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Kendall Kay
Mark Masters Ensemble: Sam Rivers 100
by Dan McClenaghan
The Mark Masters Ensemble released Porgy and Bess Redefined! (Capri Records) in 2005. The music was taken from the George Gershwin/DuBose Heyward English-language opera, which was first performed in 1935. Masters' take on the classic was brilliantly expressed by the ensemble, who dug into his adventurous charts with freedom mixed with respect for the familiar and often-covered (most notably by the Miles Davis/Gil Evans teaming) original. It was a breakout effort for Masters. Billy Harper was there on tenor sax, ...
Continue ReadingMark Masters Ensemble: Dance, Eternal Spirits, Dance!
by Jack Bowers
In 2023-24, the celebrated arranger Mark Masters led his superb southern California-based ensemble into studios to record a pair of tribute albums. The first, Sam Rivers 100, was dedicated to the music of the late saxophonist on the one hundredth anniversary of his birth; the second, Dance, Eternal Spirits, Dance!, to that of another renowned saxophonist, Billy Harper, who is not only very much alive at age eighty-two but serves as guest soloist on both recordings. Unlike ...
Continue ReadingMark Masters: Sam Rivers 100
by Jack Bowers
Sam Rivers 100 is the first of two homages recorded in 2023-24 by arranger Mark Masters and his blue chip southern California-based ensemble. This one pays tribute to the music of the late saxophonist Sam Rivers on the hundredth anniversary of his birth; the second, Dance, Eternal Spirits, Dance! salutes the music of tenor saxophonist Billy Harper who is the ensemble's guest soloist on both albums. Rivers, who died in December 2011, was an early bebopper who ...
Continue ReadingMark Masters Ensemble: Sui Generis
by Angelo Leonardi
Dopo aver creato nell'ultimo album nuovi arrangiamenti per i classici ellingtoniani dei primi anni quaranta (Masters & Baron Meet Blanton & Webster, Capri Records), il notevole orchestratore californiano riduce l'organico e presenta un repertorio tutto suo. Dalla precedente incisione resta solo il trombettista Tim Hagans che ha il ruolo di principale solista. Il titolo del disco usa un'espressione latina ancora in uso nella lingua italiana, che Masters riferisce ad Hagans, sottolineando quell'unicità artistica che apprezza da cinquant'anni, quando ...
Continue ReadingMark Masters Ensemble: Sui Generis
by Pierre Giroux
Sui Generis by the Mark Masters Ensemble featuring trumpeter Tim Hagans is an inventive addition to the world of contemporary jazz. Known for his deft compositions and dynamic arrangements, Mark Masters delivers a collection of nine original compositions, each of which embodies the spirit of spontaneity. Joining Masters in this session are a group of musicians known for their high bar of musicianship, including alto saxophonist Nicole McCabe, tenor and soprano saxophonist Jerry Pinter, trombonist Dave Woodley, French hornist John ...
Continue ReadingBevan Manson featuring Tierney Sutton with The Hollywood Studio Orchestra: Talking to Trees
by Nicholas F. Mondello
Bevan Manson is an artist who has a creative duality. As a pianist, composer/arranger and educator, he's been successful in classical and jazz environments. With Talking to Trees, Manson provides an array of both originals and jazz standards, most with an arboreal tint, as the title indicates. The work is a validation that his pen, guiding the talents of vocalist Tierney Sutton and L.A.'s premium players, can make the familiar fascinating and the novel intriguing. Miles Davis' ...
Continue ReadingThe Jim Self & John Chiodini Quintet: Touch and Go
by Jack Bowers
A quintet whose front line consists of tuba, guitar and trumpet. How does that work? Quite well, actually--at least when that front line includes tuba master Jim Self, guitarist John Chiodini and trumpeter Ron Stout, ably supported by bassist Ken Wild and drummer Kendall Kay, on the Jim Self and John Chiodini Quintet's album, Touch and Go. The music they make can best be described as smooth and tasteful--although “swinging" would not be out of place either, ...
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Music
Downstairs Blues Upstairs
From: Sam Rivers 100By Kendall Kay
Was It Here...Is It There?
From: Dance, Eternal Spirits, Dance!By Kendall Kay
