Jazz Articles about Wallace Roney

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 ...

Wallace Roney: Mystikal

by Ernest Barteldes
November 3, 2005

This amazing trumpet player blends the bebop tendencies of the Parker/Dizzy era with the more contemporary Miles Davis jazz-fusion sound, and he's one of few leaders to include a turntable player in his band. In fact, it was the work of turntablist Val Jeanty that most impressed at Roney's recent appearance at Joe's Pub on September 30. She complemented the band's sound with several effects, such as spacey sounds and spoken word samples. This instrument, mostly connected ...

Wallace Roney: Mystikal

by John Kelman
September 22, 2005

We're all the sum of our experiences. Few can say that their lives haven't been influenced in some way by the views or work of others. So when people latch onto the effect that Miles Davis had on trumpeter Wallace Roney, it's fair to ask, “so what?"

Roney hung with Miles during his formative years, and the impact of the experience on his development is something he makes no attempt to cover up. But anyone who has listened to Roney's ...

Wallace Roney: Prototype

by George Harris
March 5, 2005

Like Sonny Stitt with Bird, Paul Quinichette with Prez, and Jon Faddis with Diz, Wallace Roney has been cursed (or blessed) with a tone and style hauntingly similar to a more famous blueprint, in this case Miles Davis. Previously trapped with endless comparisons, Roney is starting to break free by placing himself in musical milieus that Davis never ventured into. On Prototype, Roney has begun his journey into his own territory.

Shifting gears dramatically from his kinda “blue" period, Roney ...

Wallace Roney: Prototype

by John Kelman
October 11, 2004

On Prototype , his first album in four years, trumpeter Wallace Roney continues to develop ideas begun on Village ('97) and No Room For Argument ('00). That is to say, as the liner notes describe, “Miles' playing and his album Nefertiti as one link; Weather Report as the compositional link; Mwandishi (pianist Herbie Hancock groundbreaking early '70s fusion band) as the conceptual link, with John Coltrane as the spiritual link."

Roney's links to Miles Davis have been written about and, ...

Wallace Roney: Prototype

by Russ Musto
October 7, 2004

Prototype is Wallace Roney's latest effort to blaze innovative new trails within the musical territory first explored by Miles Davis. The music that Roney and company put forth is simultaneously visceral and creative--revolutionary, but cognizant of popular tastes. The group--Roney's wife Geri Allen on piano, brother Antoine on saxophones, Davis alumnus Adam Holzman on keyboards, Matt Garrison (son of Jimmy) on basses and Eric Allen on drums--is a cohesive unit that moves seamlessly with its leader through a program of ...

Wallace Roney: No Room for Argument

by David Adler
January 1, 2001

Wallace Roney strives to expand the terrain of straight-ahead jazz on this fairly experimental release. In addition to his solid trumpet playing, pianist Geri Allen’s creative fingerprints are all over the session, spanning from acoustic to Rhodes and synthesizers. Keyboardist Adam Holzman augments the atmospherics with Wurlitzer, organ, and synths on many of the tracks. In the rhythm section are bassist Buster Williams and drummer Lenny White, both of whom, with Geri Allen, comprise two-thirds of the current Buster Williams ...