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Charles Pillow
Charles' latest projects on Artistshare, the reworkings of Modeste Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" and Gustav Holsts' "The Planets" are examples of his fusion of different musical elements and blending them into music for our time. "I thought with all the instruments that I play, I could create a much more varied tonal palette and venture into different worlds of expression. So we go anywhere from rock to balkan to beats to 21st century classical in one breath, a virtual 'symphony of sound'.
He has appeared on over 75 CD's including those of Michael Brecker, David Sanborn, Jay Z, Frank Sinatra, Luther Vandross, Joe Henderson, Bob Mintzer, Bob Belden, Maria Schneider, John Fedchock, Maria Carey, Kevin Mahogany, Queen Latifah, John Scofield, Gladys Knight, Nellie McKay, Michel Buble, and Chaka Khan.
He has worked with legendary producers Phil Ramone and Arif Mardin and performed with Christine Aguilera, Marc Anthonly, Winona Judd, Blood, Sweat, and Tears and Michael Jackson, Randy Brecker, David Liebman, Orpheus Chamber Ensemble, The Long Island Philharmonic, and The New Orleans Symphony.
In additon to his saxophone, flute and clarinet playing, he has distinguished himself as one of the premier jazz oboists with his recordings, "Currents", "In this World", "Pictures at an Exhibition", and his latest release on Artistshare.com, "The Planets". He has appeared on 3 Grammy winning releases: Michael Breckers "Wide Angles", Maria Schneiders' "Concert in the Garden" and Joe Hendersons' "Big Band".
His two books, "Woodwind Doubling: the saxophonist guide to playing flute, clarinet and oboe" and, "Jazz Playing for Oboe Music Minus One" are also available through Artistshare.com as well as a series of etudes for junior high and high school students called, "Jazz Etudes on the Great Jazz Standards" for Bb and Eb saxophone, flute and clarinet.
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Bria Skonberg: Indigo
by Jack Bowers
Jazz triple-threat Bria Skonberg is back, singing, scatting and playing eloquent trumpet on Indigo, the Canadian-born artist's eighth recording as leader of her own group (one of which, Bria, earned Canada's JUNO Award in 2017 for best Vocal Jazz Album of the Year). In Skonberg's ongoing back-and-forth between voice and trumpet, voice seems to have gained the upper hand here, as she sings on every one of the album's nine numbers (including one of her own) and plays ...
Continue ReadingChuck Bergeron: Bass & Face
by Pierre Giroux
There is a certain confidence that comes with age and experience. It is the kind that allows a musician to gather friends, trust their instincts, and let the music tell its own story. Bassist Chuck Bergeron's Bass and Face feels exactly like that. As one of Florida's long-admired and versatile players, Bergeron proves himself to be an equally thoughtful curator. What makes this release inviting is that Bergeron surrounds himself with an extraordinary lineup of vocal personalities, each bringing a ...
Continue ReadingMike Holober & The Gotham Jazz Orchestra: This Rock We're On: Imaginary Letters
by Jack Bowers
This Rock We're On, acclaimed composer and pianist Mike Holober's 2024 recording as leader of the Gotham Jazz Orchestra, is challenging to summarize in mere words, as it consists of a multi-part suite (on two CDs) which blends jazz, classical and art songs in a thematic environment that uses a series of “imaginary letters" from a half dozen writers, artists and activists. Holober's orchestral response to them is the premise for “a meditation on the beauty of nature and the ...
Continue ReadingAlbum Review
Christopher Zuar Orchestra: Exuberance
by Angelo Leonardi
È decisamente un periodo d'oro per l'orchestrazione jazz. Ai molti bandleader e arrangiatori emersi nel nuovo millennio, si aggiunge decisamente Christopher Zuar, che firma il secondo album confermando le doti espresse in Musings (Sunnyside), il debutto di otto anni fa. Con un diploma al New England Conservatory e un master alla Manhattan School of Music, Zuar aggiunge una spiccata fantasia nell'arricchire il modern mainstream orchestrale di nuove suggestioni. Questo progetto è stato concepito tra il 2017 e ...
