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Steve Coleman, Ben Wendel & More

By Joe Dimino

We open this week with a talented New York-based pianist making good waves in jazz, Andy Milne and Dapp Theory. We then travel North into Milne's home country, Canada, to hear the great Collective Order before moving to the British scene to hear Mia Dyberg and back to America with Ben Wendel. Finally, we give the sounds of Amaro Freitas a good listen and finish all of this jazz joy up with Les Elgart and his Orchestra. Playlist ...

Andy Milne & Dapp Theory: The Seasons of Being

By Glenn Astarita

From a scientific stance, the jury may still be out on homeopathic treatments via a wealth of published material--a subject well beyond the scope of this article. However, estimable jazz pianist Andy Milne (Steve Coleman, Ravi Coltrane) has reaped positive homeopathic benefits while fighting prostate cancer. Per the marketing info on Sunnyside's website: “Milne's positive experiences with homeopathy led him to ask how it could influence improvisation and lead to more emotionally meaningful interactions for the musicians playing his music." ...

Andy Milne and Dapp Theory at SOUTH Jazz Kitchen

By Mike Jacobs

Andy Milne and Dapp Theory SOUTH Jazz Kitchen Philadelphia, PA May 11, 2016 Venues can be a boon to a jazz show, or a detriment. Seeing Andy Milne and Dapp Theory in the moderately upscale (yet warm and inviting) digs at South turned out to be a huge plus for the evening, but initially, skepticism loomed. Places this nice, with food this good, often book jazz more for ambiance than musical substance. ...

Andy Milne & Dapp Theory: Forward In All Directions

By Dan Bilawsky

Can music be both sprawling and focused in nature? The aptly-titled Forward In All Directions says it can, and it says so in convincing fashion. Andy Milne, a distinguished M-Base alumnus who's worked with everybody from saxophonist Ravi Coltrane to harmonica heavy Gregoire Maret to singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn, doesn't draw borders in his music, but there's no questioning the presence of structure in his work. He's a shrewd sound painter who produces astounding patchwork canvases that speak ...

Andy Milne and Dapp Theory: Forward in All Directions

By Phil Barnes

Not all albums register immediately, sometimes it takes a while for unusual and individual music to settle in your subconscious, reveal itself incrementally as little details emerge with familiarity. This new release from Andy Milne and Dapp Theory, on Whirlwind records in the UK, is a good case in point Toronto born Pianist and keyboard player Milne first emerged from Steve Coleman's Five Elements, and played with many of the prime M-Base musicians including the likes of Cassandra ...

Andy Milne & Dapp Theory: New York, NY, August 26, 2012

By Ernest Barteldes

Andy Milne & Dapp Theory Charlie Parker Jazz FestivalTompkins Square Park New York, NYAugust 26, 2012 Perfect weather and mild temperatures were the setting for an afternoon of jazz music at New York's Tompkins Square Park on occasion of the 20th edition of the Charlie Park Jazz Festival. Pianist Andy Milne's contemporary jazz project Dapp Theory was part of the lineup for the day, a quintet rounded out by reed player Aaron Kruziki, ...

Andy Milne / Benoit Delbecq: Where is Pannonica?

By George Kanzler

Occasioned by a commission from Chamber Music America's French-America Jazz Exchange and realized during a three-week composing/recording residency at the Banff Centre in Canada in 2008, this is a fascinating project, pushing the boundaries of the piano duo format. Using Steinway D grands that were often--mostly in Benoit Delbecq's case--altered with prepared devices (objects on strings) and alternative playing techniques (strumming or hitting strings inside the piano), plus manipulating sounds with five-channel effects, the subtle use of electronics and a ...

Andy Milne and Benoit Delbecq: Where is Pannonica?

By Matt Marshall

At times while listening to pianists Andy Milne and Benoit Delbecq's Where is Pannonica? you may find yourself asking, “where is the piano?" Which isn't to say that traditional piano tones are ever completely silenced on the record, but that they are rarely the only tones. On three tunes, Delbecq is cited as using Dlooper, an audio application that, according to the pianist, is “a multi-track looper that can superimpose eight stereo channels, and output them on eight different channels." ...

Andy Milne: Dreams and False Alarms

By Martin Gladu

Andy Milne, solo piano? The announcement may bring mixed feelings of astonishment and surprise, but also wonder and curiosity. How will he make this fly sans Dapp Theory? Of course, Milne's talent is unequivocal--he was saxophonist Steve Coleman's pianist of choice for many years--so a solo session is an understandable and exciting new challenge for the gregarious former pupil of Canada's northern stars Oscar Peterson and Don Thompson.Recorded during a residency at the University of British Columbia, Dreams ...

Andy Milne: Scenarios and Dreams & False Alarms

By Tom Greenland

Andy Milne/Grégoire Maret Scenarios Obliqsound 2007 Andy Milne Dreams & False Alarms Songlines 2007

Coming from a land-up-over (Canada), pianist Andy Milne sheds a uniquely northern light on current jazz trends. Having paid dues in Steve Coleman's Five Elements Band, absorbing the additive rhythms and intervallic orthodoxy championed by the M-Base ...

Andy Milne: M-Base & Dapp Theory Radical Unplugged

By Mark Corroto

Pianist Andy Milne first caught the attention of jazz listeners with his work in Steve Coleman's Five Elements, with whom he recorded a dozen albums. There were gigs and partnerships too with M-Base collaborators singer Cassandra Wilson and saxophonists Ravi Coltrane and Greg Osby. Milne's immersion into M-Base theory and all things Brooklyn occupied him until 1997. In 1998 he formed Dapp Theory, a true fusion band combining contemporary funk, groove and hip-hop with jazz.

Like many jazz ...

Andy Milne's Music for the Human Condition - A Little Dapp'll do Y'All

By Phil DiPietro

Pianist and composer Andy Milne's music emphasizes badass groove-power that's grown from his roots as one of Steve Coleman 's Five Elements, specializing in some rhythmatic arithmetic that easily grabs more booty than some other M-BASE analogues. He draws inspiration from all types of music and from sociology, philosophy, and science fiction. While noted for sparse harmonic ideas and chord voicings that add texture to his compositions, he's also capable of seemingly effortlessly tossing off choruses full of musical sophistication ...