Jazz Articles about Earl Howard

Earl Howard: 5 Saxophone Solos

by Ty Cumbie
November 7, 2005

Saxophonist Earl Howard's solo CD, released on Tom Buckner's wonderful Mutable Music, reveals a quirky command of the instrument and ideas that defy easy analysis. For five fearless intervals, Howard publicly probes a private realm of sound. The results are almost always far from unlovely. Throughout there's an undertone of antipathy--and, paradoxically, a seeming affinity--for comfortable intervals in melody. There is no obvious interpolation of rhythm whatsoever, giving the recording a stark, abstract feel. Yet this is ...

Earl Howard: Strong Force

by Clifford Allen
February 4, 2004

There are those who decried the attempted merger in the early ‘60s of jazz and classical music, the Third Stream movement spearheaded by Gunther Schuller, John Lewis and others, as a disservice to both realms. True, these early attempted syntheses often left too many seams showing and too many loose ends to qualify as successful.

Nevertheless, the “improvised chamber music" aesthetic has met with better results in more qualified hands, ostensibly from the jazz realm (Anthony Davis, ...

Earl Howard / Denman MAroney: Fire Song

by Glenn Astarita
December 1, 2000

Fire Song represents yet another intriguing effort brought to us by “Erstwhile Records” as hyperpiano specialist Denman Maroney and alto saxophonist, synth performer Earl Howard match wits in a series of ambitious duets that might spark a glowing light within the listener’s subliminal self. Here, the duo challenges our imaginative powers as Maroney works the innards of his piano in concert with Howard’s delicate utilization of synths and highly charged performances on sax, most notably on the final track and ...