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Steve Cardenas
Guitarist Steve Cardenas began his musical career in Kansas City and has been an integral part of the New York City jazz community since 1995.
Steve has performed and recorded with many well-known and highly esteemed musicians. Notably, he was a longstanding member of the Paul Motian Electric Bebop Band, Charlie Haden Liberation Music Orchestra, the Steve Swallow Quintet, as well as Joey Baron's, Killer Joey. Steve is currently a member of the Ben Allison Band, John Patitucci Electric Guitar Quartet, Jon Cowherd Mercy Project and Adam Nussbaum Lead Belly Project. He has also performed with such diverse artists as Claude "Fiddler" Williams, Paul McCandless, Madeleine Peyroux, Norah Jones, Eliane Elias and Marc Johnson. Steve has toured extensively throughout Europe, North and South America and Asia, performing at international music festivals, theaters and clubs. He also leads his own group and has released seven recordings as a leader. Healing Power - The Music Of Carla Bley is Steve's latest release, in an ongoing trio collaboration with Ben Allison and Ted Nash, on Sunnyside Records.
Steve is also a well-respected educator. He is on faculty at The New School For Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York City where he directs the Thelonious Monk Ensemble, Improv Ensemble and the Guitar Duos class, as well as offering individual lessons. He has also been on faculty at the California Institute of the Arts, Siena Summer Jazz Workshop, Begues Jazz Camp, Segunda Residencia Antonio Sánchez, Cortona Jazz Workshop, Alternative Guitar Summit Camp, Brubeck Summer Jazz Colony, Stanford Jazz Workshop and Banff International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music.
Additionally, Steve is co-author, along with editor Don Sickler, of the Thelonious Monk Fakebook, Hal Leonard Publishing. The Thelonious Monk Fakebook marks the first time all of Monk's compositions have appeared in one volume, many of them appearing for the first time.
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Steve Swallow: Winter Songs
by Kevin Poindexter
While it is true that much of the modern jazz landscape thrives on the burning fire of the avant-garde, albums like Steve Swallow's Winter Songs operate on an entirely different frequency. This is a classic ECM Records slow burner--an album that does not flash like lightning, but instead radiates a calm, late-night glow. It evokes the quiet stillness of sitting by a fireplace after the rest of the house has gone to sleep, where the music demands a deep couch, a ...
Continue ReadingSteve Swallow: Winter Songs
by Jack Kenny
To create his first new music since the death of his partner, Carla Bley, Steve Swallow gathered a circle of close friends and longtime collaborators: saxophonist Chris Cheek, trumpeter Mike Rodriguez, drummer Adam Nussbaum, guitarist Steve Cardenas, and pianist Gil Goldstein. The result, Winter Songs-- Swallow's first outing as a leader in over a decade was recorded at Sear Sound studio in New York during September 2024. About the music, Swallow wrote: “I was there when this music ...
Continue ReadingViktorija Gečytė & Gene Perla: Mother
by Ieva Pakalniškytė
Sometimes the music does not so much ask to be heard as it quietly draws you in. Listening to Viktorija Gečytė and Gene Perla's album Mother feels like slipping into a warm, half-remembered moment. The atmosphere is unhurried, softly lit, unfolding somewhere between memory and the present. Structured as a six-composition album, it echoes the aesthetic world of the Great American Songbook. Carried by voice, swing, and the pleasure of listening, it remains firmly rooted in tradition without feeling merely retrospective or ...
Continue ReadingAlbum Review
Anat Fort: The Dreamworld of Paul Motian
by Alberto Bazzurro
Pescando nel vasto songbook di Paul Motian, certo uno dei più ricchi (nelle molteplici accezioni del termine) che un batterista abbia saputo regalare al grande serbatoio del jazz, Anat Fort e compagni confezionano un album prezioso, muovendosi nelle trame tematiche create dal grande musicista di Filadelfia (notoriamente di origini armene, retaggio talora coglibile nelle pieghe della sua musica) con leggerezza e pertinenza. Un'operazione certo molto rispettosa che tuttavia non impedisce ai quattro musicisti (notare il raddoppio armonico pianoforte-chitarra) di dire ...
