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Jazz Articles about Phil Grenadier

5
Album Review

Club d'Elf: You Never Know

Read "You Never Know" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki


You Never Know is the Club d'Elf studio album that captures the whirling, overlapping orbits of acoustic, electric and exotic sounds of the floating improvisational collective, which has recorded and performed together for more than two decades, with crisp studio clarity. But more importantly, You Never Know celebrates light born from darkness. Bassist and bandleader Mike Rivard, the sole constant in the collective's 24-year run, suffered a near-death experience from a pulmonary embolism which struck him while he ...

12
Album Review

Club D'Elf: You Never Know

Read "You Never Know" reviewed by Chris May


Near-death experiences can reboot the mind, separating the important from the trivial. It seems to have worked like that for bassist and composer Mike Rivard, founder and leader of Boston's world-dub-jazz band Club D'Elf. A few years back, Rivard was nearly felled by a pulmonary embolism while seeking spiritual insight in the Amazonian rain forest. A long, dark period of depression followed, before Rivard emerged recharged into the light, having been sustained in large part by gnawa, the Moroccan trance ...

7
Album Review

Phil Grenadier: Shimmer

Read "Shimmer" reviewed by Glenn Astarita


Boston, MA, based trumpeter Phil Grenadier is a highly regarded jazz artisan, performing and recording with famous crooners, rock bands and ingratiating his wares within numerous progressive jazz fronts. He's also taught at New York City's prestigious Mannes College of Music and for the most part, has enjoyed status as a go-to session ace amid a stockpile of impressive accomplishments. His leadership skills and consummate technical gifts shine radiantly on Shimmer. Indeed, the musicians must have had ...

3
Album Review

Phil Grenadier / Bruno Raberg Duo: Plunge

Read "Plunge" reviewed by Ian Patterson


Maybe only a pirate radio station would be uninhibited enough to play duo improvisations such as these served up by trumpeter {Phil Grenadier and acoustic bassist Bruno Råberg. However, such mainstream disinterest should be considered a backhanded compliment and is perhaps reason enough to check it out. Plunge is an apt title for music inspired by the panoply of emotions suggested to Råberg by saxophonist Ornette Coleman's “Lonely Woman." This intimate dialogue explores extensive emotional terrain, with Råberg's sound design ...

1
Album Review

Phil Grenadier / Bruno Raberg Duo: Plunge

Read "Plunge" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


Two men are responsible for every sound heard on the avant-leaning Plunge, but this record shouldn't be mistaken for a naked, take-me-as-I-am duo date. Bassist Bruno Råberg and trumpeter Phil Grenadier take full advantage of technology to create piquant aural landscapes that expand and expound on the very nature of man-to-man dialogue. This pair plunges into the abyss of the mind as they explore themselves, their surroundings, their instruments and their connection to one another, but this ...

1
Album Review

Phil Grenadier / Bruno Raberg Duo: Plunge

Read "Plunge" reviewed by Chris Mosey


The inspiration for this album was saxophonist Ornette Coleman's “Lonely Woman." It gave Swedish bassist, Bruno Råberg, what he calls an “aural vision": “I 'heard' a rich, erratic, and busy soundscape in which the beautiful melody would live. I saw images of desolate streets and a lonely person's inner turmoil, conflicting emotions and despair." Coleman's hauntingly melancholic composition was first heard on his The Shape Of Jazz To Come (Atlantic, 1959), when free jazz was in its ...

2
Album Review

Phil Grenadier / Bruno Raberg Duo: Plunge

Read "Plunge" reviewed by Florence Wetzel


Plunge is a captivating CD that features the formidable duo of bassist Bruno Råberg and trumpeter Phil Grenadier. Each musician brings to the table their unique background and decades of experience: Råberg hails from Sweden, and in his twenties he played with the cream of Swedish jazz musicians, including trombonist Eje Thelin, pianist Bobo Stenson and renowned singer Monica Zetterlund. With the magic of Scandinavian jazz firmly in his bones, Råberg emigrated to America in the early eighties, and since ...


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