Jazz Articles about Aaron Germain

Charged Particles: Live at the Baked Potato!

by Mark Sullivan
April 17, 2022

The late tenor saxophonist Michael Brecker was held in the highest regard by fellow saxophonists, while at the same time being seen as far too eclectic to be part of the jazz pantheon (due in no small part to his sideman work in rock and pop). This album focuses on Brecker as composer, spanning three decades of his work, and honoring his performance practice as well. There was no attempt to recreate his legendary chops, but the group was careful ...

Brian Andres: Mayan Suite

by Chris M. Slawecki
October 27, 2020

Drummer and percussionist Brian Andres may have been born in Cincinnati but his musical homeland is Latin America. A drummer by age ten, Anders studied at the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music and eventually followed his Latin musical muse from local gigs with Cincinnati Slim & The Headhunters to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he founded and fronted the Afro-Latin Jazz Cartel. Mayan Suite extends Andres' lifelong love affair with the music of Latin America while presenting ...

Aaron Germain: Chance

by Ian Patterson
November 13, 2013

San Francisco based bassist/composer Aaron Germain's follow-up to his debut Before You Go (Self Produced, 2010) harnesses some of the Bay Area's finest musicians on another set of the leader's original compositions. The personnel, who includes French/Vietnamese guitarist Nguyen Le, is completely different to Germain's eclectic debut and it sounds like it too. Whereas Before You Go reflected Germain's command of bop, funk, blues and Latin, Chance is more stylistically homogenous. To be sure, Germain's diverse musical threads are present, ...

Aaron Germain: Before You Go

by Bruce Lindsay
January 30, 2010

The key to the eclecticism of Before You Go, bassist Aaron Germain's first album as leader, can be found in his stated aim as a musician: to be “picky about quality, not genre." Germain's ten original tunes take in straightforward hard bop, blues, Latin and funk styles--and the quality is always high.

Throughout the album, Germain's compositions take center stage. While the quality of his playing is obvious, Germain never uses the tunes simply to demonstrate his talent--neither does he ...

Aaron Germain: Before You Go

by John Barron
January 15, 2010

Bassist Aaron Germain has made a point throughout his fifteen-year career as a professional musician to perform in a wide variety of genres. Growing up in Massachusetts and currently residing in San Francisco, Germain infuses the influence of funk, Afro-Cuban and Brazilian music to inform a fresh approach to modern jazz. Before You Go features Germain's technical prowess on both upright and electric bass with a stellar crew of sidemen. The disc's ten tracks--all composed by Germain--are high energy romps ...