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Dan Pugach Big Band: Bianca
by Jack Bowers
Dan Pugach is an Israeli-born, New York-based drummer who doubles (quite well) as composer and arranger on Bianca, his second recording for Outside In Music. Pugach anchors a splendid big band comprised of some of the New York area's finest musicians on an album whose subtitle is “Music for Paws and Persistence." The “paws" were those of the Pugach family's rescue pit-bull, Bianca, who passed away in 2019 and left a gaping hole in their lives, as ...
read moreDan Pugach Big Band at The Jazz Loft
by Dan Bilawsky
On March 22, 2024, two weeks to the day after Dan Pugach released his first big band record, the celebrated drummer-composer brought his large ensemble to The Jazz Loft in Stony Brook for an album release event that was a resounding success by any measure. That 90-seat venue--a performance space, museum and educational hub with a well-earned reputation as the crown jewel site on the Long Island jazz scene--played host to a stellar two-set concert that earned a standing ovation ...
read moreNicole Zuraitis: How Love Begins
by Dan Bilawsky
Love is not for the faint of heart. Its tides are unpredictable, bound to different souls, intensifying and ebbing in parallel to the feelings and favors of each individual who exerts their gravitational pull on an evolving romance. Musically charting those waters--depicting the full scope of that sea through song--is no simple feat. Yet some supreme talents, like this one, make it happen and make it look easy. Nicole Zuraitis--a first-rate songwriter, powerhouse vocalist and grade-A pianist--proves to be an ...
read moreYu Nishiyama Big Band: A Lotus In The Mud
by Angelo Leonardi
Una giovane e talentuosa bandleader aggiorna la tradizione delle grandi orchestratrici del Sol Levante, da Toshiko Akiyoshi a Miho Hazama. La musica presente nel debutto di Yu Nishiyama va oltre un puntuale modern mainstream per big band ma colpisce per la fantasiosa scrittura, caratterizzata da percorsi ricchi di svolte, tra aristocratici contrasti timbrici, poderosi ensemble e trascinanti interventi solisti. Una visione orchestrale matura, ricca di tensione e dalla bella carica spettacolare. Trasferitasi da Yokohama negli Stati Uniti ...
read moreNicole Zuraitis: All Wandering Hearts
by Geno Thackara
Nicole Zuraitis has a heart full of soul and a voice full of sunshine. She's got a mix of things on her mind with her fourth album, everyday themes and weighty matters alike, and yet they ultimately come out sounding exuberant in her hands. The fundamental optimism is one key asset of All Wandering Hearts, even if her variety of jazzy coffee-shop balladry is no less eloquent in the spots when things get more somber. The too-spirited-for-AOR “Make ...
read moreDan Pugach: Plus One
by Angelo Leonardi
Ci giunge con un po' di ritardo questo debutto del batterista e arrangiatore israeliano Dan Pugach ma va segnalato per testimoniare l'ottimo momento del jazz orchestrale. Trasferitosi negli Stati Uniti per frequentare il Berklee College of Music, Pugach è appassionato della scuola orchestrale mainstream e s'è perfezionato al City College di New York studiando con Hal Crook, Joe Lovano George Garzone e altri. In questo lavoro ha arrangiato per medio organico -con l'ausilio della vocalist Nicole Zuraitis-sue composizioni e tre ...
read moreDan Pugach: Plus One
by Jerome Wilson
On this debut CD, drummer Dan Pugach shows himself to be a composer and arranger who has mastered the art of making a group sound much bigger than it is. His nonet plays intricate and soulful jazz with the punch of a much bigger band. Pugach is very good at using brawny up-tempo rhythms. The CD's opener, “Brooklyn Blues" kicks off with a New Orleans second line groove that leads into a wall of shouting staccato horns driving ...
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