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Idle Hands: Solid Moments
by Dan Bilawsky
Producer and Posi-Tone co-head Marc Free wears a lot of hats, including those of curator and cooperative chemist. Since 2018, Free has been piecing together various outfits and concepts, tipping his hat to touchstones, adding new slants to his label's rich catalog and engaging in outreach and audience development in the process. Not content to simply settle for the stautus quo, Free has found a way to present a stable of important artists, both established and emerging, that draws on ...
Continue ReadingWill Bernard: Out & About
by Doug Collette
As if more proof was necessary Out & About confirms guitarist Will Bernard is as skilled a bandleader as he is an instrumentalist. And both roles require an artful approach as this album makes clear: it's one thing to find talented musicians--as Bernard most certainly does here--it's quite another to elicit that talent in such a way it complements the talent (and personality) of each of the other musicians involved. In this context then Out & About is ...
Continue ReadingWill Bernard: Out & About
by Dan Bilawsky
Will Bernard has received his due for sideman work in a variety of settings, but you rarely hear anybody talk about stylistic range when it comes to his own leader dates. This is the album that could--and should--change that. Over the course of eleven originals, Bernard continually frames himself in different ways, constantly redefining his outlook and mining fresh musical veins with some help from four A-list musicians--organist Brian Charette, saxophonist John Ellis, bassist Ben Allison, and drummer Allison Miller. ...
Continue ReadingWill Bernard: Just Like Downtown
by Angelo Leonardi
A partire dalla fine degli anni novanta, ovvero dal tempo dei suoi esordi da leader, Will Bernard s'è caratterizzato per il contagioso groove della sua musica, in uno spettro di situazioni che va dalle contaminazioni contemporanee al classico organ trio, reso celebre da Jimmy Smith, Wes Montgomery o Jack McDuff. A differenza di quanto ha fatto nel precedente Outdoor Living, intriso di suggestioni metropolitane, in questo nuovo disco Bernard rinnova il suo amore per l'organo hammond ampliando ...
Continue ReadingBen Sidran: Don't Cry for No Hipster
by Luca Muchetti
'Stile' è il primo sostantivo che viene facile utilizzare per descrivere la musica di Ben Sidran. Nome notissimo nella scena americana, cantante, pianista, compositore e fine conoscitore della musica in toto (evitiamo di utilizzare l'etichetta 'jazz' memori anche del non troppo lontano album in tributo a Bob Dylan), con Don't Cry for no Hipster Sidran torna alle atmosfere fumose a lui più care: quattordici canzoni, tante, trovano spazio in un'opera che guarda alla tradizione, intimismi da jazz club e puntate ...
Continue ReadingWill Bernard: Just Like Downtown
by Dan Bilawsky
Guitarist Will Bernard has been connected to a number of singular groups and individuals, from the Monk-to-funk outfit known as T.J. Kirk to New Orleans drumming giant Stanton Moore to multi-instrumentalist Peter Apfelbaum's boundary-pushing Hieroglyphics Ensemble, but a common denominator exists in his strongest work with each one: Bernard's best is always rooted in the groove. He has a no-fuss way of establishing and/or inhabiting the rhythmic currents of a song and he puts that skill to good use, once ...
Continue ReadingWill Bernard Trio: Outdoor Living
by Doug Collette
As if capturing the Will Bernard Trio caught up in a rush of inspiration, both the initial and concluding pairs of tracks on Outdoor Living are sequenced together without breaks between. It's an appropriate production touch for an album on which the participants are clearly feeding on each others' ideas and building on the individual and collective talent on hand. The initial segue to “Morgan Deux" from “Nature Walk" is a springboard for the musicians and listeners alike to become ...
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