Jazz Articles

Paul McKee: Gallery

by Jack Bowers
August 28, 2006

On Gallery, which was recorded nearly a dozen years ago but has just now been released, the impressive trombonist Paul McKee, then based in Chicago, uses groups of various shapes and sizes to advance his musical agenda, which consists of straight-ahead versions of five standards, bandleader Claude Thornhill's “Snowfall, and three of his own engaging compositions. Among the sidemen are one of McKee's heroes, the late great trombonist Carl Fontana, and the renowned trumpeter Bobby Shew, each of whom appears ...

Bob Lark: Until You

by Michael P. Gladstone
April 9, 2006

Until You is the second album from Chicago trumpeter/flugelhornist Bob Lark, who also serves as the Jazz Chair at Chicago's DePaul University, where he directs the school's Jazz Ensemble and teaches trumpet and courses in jazz pedagogy and jazz style. Lark poses on the inside cover in a very Chet Baker-ish photo with his flugelhorn.

Lark displays a very pure and undiluted tone and performs here on flugelhorn on all but the final two selections. There is a ...

Mark Colby: Speaking of Stan

by Elliott Simon
February 13, 2006

Almost fifteen years after the death of tenor saxophonist Stanley Gayetzky, aka Stan Getz, the sheer breadth of his musical accomplishments still boggles the mind. Thus it was with some skepticism that I began to listen to Speaking of Stan, tenor man Mark Colby's tribute to the man about whom Trane said, “Let's face it. We would all play like him, if we could. Colby, however, succeeds masterfully in capturing a good bit of the essence of Getz, due in ...

Mark Colby: Speaking of Stan

by Jack Bowers
November 7, 2005

Mark Colby, who may be the finest tenor saxophonist you've never heard, pays tribute to a close friend on Speaking of Stan--a friend who happened to be one of the most renowned masters of the tenor who ever lived, the incomparable Stan Getz. Colby and Getz first met in 1963, when Mark was fourteen years old and Stan was performing in North Miami Beach, Florida, and they quickly became buddies. “We spent time playing our horns, talking, playing tennis, going ...

Mark Colby: Tenor Reference

by Jack Bowers
August 2, 2002

There are a great many talented post-bop tenor saxophonists on the scene today, but no more than a handful whom one could easily recognize in a lineup. Here's one -- Mark Colby, a consistently resourceful stylist who's not more widely known among Jazz cognoscenti only because he has chosen to make Chicago his home instead of New York City or Los Angeles. One of the things I've always admired most about Colby -- aside from his gorgeous tone, prodigious technical ...

Mark Colby: Tenor Reference

by C. Michael Bailey
June 1, 2002

A passel of Tenor...

Mark Colby is best known for performing with the Gerry Mulligan, Jaco Pastorius, Frank Sinatra, Maynard Ferguson, Bob James, Charlie Haden and Mose Allison. In the guise of studio musician, Colby is credited with over 2,000 commercials mostly in the Chicago market. In addition to this professional work, he has served as a member of the DePaul University Jazz Department since 1983. In his spare time, Colby has been able to record a certain brand of ...

Paolo Di Sabatino: Threeo

by Mark Corroto
August 1, 2001

In 1990 the great hard-bop drummer Art Blakey passed from this earth. His bands had been delivering “the message” for nearly fifty years. Also in 1990, pianist Paolo Di Sabatino graduated from the Conservatory of baritone, Italy. This young man could have, probably would have been an excellent fit in Blakey’s Messengers. His piano concepts fit nicely within the James Williams, Mulgrew Miller, Benny Green, Geoff Keezer lineage.

Mr. Di Sabatino was recognized as one of Italy’s best new artists ...

John Patitucci, Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez, Pablo Di Sabatino: Threeo

by Dave Nathan
June 1, 2001

Threeo is a multi national effort. American John Patitucci, Italian native Paolo Di Sabatino and Horacio Hernandez whose roots are in Cuba get together for a session which merges their respective ideas on jazz music. Even though each has equal billing, it's Paolo Di Sabatino who emerges as dominant player as his piano sets the tone for each piece. This is not to suggest that his cohorts are only there to fill in gaps. To the contrary, they make important ...

Chicago Jazz Ensemble: Kenton a la Russo-Live at the Jazz Showcase

by Dave Nathan
May 1, 2001

William (he used to be called “Bill") Russo, with his Chicago Jazz Ensemble as his medium, is the unabashed keeper of the flame for Stan Kenton's music. Despite his detractors, Kenton's organization was the breeding ground for a host of white jazz musicians who went on to greater glory. Kenton also fostered and demanded imaginative and innovative charts. His stable of arrangers was unmatched by most orchestras in the number he carried at any one time or the quality of ...

Nick Bisesi: Free Time

by AAJ Staff
January 1, 2001

Free Time, a (mostly) quartet set from emerging saxophonist Nick Bisesi, offers a fresh helping of modern jazz spanning the range from edgy funk to all-out free. Bisesi's talents as a player are remarkable: he takes advantage of his firm, lean tone to construct solos with vision and clarity. The saxophonist got started in New York City with lessons from Dave Liebman (who guests here on a couple of tracks, adding an extra edge without stealing the show). While Bisesi ...