Jazz Articles

Salvatore Bonafede Trio: Sicilian Opening

by Raul d'Gama Rose
April 4, 2010

Sicilian Opening from Salvatore Bonafede is a wonderful album. It offers ample reason why Bonafede has been in demand by musicians as diverse as Ralph Towner, Enrico Rava, Dewey Redman, and Lester Bowie. The Italian pianist is an extremely gifted and melodic composer. His songs are utterly fascinating and memorable. They can flutter and soar, like birds on the wing, as “La Grande Ilusión" and “Appunti su Palermo," do. They gallop and swing with equal portions of equine grace and ...

Salvatore Bonafede Trio: Sicilian Opening

by Dan McClenaghan
February 27, 2010

Hailing originally from Sicily, pianist Salvatore Bonafede earned a scholarship to Boston's Berklee School of Music in 1986. A 1989 move to New York saw him playing with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Dewey Redman, Joshua Redman, Lew Tabackin and Joe Lovano. Bonafede moved back to Sicily in 1994, where he has worked with many jazz luminaries, including Joe Lovano's 12-Piece Orchestra. The résumé reveals a musician conversant in a variety of ensemble configurations, but Bonafede pares things down to a ...

The Joe Locke Quartet: Sticks and Strings

by John Kelman
November 13, 2007

Joe Locke has always struck that rare balance between reverence for things past and a forward-thinking mindset. Live in Seattle (Origin, 2006) brought a firm, modernistic edge to a set of original material by the vibraphonist and keyboardist/co-leader Geoffrey Keezer. Rev-elation (Sharp Nine, 2005), teaming Locke with the Milt Jackson Tribute Band, was steeped in the tradition, although Locke never lost sight of his personal extension of that tradition.

Sticks and Strings, featuring up-and-coming guitarist Jonathan Kreisberg alongside veteran bassist ...

The Joe Locke Quartet: Sticks and Strings

by Dr. Jeff Monroe
October 27, 2007

The vibraphone has never been an easy sell for a leading musician. Compared to piano or brass--whose attention is all but assured, it has usually remained somewhat overshadowed. Joe Locke, one of the premier vibraphonists on the scene today, has changed course on Sticks and Strings, recorded for the Palermo, Italy label, Jazz Eyes. Locke is very popular in Italy; performing there often it appears he's found a second home. Having forged his own identity in the post bop/Bobby Hutcherson, ...

Kevin Hays Trio: For Heaven's Sake

by Dan McClenaghan
June 9, 2006

Kevin Hays opens For Heaven's Sake with a bit of solo piano: an introspective, reverent-sounding, church-like interlude. Then bassist Doug Weiss and drummer Bill Stewart slip into the sound and the trio winds into tenor saxophone great Sonny Rollins' “Sonny Moon for Two," cranking up the intensity/extroversion factor for five minutes, and Weiss takes a solo in front of Stewart's implacable timekeeping and Hays' spare, sparkling comping. It's a well-chosen, beautifully executed opener for a set of familiar jazz standards. ...