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Jazz Articles about Wil Swindler

34
Album Review

Ben Markley: Tell the Truth

Read "Tell the Truth" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Ben Markley, who has already earned wide praise as a pianist, educator and leader of the Ben Markley Big Band, brandishes his sturdy composing and arranging chops on Tell the Truth, wherein he leads an able-bodied Colorado-based quintet through its paces on eight of his typically melodious and sunlit original compositions. According to Markley, the pieces were written to parallel the classic 1960s Blue Note quintet recordings, with guitarist Steve Kovalcheck replacing the customary trumpet lead and ...

7
Album Review

Dave Hanson: Blues Sky

Read "Blues Sky" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Pianist Dave Hanson opens his Blue Sky with a joyful barnburner, “Two Masters," a tip of the hat to Bill Evans and Chick Corea, two of the biggest names in piano jazz. Hanson is probably best known for his work as composer-arranger and co-leader of Denver's H2 Big Band, but he pares things down on his Blues Sky album release, thanks in part to a weeklong artist-in-residence gig at Denver's Dazzle Jazz club, which allowed him to shape his sound ...

30
Album Review

David Caffey Jazz Orchestra: At the Edge of Spring

Read "At the Edge of Spring" reviewed by Jack Bowers


With his album, At the Edge of Spring, composer and arranger David Caffey and his Colorado-based Jazz Orchestra not only defy the widely-held belief that big bands are dead, they emphatically blow that axium out of the water. This is an ensemble with no discernible weaknesses, as proficient and powerful as any that have come before it or are likely to follow. To verify that impression, you need only couple your ears with an open mind. As ...

Album Review

Ben Markley: Ari's Funhouse

Read "Ari's Funhouse" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Accade spesso nel jazz che dagli incontri estemporanei nascano le cose migliori. Il bandleader e arrangiatore Ben Markley e il batterista Ari Hoenig si sono conosciuti nel 2019 in un jazz festival del Texas. Da quell'incontro è nato questo progetto discografico, che ha visto Markley orchestrare le composizioni di Hoenig per la big band che guida a Denver. Il batterista è ospite dell'ensemble e dà il suo contributo con un vivace e articolato sostegno ritmico. L'album è stato registrato nel ...

2
Radio & Podcasts

Interview With Jazz Saxophonist Wil Swindler

Read "Interview With Jazz Saxophonist Wil Swindler" reviewed by Steven Roby


Composer and saxophonist Wil Swindler currently resides near Denver, CO, where he leads Wil Swindler's Elevenet, the modern bop quintet GoodRattle, and the Wil Swindler Quartet. In addition to his own bands, he is an active performer with the Peter Sommer Septet, Al Hood's H2 Big Band, the Colorado Symphony, the Ben Markley Big Band , the Colorado Jazz Orchestra, the Adam Bartczak Republic, and many more. In addition to receiving IAJE's Gil Evans Fellowship in 2008, Wil ...

38
Album Review

Ted Piltzecker: Vibes on a Breath

Read "Vibes on a Breath" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Even though Ted Piltzecker is a splendid vibraphonist and ushers a group of Colorado's leading jazz musicians through its paces on Vibes on a Breath, it is his sparkling arrangements that carry the day on this delightful new album. Several members of Piltzecker's septet double, and he makes the most of that versatility, writing charts that bring to the fore John Gunther's bass clarinet, Wil Swindler's baritone sax and (on the closing number) Judith Leclair's bassoon and Javier Diaz's percussion. ...

36
Album Review

Wil Swindler: Space Bugs

Read "Space Bugs" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Space Bugs is essentially multi-layered yet readily accessible chamber jazz admirably performed by saxophonist/composer Wil Swindler's Colorado-based Eleventet—a finely woven banquet for the ears that was handsomely recorded in May 2022 before an appreciative audience at Denver's Mighty Fine Productions. Gil Evans springs to mind when listening, as do Pete Rugolo and late- career Bob Brookmeyer. As a composer, Swindler writes that he has “always been between worlds," loving “the pristine intervals and warm timbres of orchestral ...


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