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Adam Larson: Listen With Your Eyes
by Dan Bilawsky
Listen with your eyes. Open your ears and look. What tenor saxophonist Adam Larson has to offer here is something truly extraordinary. With horn in hand he takes us on a journey, an unforgettable trip through his wiring that's as daring as it is direct, as complex as it is approachable, and as dynamic as can be. To see and hear is to believe.Serving as Larson's debut for Ropeadope and his fifth record to date, Listen With Your ...
read moreThe Adam Larson Trio: With Love, From Chicago
by Dan McClenaghan
The experience begins with the cover art, an old school black-and-white photo of Kansas City-based saxophonist Adam Larson with his hair swooped up in something of a modest 1950s pompadour, like an early Sun Records artist--Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley--sitting in the studio with his ax laid out in front of him. Except Larson's ax is not the guitar; it is the saxophone in the photo's foreground. And the Presley pompadour? It really isn't one; a ball cap pushed back on ...
read moreLittle Leaps and Sounds: 12 Intermediate Jazz Studies
by Dan Bilawsky
Little Leaps and Sounds: 12 Intermediate Jazz Studies Adam Larson 61 Pages Self Published 2021 When enterprising tenor saxophonist Adam Larson released Leaps & Sounds: 12 Contemporary Etudes For Jazz Saxophone (Self-Published, 2018), there wasn't anything quite like it in the educational market. Using contrafacts to push technique in surprising yet targeted directions, the book provided a serious workout likely to make even the most seasoned saxophonists sweat just a little bit. The ...
read moreJoshua Redman, Marc Copland and more
by Joe Dimino
This week we open the show with a very seasoned jazz saxophonist that recently moved to Kansas City, Adam Larson. From there we move to the UK scena and dig into new sounds from the Black Lab Beats and put a focus on great new jazz being released from the likes of Hendrik Meurkens, Peter Hand and Marc Copland. We round out this hour of music with a look into new material from Australian-born jazz guitarist Nic Vardanega and Poet/Singer ...
read moreThe Adam Larson Band: Listen With Your Eyes
by Phillip Woolever
Adam Larson may hail initially from Normal (Illinois), but there is absolutely nothing typical or average, in terms of style or ability, about the now-Kansas-City-based saxophonist. He has gathered a trio with comparable strengths and, behind his towering tenor, they create a showcase of prime progressive jazz. The ride begins with Sleepers," a shape-shifting opener with nothing drowsy about it which flows through multiple motifs. Larson soars across impressively unique arrangements into segmented duets between pianist Fabian Almazan ...
read moreAdam Larson: Second City
by Mike Jurkovic
For those out there who love it when a saxophonist hits the ground running, immediately taking control of the proceedings with their eyes and ears set on the far horizon, then Second City twenty-seven year old Adam Larson's fourth disc--yes fourth!--is the thrilling disc to be hearing right now. Leading a punchy and tenacious quartet comprised of keyboardist Rob Clearfield, bassist Clark Sommers, and drummer Jimmy Macbride Larson's sax leaps and bounds over Chicago (where the Second City ...
read moreAdam Larson: Second City
by Dan Bilawsky
When you hear Second City" and think about improvisation, comedy comes to mind before jazz. But this music is no laughing matter. Saxophonist Adam Larson is one serious talent, as this, his fourth album to date, makes clear. While Larson has called New York home for the past decade, Second City was recorded in its namesake locale--Chicago. It's an album rooted to Larson's Midwestern upbringing but a statement of maturity that could only emerge after some serious ...
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