jazz, the mellow sound of a sensitive balladeer like Susan Hinkson singing a gem like Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer's “One for My Baby" still satisfies. On a late and rainy Saturday night, many a jazz fan would be delighted to ...

Interview

Vicente Archer: 150 Albums, Grammys And An Unrelenting Pursuit of Music

by K. Shackelford
January 8, 2025

An instrument created in the 1500s, the acoustic bass has become a medium of harmonic and rhythmic sonority for bassist Vicente Archer. Over the past 30 years, he has bellowed out numerous melodic and harmonic narratives through the colossal instrument--gracing each improvisational moment with imagination and curation of timbre. Elicited by top names in music, Archer finds himself on approximately 150 albums, and 15 as the sole bassist to date. Even with these massive accomplishments, when ...