Continue ReadingHillai Govreen: Every Other Now
by Kyle Simpler
Many musicians are content to write and perform songs, while others continuously explore deeper territory. Clarinetist, saxophonist, and composer Hillai Govreen belongs firmly to the latter camp. At heart, she is a storyteller, and with Every Other Now, her debut solo release, she creates music that invites not only listening but also imagination. Govreen first drew notice with Allusions (Starr Street, 2021), a duo with pianist Nitsan Kolko, where her sensitivity and command of dialogue came to the ...
Continue ReadingAnat Fort: The Dreamworld of Paul Motian
by Dan McClenaghan
Borrowing a sentiment from the title of the 1959 Riverside Records album Everybody Digs Bill Evans, it is safe to say that pianist Anat Fort digs Paul Motian. Her The Dreamworld of Paul Motian says so. We can attribute a big part of Motian's career success to pianist Bill Evans (1929 -1980). Portrait In Jazz (Riverside, 1960) was the first Evans album that included Motian in the drummer's chair. More followed, including the groundbreaking Sunday At the Village ...
Continue ReadingAnat Fort: The Dreamworld of Paul Motian
by Kyle Simpler
Other performers inspire every musician to some extent, but for Anat Fort, the influence of drummer Paul Motian altered her approach to performing and thinking about music. Although Motian passed away in 2011, his presence remains a motivating force in Fort's work. With The Dreamworld of Paul Motian, she pays homage not just to the man but to the mystery, lyricism, and true spirit of his music. Motian elevated the role of drumming in modern jazz. ...
Continue ReadingMatt Slocum Presents "Trio Pacific, Vol. 1" Featuring Dayna Stephens, Steve Cardenas, and Matt Slocum
Source:
Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity
Available October 7, 2016 on Chandra Records U.S. Tour Dates: October 18 through November 9 “Slocum served the music with a focus on dynamic micro-detail, which in turn allowed his musicians to say even more. It’s a cerebral concept, one that comes to fruition on Black Elk’s Dream… Like Wayne Shorter’s classic Blue Note albums, Black Elk’s Dream seems to ask questions, leaving the answers open to individual interpretation.”—DownBeat Magazine “Matt Slocum has emerged as one of the ...
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Guitarist Steve Cardenas Interviewed at AAJ
Source:
All About Jazz
Kansas City has had a long and storied place in jazz history. From Count Basie, to Charlie Parker and Lester Young, some of the best and brightest in the genre have either been raised or cut their teeth in K.C. While there seems to be an historical tinge to the city whenever its contribution to jazz is concerned, the Paris of the Plains still produces many top-notch instrumentalist and vocalists from its clubs, high schools and universities. With such a ...
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Keith Ganz/Steve Cardenas Quartet Thursday September 21 at Cornelia Street Cafe
Source:
Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services
CORNELIA STREET CAFE 29 Cornelia Street NYC, New York 212-989-9319 http://www.corneliastreetcafe.com between West 4th and Bleecker Sts, Greenwich Village 1 Subway to Sheridan Square; A, C, E, B, D, F, V to West 4th St
KEITH GANZ/STEVE CARDENAS QUARTET Thursday September 21, 8:30PM
Keith Ganz, guitar; Steve Cardenas, guitar; Sean Smith, bass; Vito Lesczak , drums
You may have heard Steve Cardenas (Charlie Haden, Paul Motian) and Keith ...
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Photos
Music
Restitution
From: Ray's Hat TrickBy Steve Cardenas
Four
From: Winter SongsBy Steve Cardenas
Old Earl
From: What I Meant to SayBy Steve Cardenas
Compelled
From: Hiding OutBy Steve Cardenas
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Steve Cardenas
Location: New York City
Instrument: Guitar
