Results for "Benny Russell"

Benny Russell

Saxophonist Benny Russell, a graduate of Morgan State University, moved to New York shortly after graduation and quickly formed a jazz orchestra called the NEW YORK ASSOCIATION – a seventeen piece ensemble that featured such noted jazz artists as trumpeters Cecil Bridgewater and Tom Harrell, saxophonist John Purcell, trombonists Steve Turre and Robin Eubanks, pianist Onaje Allan Gumbs, and drummer Mike Clark.

Russell chaired the jazz division at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, where he also taught jazz history. While working at the Conservatory, he was able to launch a string of other cultural activities that served Brooklyn, including a program of workshops for high school students in the Brooklyn public school system, the Charlie Parker Birthday Festival, and regular performances with the Next Legacy Orchestra. In February, 2002, Russell presented his work Langston Hughes: The Soul of His Words at the Museum of Natural History in New York.

Oriana

By Phil Ravita

Label: Self Produced
Released: 2023
Track listing: Songs; Sepia; Black Coffee; Boo's Blues; December 2021; Caravan; Peace and Love; Sisters; Stormshine; City Lights; Heaven.

Ravita Jazz: Oriana

by Bill Milkowski
June 12, 2023

On his second outing as a leader, bassist-composer Phil Ravita recruited a close-knit crew of musicians that he's worked with in the Mid-Atlantic region since their time together in grad school at the University of Maryland, College Park. “We've known each other since 2007," he said of bandmates Greg Small on piano and Nucleo Vega on ...

The Grasso-Ravita Jazz Ensemble: Jagged Spaces

by Jack Bowers
January 10, 2021

The Baltimore-based Grasso-Ravita Jazz Ensemble is a congenial quintet co-led by guitarist Skip Grasso and bassist Phil Ravita. Its other members are saxophonist Benny Russell, pianist Greg Small and drummer Nuc Vega. Jagged Spaces, the group's debut recording, encompasses nine original compositions: four by Grasso, two each by Ravita and Russell, and one by Small.

Plays the Music of Sam Jones

Label: Self Produced
Released: 2020
Track listing: Unit Seven; Bittersweet; Some More of Dat; Lillie; O.P.; Del Sasser; Tragic Magic.

Jagged Spaces

Label: Self Produced
Released: 2020
Track listing: Jagged Spaces; Her Life Incomplete; Songhai; Blue Sunshine; Circles; All About Cynthia; Latin for Leandro; The Homecoming; Chasing Shadows.

Composer Tributes: Strayhorn, Shorter, Monk and Sam Jones

by Jerome Wilson
May 22, 2020

There always seem to be albums coming out that pay tribute to accomplished jazz composers. Here are some newer ones, three on very familiar names and one on an often overlooked musician. John Di Martino Passion Flower: The Music of Billy Strayhorn Sunnyside Records 2020 Pianist John ...

The TNEK Jazz Quintet: Plays the Music of Sam Jones

by Jack Bowers
May 9, 2020

The late Sam Jones is mainly remembered as an earnest craftsman whose perceptive bass lines undergirded the likes of Cannonball Adderley, Oscar Peterson, Cedar Walton, Barry Harris, Kenny Dorham, Bobby Timmons, Bill Evans and a host of other jazz masters. Jones, however, had another special albeit lesser-known talent, one that is addressed here, almost forty years ...