Jazz Articles about Vinnie Sperrazza

About Vinnie Sperrazza

Album Review

The collection of musicians on this record, collectively referred to as “New Faces," is an attempt by Posi-Tone producer Marc Free to create a sampler of the label's mission, utilizing a selection of young leaders to collectively personify their overall musical vision. As stated on the Posi- Tone website, “The entire series of succinct performances included on this album are deliberately intended to provide accurate practical auditory insight and representation of the musical aesthetics and operational ethos of Posi-Tone Records." ...

Album Review

Vinnie Sperrazza Apocryphal: Hide Ye Idols

Read "Hide Ye Idols" reviewed by Troy Collins

by Troy Collins
November 19, 2017

Forward-thinking drummer Vinnie Sperrazza has proven to be an exceptionally creative and magnanimous bandleader; Hide Ye Idols expands well beyond the imaginative inroads made on Apocryphal, his impressive 2014 debut for Loyal Label. Conveying a distinctive group sound, the original lineup featured on his first album--alto saxophonist Loren Stillman, guitarist Brandon Seabrook, and bassist Eivind Opsvik--returns, now a touring unit with a namesake evoking its origins. Produced by Paris Monster's Geoff Kraly and mastered by Kneebody's Nate Wood, this modernistic ...

Album Review

Vinnie Sperrazza: Juxtaposition

Read "Juxtaposition" reviewed by David A. Orthmann

by David A. Orthmann
March 9, 2017

The most intriguing thing about Juxtaposition, Vinnie Sperrazza's recently released recording, is its loose grip on the jazz tradition. The disc's twelve tracks don't come with a set of standard, recognizable references. Not unlike many of today's leading young artists, Sperrazza has absorbed the lessons of the music's past, and is currently interested in doing things on his own terms instead of dwelling in the accomplishments of his elders. The other essential aspect of the record is it's overall disposition--the ...

Album Review

Vinnie Sperrazza: Apocryphal

Read "Apocryphal" reviewed by Vincenzo Roggero

by Vincenzo Roggero
November 5, 2014

Batterista piuttosto indaffarato, richiesto e apprezzato da molti musicisti, co-leader dei 40Twenty con Jacob Sacks, Vinnie Sperrazza debutta da solista con un gran album. Bastano i primi tre minuti di Apocryphal per intuire che questo sarà un disco ad alto tasso di interesse, giocato sui contrasti, sintonizzato su frequenze spesso disturbate che allertano continuamente le antenne degli ascoltatori. Vi è dunque una melodia dai toni pastorali esposta dal sax di Loren Stillman, morbido e rassicurante nel suo ...

Extended Analysis

Vinnie Sperrazza: Apocryphal

by Dave Wayne
October 2, 2014

An understated but highly-skilled and insanely versatile drummer in the vein of Kenny Wolleson, Jeff Hirshfield, and Paul Motian, Vinnie Sperrazza has been turning up on all sorts of interesting recordings over the past half-decade or so. Co-leader of 40Twenty with Jacob Sacks, Jacob Garchik, and Dave Ambrosio, Sperrazza is also in a trio with Sacks and bassist Masa Kamaguchi, and is one fourth of Hush Point; a brainy collaboration with veteran trumpeter John McNeil and alto saxophonist Jeremy Udden. ...

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Album Review

Vinnie Sperrazza: Peak Inn

Read "Peak Inn" reviewed by Clifford Allen

by Clifford Allen
June 3, 2009

The piano trio is a medium that became immensely popular with Bill Evans' meteoric rise on the international scene in the '50s and has remained an astonishingly equilateral creative outlet for an extraordinary array of harmonic and rhythmic complexity. However, there aren't a lot of groups taking the chances available to them, instead mining the standard fake book or the popular canon in either a neo-romantic or wholly discordant manner. Peak Inn joins Brooklyn-based drummer Vinnie Sperrazza with regular sparring ...

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Album Review

Vinnie Sperrazza & Matt Blostein: Ursa Minor

Read "Ursa Minor" reviewed by Terrell Kent Holmes

by Terrell Kent Holmes
February 23, 2009

The Vinnie Sperrazza/Matt Blostein Band sits boldly on the outer branches of the jazz tree. This group specializes in what might be described as art-house, a style defined by complex, cutting edge compositions and arrangements played at perfect pitch. Ursa Minor displays a balanced and impressive combination of color and substance. These tunes, penned by alto saxophonist Blostein or drummer Sperrazza (and in the case of “Liftoff," both) are poetic in structure, unfolding slowly to reveal a ...