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Jazz Articles about Yasushi Nakamura
Lawrence Fields: To the Surface
by Mike Jurkovic
As if chomping at the bit, pianist Lawrence Fields launches into his proper debut as a leader with Parachute," a tune of his own making that strikes that perfect chord between piano trios past and present. And right away the listener is immersed in To The Surface. A fixture on Rising Star category since 2019, Fields, who has made his name in the piano chair for such determined and willful creators as Joe Lovano, Chris Potter, Terri Lyne ...
read moreChristian Sands: Christmas Stories
by Dave Linn
Early on, Christian Sands had a passion for music. He was enrolled in music classes at age four and wrote his first composition at age five. He started playing professionally at the age of ten and studied at the Center for the Arts in New Haven, Connecticut before receiving his Bachelor of Arts and Masters degrees from the Manhattan School of Music. A protégé of Dr. Billy Taylor, Sands released his debut album at the age of 12 and came ...
read moreEmmet Cohen: Master Legacy Series Volume 5 Featuring Houston Person
by Mike Jurkovic
From its languid beginning, saxophonist Houston Person's own warmly engaging Why Not?," to its closing, Etta James' slinky seduction Sunday Kind of Love," Emmet Cohen's Master Legacy Series Vol. 5 Featuring Houston Person is a decidedly laid-back affair, unlike much of its predecessors which featured Jimmy Cobb, Ron Carter, George Coleman, Benny Golson and Albert “Tootie" Heath. Maybe that is just the eighty-eight year old Person's influence. His big tone and big presence fill the studio with a ...
read moreAmina Figarova: Joy
by Dan McClenaghan
Pianist Amina Figarova released an album in 2005 that was about as far away from the theme of joy" as could be. September Suite (Munich Records) explored the deadly events of September 11, 2001 (she was in New York at the time; she experienced it). It is an album that she called: An Ode to Mourning striving to articulate the various stages of grief in musical terms." In 2022 Figarova turns 180 degrees to embrace optimism and a ...
read moreThomas Linger: Out In It
by Pierre Giroux
For his first release as a leader, pianist Thomas Linger has surrounded himself with first rate musicians: guitarist Peter Bernstein, bassist Yasushi Nakamura]] and drummer {{Joe Farnsworth, each of whom share Linger's commitment to a reflective approach. All of the numbers are originals by Linger, with covers of Lush Life" by Billy Strayhorn and Woofin'and Tweetin" by Art Farmer. The album's strong sound comes in no small part because the recording was completed, in July 2021, at the Van Gelder ...
read moreThomas Linger: Out In It
by Jack Bowers
Any pianist who can enlist the sort of blue-chip rhythm section which Thomas Linger has for a debut album must be not only talented but unselfish, which is precisely the case on Out In It; Linger is accompanied by a trio of seasoned New York-based jazz luminaries, guitarist Peter Bernstein, bassist Yashushi Nakamura and drummer Joe Farnsworth. Even though Linger is the nominal leader, he makes it clear from the outset that this is a quartet, one in which everyone is ...
read moreGreg Germann: Tales of Time
by Jack Bowers
Tales of Time is the sort of album musicians are most apt to dissect and appreciate. New York-based drummer Greg Germann uses various time signatures to subdivide eleven of his original compositions, building a strong rhythmic platform from which to launch his assorted themes. Germann supervises a quartet whose other members are tenor saxophonist Donny McCaslin, pianist Luis Perdomo and bassist Yasushi Nakamura (singer Chelsea Forgenie is front and center on the ballad Time to Move On"). ...
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