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Jazz Articles about Zachary Swanson
John Ambrosini: Songs for You
by Richard J Salvucci
John Ambrosini is a New York City-based pianist, composer and arranger. He has a number of recordings to his credit and this one, strictly speaking, is a bit of a departure. Ambrosini's band is populated by a number of well-known jazz professionals in and around the city. So the music swings and the solos--including piano--are all worth hearing. It may be that Ambrosini is a stronger player than singer, something not unusual among instrumentalists who sing. ...
Continue ReadingPlayfield: Magic Heart
by Mike Jurkovic
Daniel Carter, who--if not the epitome of free consciousness then is very well within the immediate vicinity of striking range--gives props to electric Miles Davis and The Beatles' psychedelica with mischief and madness on the hell bent and heaven sent Magic Heart. Their second entrance into the Carter's life long discography, Playfield is a true Carter collective: intuitively passing the torch from vocalist Luisa Muhr, to Ayumi Ishito, tenor sax and electronics, pianist Eric Plaks, guitarists/electronics Aron Namenwirth ...
Continue ReadingDaniel Carter: Open Question, Vol. 2
by Mike Jurkovic
If the title warning Open Question, Vol. 2 fails to alert one to what one was about to get into while listening to the unhinged, yet oddly disciplined and methodic rhubarb created off-the-cuff by radical downtown saxophone legend Daniel Carter, equally rebellious tenor Ayumi Ishito, pianist Eric Plaks}, bassist {{m: Zach Swanson and drummer Jon Panikkar, well, maybe gullibility is, without doubt, a human trait. Or perhaps it is just our renowned, innate inquisitiveness and speculation that makes things like ...
Continue ReadingPlayfield: Stepping Out
by Mike Jurkovic
577 Records founder, chief architect, free blowing, free willed, harmonic rebel and reed master Daniel Carter has never shied away from the unknown metropolis. From the silent instant which captures the imagination and sends it sleighing its own peaks and valleys, Carter, and whoever chooses to accept his challenge to participate, let the moment move them and the music into new spaces. Playfield, as this particular congregate of players from downtown NY is dubbed, brings it all to ...
Continue ReadingTrio Xolo: In Flower, In Song
by Mike Jurkovic
There is always a concerted effort for something more than just music when Brooklyn's 577 Records releases its many substantial efforts. There is a sense of the unknown, the quixotic, the daring, the maddening, but never the mundane. So this debut release from Trio Xolo--Mexican-American bassist Zachary Swanson, Baltimore-based saxophonist Derrick Michaels and Lithuanian percussionist Dalius Naujo--free falls right into the sweet spot for some deep, organic listening. And though the musical setting is as true, tried and ...
Continue ReadingAron Namenwirth, Daniel Carter, Joe Hertenstein, Zach Swanson: Live at the Bushwick Series
by Alberto Bazzurro
Un quartetto di cui il chitarrista Aron Namenwirth è il primo (e sul CD l'unico) firmatario ma che abbraccia in realtà il “vangelo" dell'improvvisazione collettiva (facendo non poco leva sul polistrumentismo quanto mai eclettico di Daniel Carter, che affianca alla tromba sax tenore, soprano e contralto) firma questo brillante lavoro il cui sdipanarsi (sei episodi svarianti dai quattro ai dieci minuti) non mostra mai la corda, rischio così frequente (verrebbe da dire quasi fisiologico) in una formula tanto praticata quanto ...
Continue ReadingAron Namenwirth / Daniel Carter / Joe Hertenstein / Zach Swanson: Live At The Bushwick Series
by John Sharpe
This instalment of the Live At The Bushwick Series offers a communiqué from the front line of free jazz in New York City. It's the sort of below the radar activity which is rarely documented, but nonetheless deserves to be heard. In this particular case, it's also part of an ongoing event, curated by saxophonist and label boss Stephen Gauci, which happens downstairs every Monday night in Brooklyn's Bushwick Public House. Guitarist Aron Namenwirth and trumpeter and reedman Daniel Carter ...
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