Articles

Daily articles carefully curated by the All About Jazz staff. Read our popular and future articles.

ALBUM REVIEW October 5, 2020

Michael Feinberg: From Where We Came

Read "From Where We Came" reviewed by Jim Worsley

At the dinner table or in the studio, there are many subtle methods to interject a staunch conversation starter. Or you can always burst into the room with your hair on fire. Veteran soprano saxophonist Dave Liebman, he of many rich and complex lines past, here opted for the latter approach. After bassist and leader Michael Feinberg opened the record with a mood leveling bass intro, Liebman grabbed the attention of his younger generation bandmates in the Feinberg composition “Louisville," ...

ALBUM REVIEW April 22, 2018

Michael Feinberg: Whatever Possessed Me

By Don Phipps

Tribute bands are glowingly appreciated by fans of great rock acts; perhaps it's time jazz fans got with it! Michael Feinberg's Whatever Possessed Me is a dedication to the works and sound of John Coltrane and his classic quartet with McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, and Elvin Jones. The performances on this album are so good, one can imagine Coltrane's ghost hovering overhead and nodding approvingly. Feinberg has chosen some prime selections from the bop lexicon to infuse with ...

EXTENDED ANALYSIS July 21, 2014

Michael Feinberg's Humblebrag: Live at 800 East

By Dave Wayne

Blending modern jazz with any aspect of funk or R&B is a risky proposition for a young jazz musician. No matter how personal one's concept may be, or how artfully executed, a segment of the jazz- listening population is going to yell “sellout!" at the first electric bass slap. Though he doesn't do slap bass, Michael Feinberg is unapologetically drawn to the funky, danceable aspects of jazz. He does so without really making any obvious pop or R&B overtures. Live ...

EXTENDED ANALYSIS June 1, 2013

Michael Feinberg: The Elvin Jones Project

By Dave Wayne

Electronic boops and beeps are the first thing you hear on bassist Michael Feinberg's The Elvin Jones Project. This could either be a good sign or a bad one. Fortunately it's the former, and it acts as an effective reminder that drummer Elvin Jones was a pioneering and exploratory musician whose legacy extends well beyond his years with the legendary John Coltrane Quartet. If he had, say, quit drumming after leaving Coltrane's band, Jones would still be recognized as a ...

ALBUM REVIEW April 10, 2011

Michael Feinberg: With Many Hands

By Wilbert Sostre

Bassist Michael Feinberg is a good example of the new breed of young jazz musicians equally comfortable playing a diversity of jazz styles. On With Many Hands, Feinberg's music goes from bebop to avant-garde, and from a ballad to a funky rhythm--sometimes in the same song--with amazing ease and conviction. Surely it all comes from Feinberg eclectic taste in music that also includes rock, hip hop and bluegrass.“The Hard Stuff" has elements of avant-garde at the beginning, before ...

ALBUM REVIEW March 25, 2011

Michael Feinberg: With Many Hands

By Raul d'Gama Rose

On With Many Hands, bassist/composer Michael Feinberg charts his epic journey across the topographic ocean of sound, every once in awhile plunging into its depths to stir up a vortex and emerge with a roar. His playing is that driven by a powerful natural energy. Thus, he disappears and explores the temples of tone and timbre, only to reappear with an ebullient fanfare of fat, round notes that are, at once, inspired and inspirational to those who accompany him on ...

ALBUM REVIEW March 21, 2011

Michael Feinberg: With Many Hands

By Charles Walker

Atlanta is not known as a hotbed of jazz activity. Pianist/arranger Duke Pearson hailed from the city, and trumpeter Russell Gunn has a longstanding residency at the club Churchill Grounds, but on average, the metropolis rarely registers on the jazz map. On With Many Hands, 23-year old bassist Michael Feinberg's second album as a leader, the Atlanta native and his cohort of young whiz kids (the oldest is 24) make his hometown proud. The sextet heard here comfortably speaks the ...