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Sam Newsome: Tubes
by Mike Jurkovic
Tubes, a riotous investigation into the sonic by outlaw soprano saxophonist Sam Newsome and provocateur bassist Max Johnson, burps to life with “Dust" and proceeds assuredly down its own peculiar byways and highways. It is a real treat. The track closes with Newsome's prepared horn pondering like a bluesman on his lone, lonely harp. It is a real neat treat too. That is pretty much the blueprint for Tubes. However, it is not as simple as that and ...
read moreMax Johnson Trio: Orbit of Sound
by Mike Jurkovic
Whereas Sketches (Fresh Sounds Records, 2022) could be considered a more traditional big bop trio recording with pianist/vibraphonist Karl Berger and drummer Billy MIntz, Orbit of Sound, NY bassist Max Johnson's second heady release of 2022 finds him in the instigative company of the ever undefinable Anna Webber on tenor saxophone and flute and drummer Michael Sarin. On the verge of completing a tour of Europe in the fateful February and March of 2019, the trio's final concert ...
read moreKarl Berger, Max Johnson, Billy Mintz: Sketches
by Mike Jurkovic
An exquisitely palatable sense of dance permeates the gregarious music bassist Max Johnson brings to the fore on Sketches, the second of two heady 2022 releases. Whereas the first, Orbit of Sound (Unbroken Sounds), teams him up with the rule-elusive sax and flute of Anna Weber and drummer Michael Sarin, Sketches presents a slightly more straight ahead approach with pianist and vibraphonist Karl Berger and drummer Billy Mintz. But straight ahead is not quite fair, or descriptive enough ...
read moreMoers Festival Interviews: Max Johnson
by Martin Longley
New York bassist Max Johnson has embarked on a European tour with his trio, in the run-up to the release of their new album Orbit Of Sound (Unbroken Sounds, 2022). They are playing crucial venues such as Roskam in Brussels and The Loft in Cologne, doubtless climaxing at the Moers Festival, also in Germany (3rd-6th June). Prior to the tour, the trio hadn't played together since August 2021, when they recorded the album. Your scribe was roaming around ...
read moreMax Johnson, Kirk Knuffke, Ziv Ravitz: Something Familiar
by Karl Ackermann
New York native Max Johnson does not appear to require sleep. The bassist/composer, whose career spans the wide terrain from the Trans-Siberian Orchestra to Lollapalooza to Anthony Braxton consistently delivers fresh, adventurous, high-quality music against an ambitious output. With his now-regular working trio of Kirk Knuffke on cornet and drummer Ziv Ravitz, the group has released their best work to date on Something Familiar. As Johnson's star rises, so too does Knuffke's whose been drawing high spots ...
read moreMax Johnson: The Prisoner
by Libero Farnè
L'emergente Max Johnson, cresciuto nel New Jersey e stabilitosi a New York, dopo una seria formazione e una gavetta al fianco di alcuni dei più bei nomi dell'avanguardia s'inserisce di diritto nell'ormai vasta schiera di validi contrabbassisti-leader dell'attuale scena jazzistica internazionale. Questa sua suite s'ispira ad un serial programmato dalla televisione britannica nel 1968 e rivisto con occhio critico dall'autore in anni recenti. Dopo una messa a fuoco dei temi e delle dinamiche del gruppo in alcuni ingaggi dal vivo, ...
read moreMax Johnson: Big Eyed Rabbit
by Karl Ackermann
Bassist Max Johnson is one of the most prolific and versatile musician/composers in music today and likely on the verge of a major breakthrough. Barely past the year's mid-point Johnson has offered three fine releases with different groups and distinctly different styles. Recording with Kirk Knuffke on cornet on Johnson's namesake trio release The Invisible Trio (Fresh Sound New Talent, 2014) the approach was a broad mix of multi-layered structure and unfettered originality. Shortly afterward, Johnson released The Prisoner (NoBusiness ...
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