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New releases and a special focus on albums from Dease and Giancola
New music all the way with two featured albums from Michael Dease and Trevor Giancola... and some great new releases from the Caligola Records label. Playlist Michael Dease “Mirror Image" from Never More Here (Posi-tone) 00:00 Trevor Giancola “Report Card" from Sonnet 18 (TQM Recording Co) 07:41 Ben Wolfe “Blind Seven" from Fatherhood (Resident Arts) 15:58 Billy Mohler “Deconstruction" from Focus! (Make Records) 19:55 Claudio Cojaniz, Franco Feruglio “Insomnia" from Blue Question (Caligola Records) 24:50 Michael Dease “Blue ...
read moreMichael Dease: Never More Here
Trombonist Michael Dease released Bonafide (Posi-Tone Records) in 2018. The disc was a testament to some of his influences—pianist Geri Allen, trumpeter Marcus Belgrave, trombonist J.J. Johnson. For his 2019 testament, Never No More Here, he tips his hat to saxophonist Charlie Parker. But he doesn't cover “Confirmation" “or “An Oscar For Treadwell" or “Segment," familiar Parker tunes; nor does he offer up ”Loverman" or ”Star Eyes," familiar Parker vehicles. Instead Never No More Here“ reflects on the artists that ...
read moreMichael Dease: Bonafide
Trombonist Michael Dease was born in Augusta, Georgia. His propensity for the arts landed him at John S. Davidson Fine Arts Magnet High School, where he studied saxophone, voice and trumpet. During his senior year, after sage advice from another Augusta, Georgia jazz mainstay, Wycliffe Gordon, Dease pointed his ambition towards the trombone, what would ultimately become his primary instrument. Dease furthered his studies at Juilliard School where he earned his bachelor and master degrees. His continued journey includes several ...
read moreMichael Dease: Bonafide
Listening critically to recently produced mainstream-jazz recordings often feels like prospecting for gold amidst the dross of familiar templates, all-too-common stylistic references, and unremarkable performances. However, occasionally, even when a record doesn't hang together particularly well and is likely to disappear under the weight of scores of similar sounding releases, diligence is rewarded by a track that stands out and demands to be taken seriously. “Pearls" is the piece de resistance of trombonist/composer Michael Dease's Bonafide, an ...
read moreMichael Dease: Reaching Out
Somebody has to be the keeper of the flame, right? In jazz, an art form that has only recently passed the century mark, that responsibility has seemed to diminish in importance. It's not that music schools aren't churning out graduates versed in the traditional repertory, and post-modern players aren't constantly pushing the envelope of possibilities. It's just that we need more musicians like Michael Dease who, to quote Art Blakey, play jazz that “washes away the dust of everyday life." ...
read moreMichael Dease: All These Hands
Trombonist Michael Dease is never short on ideas, but this one might be his best yet: With All These Hands, Dease traces the early migratory patterns of jazz through his own well-crafted originals. He starts in NOLA and moves along to many a music mecca, including the Mississippi Delta, Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., and New York. All the while he addresses regional dialects that developed as jazz permeated different regions while remaining cognizant of the need to avoid the ...
read moreMichael Dease: Father Figure
Never underestimate a jazz musician's capacity for drawing on material from vastly different sources, deflating the ostensible dissimilarities, and producing vibrant sounds that don't hew to convention or expectations. From the music's early years, resourceful artists have been confounding audiences and critics alike by putting their stamp on anything that strikes their fancy, from gutbucket blues to pop ditties to art songs, and everything in between, ultimately leaving no stone unturned. Michael Dease's Father Figure, the trombonist's third disc for ...
read moreMichael Dease: Father Figure
Paying it forward is simply a given in jazz. Long before the music was welcomed in ivory tower institutions and codified for classroom consumption at all levels, seasoned musicians were sharing their hard-earned knowledge with aspiring youngsters on bandstands and in basements, serving as guides, exemplars, nurturers, and teachers all at once. Those experienced players were musical father figures, helping the next generation(s) along on their quest to join them, and that's a role that trombonist Michael Dease aspires to ...
read moreMichael Dease: Decisions
When it comes to decision-making, not everything is black and white or right and wrong. On occasion there are multiple paths that can be seen as the correct choice, and trombonist Michael Dease truly understands that. Dease came to a significant fork in life's road when he found himself in a position to decide whether to remain a first-call New York-based player or move to Michigan. He ultimately chose the latter option and it hasn't hurt him one bit, as ...
read moreMichael Dease: Relentless
While rising star trombonist Michael Dease's previous albums have all been small group affairs, much of his sideman work has marked him as something of a large ensemble specialist. He's put his slide to good use in numerous big bands and jazz orchestras, including those led by Christian McBride, Charles Tolliver, Roy Hargrove, Rufus Reid, and Nicholas Payton. Given that information, it should come as no great surprise that Dease decided to make a go of fronting his own big ...
read moreMichael Dease: Coming Home
Trombonist Michael Dease's Coming Home is the evolutionary culmination of all of the small group work of which he has been a part. Dease's musical personality reveals itself fully on the disc, one he has populated with a very fine band and thoughtfully composed and selected pieces for that band. Dease's previous work as a leader on Dease Bones (Astrix Media, 2007), Clarity (Blues Back Records, 2008) and Grace (Legacy Jazz Productions, 2011), as well as with multi-reedist Sharel Cassity ...
read moreMichael Dease: Grace
Michael Dease is to the trombone what Harry Allen is to the tenor saxophone. Lyrical, traditional, well-studied and broad based, both artists can equally get their freak on when necessary. Dease's trombone style contains many influences, but like many conservatory-trained musicians, Dease has had the time and practice to develop is own potent voice. Emerging among a class of young musicians that include Sharel Cassity and Carol Morgan, Dease presents as a neo-traditionalist with pristine chops and ...
read moreShowcase
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The Haywain by Hashima
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e.s.t. live in Gothenburg by Esbjorn Svensson
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Munich 2016 by Keith Jarrett
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Greene Street Vol.1 by Will Sellenraad
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MonkTime by Leon Lee Dorsey
