Jazz Articles about Zach Brock

About Zach Brock

Album Review

In the Ivory giunge a due anni di distanza dall'eccellente By a Little Light, album nel quale il contrabbassista di Chicago Matt Ulery riuniva alcuni membri del suo insieme cameristico Eight Blackbird e un piano trio di stampo jazzistico per un incisione affascinante e ricca di spunti significativi. Con qualche minima variazione viene riproposto lo stesso ensemble, con il leader impegnato nella messa a fuoco del suo mondo sonoro tutto particolare. Le due anime della formazione lungi dall'essere in competizione ...

Album Review

Zach Brock: Purple Sounds

Read "Purple Sounds" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
April 8, 2014

Virtuosity isn't defined by notes-per-minute; true virtuosity is instrumental mastery surrendering to the demands of the song. Sometimes that can mean shredding with furious intensity, yes; but the real deal also respects music that demands less, rather than more. Violinist Zach Brock is, indeed, the real deal, and Purple Sounds, his second release for Holland's Criss Cross label, finds Brock and his stellar quartet playing exactly what's needed: nothing less; but equally, nothing more. Beyond two Brock originals, ...

Catching Up With

Zach Brock: The New Meritocracy of Jazz

by George Colligan
August 8, 2013

[ Editor's Note: The following interview is reprinted from George Colligan's blog, Jazztruth]About a month or so ago, I had the pleasure of performing in a duo setting with violinist Zach Brock. I've known Brock for years; we met and played together a few times in New York City. However, this was our first time really playing in a creative, intimate setting. Brock is, in my humble opinion, one of the best--if not the best--jazz violinist out there ...

Album Review

Matt Ulery: By a Little Light

Read "By a Little Light" reviewed by AAJ Italy Staff

by AAJ Italy Staff
June 25, 2012

Da qualche tempo a questa parte si va affermando una generazione di musicisti dalla prospettiva musicale decisamente indirizzata verso l'aspetto compositivo/organizzativo del fare musica. Che avvenga attraverso ensemble di stampo jazzistico (lo splendido Overseas IV di Eivind Opsvik ne è una recente testimonianza) o con formazioni dalle caratteristiche più vicine alla musica classica e contemporanea (è il caso di questo By a Little Light di Matt Ulery), poco importa. Il comune denominatore non è quello di fornire l'ennesima ricetta sulle ...

Album Review

Matt Ulery: By A Little Light

Read "By A Little Light" reviewed by Franz A. Matzner

by Franz A. Matzner
June 13, 2012

A unique blend of traditional jazz, classical, Eastern European folk, and modern idioms, Mat Ulery's By A little Light is steeped in a melancholic grace and shadowy beauty that provides the two-disc set its unifying force. Throughout, Ulery has chosen detail and the oblique over the grandiose to etch his dusky scenes and portraits that seem to capture discreet emotional moments the way master photographers can distill vast meaning within a single frame.Bespeaking Ulery's consistency of approach there ...

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Mix Tape

Some Things That I Love

by Zach Brock
April 19, 2011

Here is some of the music that I love. There is no way for me to reflect everything that I'm listening to in one playlist, but this is at least a partial representation of some of the sounds that were in my head as I wrote for my new CD The Magic Number. TrackNameTimeArtistAlbum1And Your Dream Comes True1:5The Beach BoysPerfect Harmony2Zhivago9:4Kurt RosenwinkelThe Next Step3Late November7:7Bobby AveyA New Face4On A Good Day1:48Joanna NewsomHave One On Me5Tango Pajdusko5:40Eastern BlokFolk ...

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Album Review

Zach Brock and the Coffee Achievers: Live At The Jazz Factory

Read "Live At The Jazz Factory" reviewed by Budd Kopman

by Budd Kopman
August 18, 2008

The relentlessly cooking and very original Live At The Jazz Factory is the third album from violinist Zach Brock's band, The Coffee Achievers, following their eponymous 2003 debut on Secret Fort and Chemistry (Secret Fort, 2005). The violin in jazz, especially that of the mainstream, can't get no respect, despite Regina Carter's 2006 MacArthur Award. Brock wishes to remedy that situation, composing and playing jazz that is mainstream by default, only because it is not avant-garde. Indeed, ...