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Peter Brendler
Benjamin Boone: Caught in the Rhythm
by Paul Rauch
The connection between poetry and jazz music is a delicate one. It has been documented so infrequently, in performance and recordings, that one still conjures the flicker of an image of Jack Kerouac reading in some dark Greenwich Village cafe with Steve Allen or Zoot Sims, surrounded by beret-wearing, cappuccino-sipping beatniks. The work of Fresno-based saxophonist Benjamin Boone has assisted in widening that view through four albums recorded for the Origin Records label, including the fourth, Caught in the Rhythm ...
Continue ReadingBenjamin Boone: The Poets Are Gathering
by Paul Rauch
Saxophonist Benjamin Boone continues his ambitious foray into jazz and poetry, this time recruiting an impressive cadre of poets for his aptly entitled release, The Poets are Gathering (Origin, 2020). The union of poetry and jazz has never been so powerfly presented, reflecting the past year of the worldwide Black Lives Matter movement, the universal role of the poet, and the power of art and voice to raise awareness and inspire change. The album employs the likes of US Poet ...
Continue ReadingNew Faces: Straight Forward
by David A. Orthmann
New Faces is the brainchild of producer Marc Free, who comingles the talents of six young jazzers, each of whom has led at least one session for Posi-Tone. With the exception of a Herbie Hancock composition, the material is comprised of attractive, catchy themes of varying degrees of complexity, penned by a number of the label's artists and originally released on records throughout Posi-Tone's two-decade plus history. The record was recorded in one day, the group sounds well prepared, and ...
Continue ReadingNew Faces: Straight Forward
by Paul Rauch
The collection of musicians on this record, collectively referred to as “New Faces," is an attempt by Posi-Tone producer Marc Free to create a sampler of the label's mission, utilizing a selection of young leaders to collectively personify their overall musical vision. As stated on the Posi- Tone website, “The entire series of succinct performances included on this album are deliberately intended to provide accurate practical auditory insight and representation of the musical aesthetics and operational ethos of Posi-Tone Records." ...
Continue ReadingPeter Brendler: Message In Motion
by David A. Orthmann
Message In Motion is a recording that can be gainfully approached from a number of angles. You can choose to play it in a single sitting from start to finish, taking in an array of moods evoked by bassist Peter Brendler's seven compositions and a band worthy of his exemplary skills as a writer. (The record also includes selections penned by Duke Ellington, Elliott Smith, and Alice Coltrane.) Equally satisfying is the practice of detaching the compositions ...
Continue ReadingStevie Holland: Life Goes On
by C. Michael Bailey
Vocalist Stevie Holland has blazed quite a path for herself. She is fifteen years into a career that has produced seven recordings, the most recent being the present impressionistic Life Goes On. While always refined, Holland takes her refinement to a gilded level that is almost a vapor, an essence. She never overuses her perfectly balanced soprano voice, erring always on the side of sophistication and pure simplicity. Holland approaches ten Gary William Friedman-arranged standards and originals like Matisse beginning ...
Continue ReadingPeter Brendler: Outside The Line
by Bruce Lindsay
Thirteen years after graduating from Berklee and over a decade into his career as a professional bassist, Peter Brendler has taken the plunge and released his first album as leader, Outside The Line. Look before you leap, as they say. Wise advice, if the quality of this debut is anything to go by.Brendler has already shown himself to be a bassist with a wide stylistic and dynamic range--powerful and hard-driving on Jon Irabagon's wild and wacky Foxy (Hot ...
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Mississippi 1955 Confessional
From: Caught in the RhythmBy Peter Brendler
Against Silence
From: The Poets Are GatheringBy Peter Brendler
