Jazz Articles about Wallace Roney

Wallace Roney: In the Realm of Anti-Gravity

by R.J. DeLuke
June 11, 2013

Much is made of trumpeter Wallace Roney coming from the Miles Davis school, a mentor-protégé situation that blossomed in the 1980s that Roney is very proud of. But that wouldn't be telling the whole story of the Philadelphia native who, in his prime years, has become one of the world's finest trumpet players, and a musician whose quest for innovation is everlasting. Hearing jazz music around the house as a small child, it crept into his head and ...

Wallace Roney: If Only for One Night

by John Kelman
May 6, 2010

Wallace Roney's six-year association with HighNote--beginning with Prototype (2004), followed by Mystikal (2005), and culminating with Jazz (2007)--has allowed the trumpeter to amass a body of work far more indicative of where he's always wanted to be than his largely mainstream run with Muse in the early 1990s. If Only for One Night--culled from a four-night run at New York's Iridium--continues to paint a broader picture of an artist for whom the lifelong arc of Miles Davis remains an influence, ...

Wallace Roney: Jazz

by Andrew Velez
January 7, 2008

Even as Jazz is a tribute to Roney's mentors Art Blakey, Miles Davis and Tony Williams, it is much more. The musical flavors here cover a spectrum of jazz feeling, everything from bop to fusion to funk and other local stops. “Vater Time," the set's jump-right-in opener, is a Roney tune that moves from a funky intro to a swinging trumpet solo with Miles alum Robert Irving III lending muscular piano support; Roney's brother Antoine on tenor sax stokes matters ...

Wallace Roney: Jazz

by John Kelman
October 1, 2007

In a time when the definition of the word jazz is in heated debate, it takes a certain amount of courage for trumpeter Wallace Roney to use it as the title of his third release for HighNote. Roney continues to mine the place where contemporary rhythms and technology meet the language of jazz, and while there are those who will balk at his use of turntablists, synthesizers and hip hop rhythms, one listen is all it takes. It may be ...

Wallace Roney: Jazz

by John Barron
September 6, 2007

It's hard to imagine Wallace Roney making anything other than a bold statement with the trumpet. The Philadelphia native's razor sharp tone and vigorous pin-point precision has been on the cutting edge of modern jazz since his early days with Tony Williams and Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. On Jazz, Roney, along with his wife Geri Allen (keyboards) and younger brother Antoine (reeds), delves into a sonic landscape laden with modern funk grooves, simplified melodies and chops-heavy soloing.

The first two ...

Wallace Roney: Fulfilling the Promise

by Paul Olson
November 28, 2005

Trumpeter Wallace Roney has been working in jazz for over thirty years. He made his recording debut at age fourteen and played in the bands of Tony Williams, Art Blakey, David Murray and Herbie Hancock—just to name a few. A bandleader on his own for many years, Roney has dazzling chops and has composed some classic songs. He's never led a bad group, and when I saw him at Chicago's Green Mill in late August, the band was dazzling—powerful but ...

Wallace Roney: Mystikal

by AAJ Staff
November 19, 2005

Wallace Roney Mystikal HighNote Records 2005

Mystikal, Wallace Roney's second outing on the HighNote label, continues in the path he first traveled with the 2000 CD No Room For Argument in laying out his own vision for jazz in the 21st Century. In what is essentially a synthesis of the dark-funk fusion of the '70s, post-bop harmonies, and various undercurrents of hip-hop and electronica, Roney's music is becoming at once more eclectic ...