Continue ReadingChristopher Zuar Orchestra: Exuberance
by Jack Bowers
Composer/arranger Christopher Zuar's second album, Exuberance, recounts in musical terms a twisting yet picturesque journey that began seven years earlier, in 2017, when Zuar first met his now-wife, the animator Anne Beal, at MacDowell, the famed artists' residency in New Hampshire. While the relationship “blooms" in winter, there are “moments between" and other inescapable detours until “certainty" erases any lingering doubts, “exuberance" carries the day and Zuar and Beal are united as one. Yes, the music is ...
Continue ReadingMike Holober & the Gotham City Orchestra: This Rock We're On: Imaginary Letters
by Angelo Leonardi
Dopo gli ultimi superlativi album orchestrali (Balancing Act, Palmetto 2015 e Hiding Out, Zoho 2019) la nuova incisione di Mike Holober con la Gotham Jazz Orchestra non dovrebbe stupirci, eppure questo doppio album ci ha nuovamente colpito. L'aggiunta di Chris Potter, John Patitucci, Nir Felder e della cantante brasiliana Jamile Staevie Ayres all'orchestra rende infatti il progetto quanto mai esaltante. Questi nomi completano un organico già nutrito di solisti ragguardevoli come Marvin Stamm e Scott Wendholt alle trombe, ...
Continue ReadingMike Holober: This Rock We're On: Imaginary Letters
by Dan McClenaghan
We live on a rock. A few billion years of the workings of the complexities of carbon chemistry put us here. The systems and intricacies of every element that has unfolded to maintain us should be respected and preserved. Mike Holober's This Rock We're On: Imaginary Letters, featuring Holober and his Gotham Jazz Orchestra, digs into this theme in a sprawling, two-disc big band jazz outing. Like life itself, and the resulting ecosystems, this multi-movement suite--an effort that is the ...
Continue ReadingCharles Pillow Large Ensemble Set To Release 'Electric Miles 2' on October 6th
Source:
Scott Thompson Public Relations
Charles Pillow Large Ensemble Electric Miles 2 The follow-up to acclaimed saxophonist/arranger Charles Pillow’s, “Electric Miles” , one of NPR’s top ten CD’s for 2018, is a further exploration of Miles Davis’ early electric period, 1969-74, arranged for a large jazz ensemble. This time Pillows’ arrangements add 3 french horns in addition to the usual big band format for more orchestral color possibilities. Featured in the “Miles” solo role are Tim Hagans, Scott Wendholt and Clay Jenkins. A completely “stacked” ...
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Reed/Woodwind Multi-Instrumentalist Charles Pillow Interviewed at All About Jazz
Source:
John Kelman
Charles Pillow is a musician's musician who works with diverse ensembles from jazz to pops to classical, small group to large ensemble, straight-ahead to avant-garde. He grew up in Baton Rouge, La., and studied music at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, before eventually settling in the New York City area as a working professional. Pillow ventured into forming his own groups for recording with the 1997 release of Currents (Challenge Records), featuring Tom Harrell. In This World (Summit, ...
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"Pillow has fashioned something genuinely new and ravishingly beautfiul. He has remarkable command of oboe, soprano sax, bass clarinet and penny whistle. He practically achieves musical nirvana. Simply one of the best releases of this or any other year". (In This World) ---amazon.com
"His poise and sense of solo construction are indications of exceptional musicianship". ---Jazz Times
"He has an ear for original melodies and sophisticated harmonies, as well as terrifc playing on tenor and soprano saxes and oboe". ---Paul DeBarros, Seattle Times
Photos
Music
Lay of the Land
From: This Rock We're On: Imaginary...By Charles Pillow
In Winter Blooms
From: ExuberanceBy Charles Pillow
Compelled
From: Hiding OutBy Charles Pillow
