Home » Jazz Articles » Reuben Radding
Jazz Articles about Reuben Radding
About Reuben Radding
Instrument: Bass, acoustic
Related Articles | Concerts | Albums | Photos | Similar ToReuben Radding: More Than Just a Free Jazzer
by Marc Medwin
A low trilling crescendo, replete with harmonics, a sharp rise and sudden plummet as one of those upper partials is tossed off a cliff and fades into the distance. Yet, after a brief pause and in the very next gesture, it returns to create a triumphant major third. Such pithy compactness is typical of bassist/composer Reuben Radding's approach to music making. His free playing usually combines US grit and power with an always fascinating and detailed sense of European formal ...
read moreBilly Stein: Hybrids
by Troy Collins
Hybrids, guitarist Billy Stein's debut recording, arrives after thirty years of playing sideman to some of the finest musicians in the New York area. A singular stylist with an unorthodox approach, Stein shares the same off-center sensibility as stylistic peers like Bern Nix, Joe Morris and Michael Musillami.
While attending Milt Hinton's Jazz Workshop at Hunter College in the 1970s, Stein found a kindred spirit in percussionist Kevin Norton, who now runs the Barking Hoop label. In the ...
read moreReuben Radding: Fugitive Pieces
by Marc Medwin
"The Gradual Instant --nothing could be more apt in describing the way this Reuben Radding disc is constructed. Each instant might take a moment, or three minutes, or longer. The episodic qualities of each track ensure adventure, introspection and transcendence for anyone inclined toward patience. This is not the Radding I've known. Sure, jazz lurks in the wings, ready to spring forth with post-Ayleresque freedom surrounding it like a halo, as on Phosphorus, but jazz isn't the ...
read moreTransit: Transit
by Tom Greenland
While improvising musicians thrive on novel combinations of instruments and musical personalities, there is also the sense that close and repeated creative camaraderie fosters group cohesion. Transit, the eponymously titled debut recording from the quartet of drummer Jeff Arnal, bassist Reuben Radding, alto saxophonist Seth Misterka and trumpeter Nate Wooley--all active on the grassroots avant jazz scene burgeoning in boroughs of New York--boasts both qualities, producing a satisfying blend of freshness and familiarity. The album exhibits a ...
read moreReuben Radding: Intersections
by Jeff Stockton
Reuben Radding has had to take initiative to get his music heard before. Luminescence, a recording of duets performed with multi-reedist Daniel Carter, was shopped around and ultimately released by AUM Fidelity in 2002; it gave off a do-it-himself scent that carries over to Intersections, the first release on the bassist's own Pine Ear Music label. Radding is plenty busy, performing and recording in combinations of various size and styles (including wicked work with Seattle's Wally Shoup Trio), but Pine ...
read moreTransit: Transit
by Troy Collins
A varied session with roots in cerebral European improvisation, AACM-inspired sound experimentation and New Thing-era ferocity, Transit's self-titled debut demonstrates expert communication, the key to any successful cooperative venture. Although organized by percussionist Jeff Arnal, the members of the quartet share writing credits, relying on collective improvisation as their principle strategy. Though Transit's music is rooted in free jazz, these players are not constrained by preconceived notions.
From the tumultuous vortex of sound that opens the album to ...
read moreTransit: Transit
by AAJ Italy Staff
Benché sia sostanzialmente un progetto unitario (tutte le composizioni sono a nome del quartetto) Transit, album pubblicato dalla intraprendente etichetta portoghese Clean Feed, può essere attribuito alla mente fervida di Jeff Arnal, batterista in prima linea sulla scena improvvisativa dell'avanguardia statunitense. E la sua dimestichezza con i lavori di grandi coreografi e con le cadenze del balletto moderno, emerge in filigrana come il filo conduttore dell'album, nel suo alternarsi tra brevi inserti sonori e improvvisazioni di ampio respiro, tra frenetiche, ...
read more