Jason Roebke

Tomeka Reid Quartet: 3+3

by Chris May
May 6, 2024

Jazz cello has come a long way since Fred Katz's pioneering work with Chico Hamilton in the 1950s. Back then, the instrument was looked on as a novelty turn. In 2024, while still relatively avant-garde, its presence in a lineup is less exceptional. A pivotal point was American cellist Adbul Wadud's By Myself (Bishara, 1977), an album Tomeka Reid has acknowledged as an inspiration, and which may have played a part in her transition from classical music to jazz around ...

Jeb Bishop Flex Quartet: Re-Collect

by John Sharpe
July 30, 2020

Trombonist Jeb Bishop doesn't have a whole slew of leadership dates to his credit in spite of being active on the scene since the early 1990s. His most high profile gigs have been as part of the Vandermark 5, and also Peter Brötzmann's Chicago Tentet, though he also has Rob Mazurek's Exploding Star Orchestra and the Steve Lacy repertory outift The Whammies on his resume. All the better then that Re-Collect, a live recording from 2015 by his Flex Quartet, ...

Tomeka Reid Quartet: Old New

by Ian Patterson
April 19, 2020

Tomeka Reid cut her teeth in Chicago, recording with Anthony Braxton, Roscoe Mitchell and Nicole Mitchell, but the cellist's 2016 move to New York seems to have fired her creative juices even more. The prolific Reid has appeared on nearly twenty recordings in that time, notably including the Art Ensemble of Chicago's We Are On The Edge (Pi Recordings, 2019), and also touring with the group in celebration of its fiftieth anniversary. Given the demands on Reid's time, it is ...

Juan Vinuesa Jazz Quartet: Blue Shots From Chicago

by Mark Corroto
March 10, 2020

Chicago, a city of big shoulders, continues to present proof of poet Carl Sandburg's words from the poem of the same name... “Come and show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning." Why is this? Because Chicago in 2020 remains the same as evoked in these words from 1914, “fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action." It is a city that welcomes all comers who can bring ...

Jason Roebke Octet: Cinema Spiral

by Giuseppe Segala
December 22, 2016

La spirale del cinema a cui Jason Roebke si riferisce in questa seconda registrazione con il suo affiatato ottetto porta l'impronta di Alfred Hitchcock, con assonanze che rimandano a Vertigo, sia nel titolo che nel tema musicale che apre il CD e lo percorre tutto, ripresentandosi in altri brani e dando un carattere fortemente unitario al lavoro. Una variazione sul tema di Bernard Herrmann, evidente nel disegno affidato al vibrafono di Jason Adasiewicz, ma pure nel clima generale del brano ...

Jason Roebke Octet: Cinema Spiral

by Troy Collins
October 22, 2016

The widely acclaimed collaborative nature of the contemporary Chicago jazz scene is expertly demonstrated on Cinema Spiral, the sophomore effort by double bassist Jason Roebke's all-star Octet, which continues the creative in-roads made on the unit's celebrated 2014 Delmark Records debut, High/Red/Center. Starring eight of the Windy City's most intrepid improvisers, the ensemble features the muscular frontline of cornetist Josh Berman, trombonist Jeb Bishop, alto saxophonist Greg Ward, tenor saxophonist Keefe Jackson, and bass clarinetist Jason Stein. Vibraphonist ...

Jason Roebke Octet: Cinema Spiral

by Mark Corroto
August 31, 2016

If entropy is a scientific theory that describes how all things in nature tend towards a gradual decline and disorder, then Jason Roebke's Octet is the anti-entropy. His second octet release Cinema Spiral and the previous High/Red/Center (Delmark, 2014) make order out of the impression of chaos. Such is the enticement of jazz. It always has been. Ever since Louis Armstrong diverted from the sheet music, great jazz musicians, improvisers, leave the score behind, or use ...

Jason Roebke - In the Interval (Self-Released)

Source: Master of a Small House
July 12, 2010

Bassist Jason Roebke is an enviably busy musician. Projects and gigs are deservedly plentiful these days, often in the company of Chicago and New York-based colleagues like Mike Reed, Keefe Jackson and Nate Wooley. In light of the flurry of activity of the past few years it's easy to forget that he's been plying his craft for well over a decade. Most of his current docket aligns with jazz-related contexts. As an outlet for his interests somewhat removed from those ...
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Jason Roebke's Solo Bass Debut Reissued Digitally

Source: All About Jazz
August 21, 2008

Jason Roebke's solo bass debut is being reissued digitally by Family Vineyard. This rare recording will now be available worldwide in the MP3 format September 23 via digital sellers like iTunes, eMusic, Other Music Digital, and many more.

Solo is Jason Roebke's only solo acoustic bass album, originally self-released in 2000. Across twelve pieces he bows, plucks and thrashes the bass to explore its wooden body, string harmonics and conjure pure clusters of sound. Snatches of walking, be-bop lines appear ...
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