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13
Album Review

Brian Landrus: For Now

Read "For Now" reviewed by Doug Hall


Low-register reed specialist and multi-instrumentalist and composer Brian Landrus confronted a difficult period in his life and used adversity to inspire a passionate declaration in song on his 2020 release For Now (BlueLand Records). He took advice from the late valve-trombonist, composer and educator Bob Brookmeyer, “book a recording session before you have the music composed—then you have a goal." Alternating between the baritone saxophone and the bass clarinet, Landrus creates wonderful lower-range tones and compositions with instruments ...

4
Album Review

Brian Landrus: For Now

Read "For Now" reviewed by Jack Bowers


On For Now, his tenth album as leader, multi-reed specialist Brian Landrus gives voice to the many faces of romance, using as his means of expression a talented core quintet, amplified on several themes by a four-member string section, with arrangements by the notable opera composer Robert Aldridge. While Landrus plays four instruments including flute and alto flute, he sticks for the most part to baritone sax and bass clarinet, soloing on one or the other on almost every one ...

14
Album Review

Brian Landrus: Generations

Read "Generations" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


With Generations baritone saxophonist Brian Landrus has created an ambitious set of music for full orchestra that is based in jazz but also touches on classical music, hip hop and reggae, giving prominent position to instruments like harp and vibraphone to give his ensemble an airy, spacious sound.It all begins with the five-movement “Jeru Concerto," Landrus' tribute to one of the icons of his instrument, Gerry Mulligan. It mostly consists of his baritone swirling through a lush, slow ...

12
Album Review

Brian Landrus: Generations

Read "Generations" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


Brian Landrus established himself as a composer of great strength and substance, and rose to his position as one of the foremost low reed specialists on the scene, through albums like the expansive Mirage (Blueland Records, 2013) and the trio-centric The Deep Below (Blueland, Records/Palmetto Records, 2015). But even well wrought and absorbing dates like those don't properly prepare you for this. Generations brings together a twenty-five piece jazz orchestra to realize Landrus' broad-minded, wide-eyed compositions in stunning fashion. We ...

4
Album Review

Brian Landrus Trio: The Deep Below

Read "The Deep Below" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian


With his sixth release as a leader The Deep Below, low reedman Brian Landrus continues to explore the bottom octaves of woodwind registers with his characteristic elegance and captivating charm. What sets this album apart from its predecessors is the sparseness of its setting. Backed only by bass and drums, Landrus places his various instruments at the core and center stage of all the tracks. The result is a raw yet sophisticated showcase of these infrequently heard horns ...

8
Album Review

Brian Landrus Trio: The Deep Below

Read "The Deep Below" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


If this recording can't kindle a love of the low end in your cochlea then nothing can. For The Deep Below, Brian Landrus--perhaps the most significant baritone saxophonist/low reed man to emerge in recent times--put together a trio with bassist Lonnie Plaxico and drumming icon Billy Hart. Together, they explore eleven Landrus originals and three classics, most of which manage to mask weighty sounds with lithe movements and, more importantly, lyrical thoughts. Part of the charm surrounding ...

3
Album Review

Brian Landrus Kaleidoscope: Mirage

Read "Mirage" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian


Multi-instrumentalist and composer Brian Landrus' Mirage is his most accomplished, and thematically unified recording to date. The music shimmers like the phenomenon of the title as pastel colored harmonies of a string quartet bleed into the deep, earthy tones of low reeds and the fusion-like sounds of the band, Kaleidoscope.On “Don't Close Your Eyes" the evocative romanticism of the chordophones and soulful swagger of the rhythm section seamlessly blend enhancing its emotional reach. The crystalline ring of pianist ...

5
Album Review

Brian Landrus' Kaleidoscope: Mirage

Read "Mirage" reviewed by Dave Wayne


Thus far, every recording by low-end multi-reed artist Brian Landrus has been refreshingly different. The NEC grad burst on to the scene a few years back with Forward (Cadence Jazz Records, 2008) a richly textured free-leaning acoustic jazz album created with a large ensemble of seasoned jazz veterans such as pianist Michael Cain and drummer Bob Moses. His subsequent release, Everlasting (CIMP Records, 2009), a quartet date with Moses and bassist John Lockwood also had free-bop tendencies.Traverse (Blue ...

55
Album Review

The Landrus Kaleidoscope: Capsule

Read "Capsule" reviewed by Raul d'Gama Rose


Brian Landrus is a striking baritone saxophonist and appears to have become a full-time bass clarinetist as well. Landrus is unique and unlike anyone else in his tribe because he appears to have a genuine and very deep passion for the bass registers of the world. For all that is known he hears sounds that most people cannot--growls and grumbles and earth-shaking rumbles that most would require a Richter Scale to know even exist. Landrus hears all this with large ...

50
Album Review

The Brian Landrus Quartet: Traverse

Read "Traverse" reviewed by Raul d'Gama Rose


There is a gravitas in the musical intellect of baritone saxophonist/bass clarinetist Brian Landrus that can only come from a wellspring emanating from the depths of a very bluesy soul. His is a singular voice and, as he sings in sensuous, velvet tones, his long magical lines swing and swagger with rhythmic grace. Although his music is, at its heart, conceptually simple, he rarely stays in the linear path of the melody for long, preferring to be seduced by the ...


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