Matt Pavolka

Matt Pavolka is, like, a dude who plays the bass. Some people think that he's totally awesome. He started out as a trombonist but couldn't take the derision. He thought chicks would dig him if he played the bass. He had it confused with the guitar. He is a redneck from the State of Indiana. He was born in Muncie. His parents went to college there with David Letterman. He grew up in Bloomington. Not far from there is a town called Raccoon, and another one called Needmore. He went to Berklee College of Music in Boston, mostly to get the hell out of Indiana. He played a lot of music there. He met many of the musicians that he works with to this day. He met his future wife. He wrote some music. He won some awards. He drank lots and lots of coffee, smoked lots and lots of cigarettes, ate bad pizza and didn't sleep much. He's much healthier now. He currently resides in Brooklyn, New York with his beautiful and talented wife Akiko. He makes a lot of great music with amazing musicians in New York City and abroad. He occasionally makes mediocre music with mediocre musicians, for money. He has a band that plays sporadically in the New York area, called “The Matt Pavolka Band”. They have one album out on Tone Of A Pitch Records, entitled "Something People Can Use". If someone gives them some money, they may make another one at some point. He recently formed a second band, called “The Horns Band”. It is kind of like the first band but the music is different. And the musicians. And there are horns. They have a record coming out on June 24th, 2014 on Fresh Sound New Talent Records entitled “The Horns Band”. Someone gave them money.

Samo Salamon Ra Kalam Bob Moses Orchestra: Dream Suites vol. 1

Read "Dream Suites vol. 1" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro

by Alberto Bazzurro
July 21, 2025

Basta scorrere i nomi dei musicisti coinvolti nell'operazione per capire di quale rappresentatività per una data scena della più creativa e verace attualità jazzistica “unga" questo assolutamente notevole album cofirmato dal chitarrista sloveno Samo Salamon e dal batterista newyorchese Bob Moses. Lo compongono tre soli ampi brani (dai tredici minuti alla mezz'ora appena scarsa) incisi nel novembre 2023 e fondati sulla pratica della libera improvvisazione (non si parla neppure di conduction, in questo caso), raggiungendo una dimensione formale assolutamente invidiabile, ...

Album Review

Michael Attias: Quartet Music Vol I: LuMiSong & Vol II: Kardamon Fall

Read "Quartet Music Vol I: LuMiSong & Vol II: Kardamon Fall" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
April 8, 2025

Saxophonist Michaël Attias has impressed on the NYC scene for over three decades. He has recorded with Paul Motian, Anthony Braxton and Taylor Ho Bynum, while artists like Eric Revis, Anthony Coleman and Kris Davis have covered his compositions. But despite such recognition, Attias's discography undeservedly languishes in single figures. His decision to issue two volumes of quartet music, Lumisong and Kardamon Fall, available separately or together in a single package, represents the next step in his evolution ...

Album Review

Matt Pavolka: Disciplinary Architecture

Read "Disciplinary Architecture" reviewed by Vincenzo Roggero

by Vincenzo Roggero
February 19, 2025

Pur essendo da oltre vent'anni una presenza importante della scena newyorchese il bassista, trombonista, compositore Matt Pavolka ha pubblicato solo tre album a proprio nome: l'esordio di Something People Can Use (Toneofapitch, 2008), l'ottimo The Horns Band (FSNT,2014) e, a dieci anni di distanza, questo Disciplinary Architecture per la prestigiosa Sunnyside. Se nell'album precedente a farla da padrone erano naturalmente i fiati, e che fiati (Kirk Knuffke alla cornetta, Loren Stillman al sax alto, Jacob Garchik al ...

Album Review

Matt Pavolka: Disciplinary Architecture

Read "Disciplinary Architecture" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
August 6, 2024

Matt Pavolka, a seasoned bassist and composer, has carved a distinct niche in the New York jazz scene for over two decades. Initially focused on trombone (studying under the legendary David Baker), Pavolka's path took a sharp turn at Berklee College of Music. There, he switched to bass and blossomed as a composer, earning accolades for both performance and composition. His latest offering, Disciplinary Architecture, is a record brimming with ambition and a unique sonic atmosphere. The album ...

Album Review

Guillermo Klein Quinteto: Telmo's Tune

Read "Telmo's Tune" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
May 6, 2024

Sono passati tre decenni da quando l'argentino Guillermo Klein debuttò a New York col magistrale El Minotauro (Candid) evidenziando quelle doti di fantasioso orchestratore e bandleader che abbiamo apprezzato nei vari dischi incisi col suo ensemble Los Guachos e con la Swiss Jazz Orchestra. Negli anni l'abbiamo visto esibirsi anche con organici ridotti, dal quintetto presentato al Village Vanguard nel 2014 al minimale concept album con Rebecca Martin, Larry Grenadier e Jeff Ballard (The Upstate Project, Sunnyside, 2017). ...

Album Review

Russ Lossing: Alternative Side Parking Music

Read "Alternative Side Parking Music" reviewed by Maurizio Zerbo

by Maurizio Zerbo
December 7, 2023

Oltre a riflettere la musica del proprio tempo, i progetti dei jazzisti sono direttamente collegati alla quotidianità delle loro esistenze. Paradigmatica è in tal senso la scrittura per questo CD, pensata durante le ore impiegate da Russ Lossing per parcheggiare la propria automobile nei giorni in cui la sosta è consentita in un solo lato della strada. E non è un caso se lo spigoloso brano d'apertura, quasi monkiano, evoca con il suo andamento asimmetrico la strada percorsa ...

Album Review

Pete McCann: Without Question

Read "Without Question" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
September 15, 2023

Guitarist and composer Pete McCann pulls out all the stops on Without Question, his seventh album as leader, unveiling his singular talents on everything from burners ("Without Question," “Trifecta") to ballads ("I Can Remember," “January," “Lost City"), blues ("Blues for O.M."), burlesque ("Conspiracy Theory"), biting commentary ("Erase the Hate") and borrowed themes ("Lovely Thing"). McCann, a native of Wisconsin who has been a fixture on the New York scene for more than thirty years, is also smart--smart enough, that is, ...

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