Jazz Articles

Peter Paulsen Quintet: Three-Stranded Cord

by Tony Rogers
November 13, 2002

It’s all very well to speak in abstractions about the state of the local jazz scene, but the proof, as they say, is in the playing. With talents like Ben Schachter, Tom Lawton and Bootsie Barnes keeping plenty busy in area clubs and recording studios, it’s clear that Philly and its extended environs have one of the most vibrant scenes around.

So it’s not only a pleasure but a vindication to find a recording by yet another stellar ...

Robin Work & the Steve Rudolph Trio: Pure Imagination

by Dave Nathan
July 1, 2001

Every now and then one comes across a vocal session where the style and sound of the vocalist fits perfectly with the play list and the sidemen who back her. That happens with Robin Work's inaugural album. Work has a deep voice with a surprisingly pure tone despite the heaviness. It works very well with tunes of woe, wistfulness and melancholy such as “Ballad of the Sad Young Men". Her rendition is much like Art Pepper's sax interpretation of this ...

Tom Strohman/Steve Rudolph: In Our Prime

by Dave Nathan
July 1, 2001

From western Pennsylvania comes a quartet of players who play with loose precision as they work their way through a set of familiar and original material. The result is what one might call sophisticated bop. There's plenty of improvising, expanding on the bop figures that were laid by the inventors of the style in the late 1940's with little agitation. Led by Tom Strohman on a variety of saxophones, the clarinet and flute and by the steady pianism of Steve ...

Manny Bobenrieth Ensemble: Tangata

by Joel Roberts
January 1, 2001

When most people think of the accordion, jazz isn't the first style of music that comes to mind - maybe polka, zydeco, conjunto or a bar mitzvah band, but not jazz.

Think again.

In the hands of Manny Bobenrieth, the accordion is definitely a jazz instrument. Bobenrieth, a Chilean now based near Washington, D.C., earned the first-ever degree in music performance on accordion from Catholic University, and his first CD release, Tangata , proves him to be a true virtuoso ...