Results for "Billy Bang"

Billy Bang

The violin is hardly the first instrument that comes to mind when you think about jazz, but that's never daunted Billy Bang, one of the instrument's most adventurous exponents. Over the past 26 years Bang's hard-edged tone, soulful sense of traditional swing and evocatively expressive style has enhanced over two dozen albums by top names in a variety of genres, from the blistering funk of Bootsy Collins and the harmolodic groove of Ronald Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society to the intergalactic uproar of Sun Ra. With more than 15 albums under his own leadership, nearly a dozen more in co-led endeavors, and five more with the String Trio of New York (which he co-founded in 1977 with guitarist James Emery and bassist John Lindberg), Billy Bang is one of the more prolific and original members of the progressive scene

Johanna Burnheart: Burnheart

By CHRIS MAY

The violin has an eventful history in jazz. But it is still a niche instrument, despite a line of singular players stretching back to Stephane Grappelli and Stuff Smith (who deserves some bonus points for composing the immortal “If You're A Viper"). There are no schools of jazz violinists, simply a succession of one-off stylists, with ...

Matthew Shipp: Poetic Connection

By SETON HAWKINS

It is difficult to describe the impact of pianist and composer Matthew Shipp without descending into hyperbole. A core figure in the now-legendary David S. Ware Quartet, a bandleader with a staggering recording output, a groundbreaking curator for the influential Blues Series of Thirsty Ear Records, Matthew Shipp has also more recently broken new ...

Meet Tom Kohn

By TESSA SOUTER AND ANDREA WOLPER

Like many of our Jazz Super Fans, Tom Kohn's passion for music started when he was a teen, with a job in a record store and a penchant for acquiring albums that would impress even the most dedicated adult collectors. He grew up into a music business day job but, after suffering a life-changing event, he ...

The OGJB Quartet: Bamako

By JEROME WILSON

Over the last forty years, saxophonist Oliver Lake, cornet player Graham Haynes, bassist Joe Fonda and drummer Barry Altschul have played with one another in various configurations, but never all as one group. That changes with the arrival of the OGJB Quartet, a group where these four veteran improvisers come together for a powerful session of ...

Matthew Shipp Trio: Signature

By KARL ACKERMANN

In the period of 2017-2018, the leading avant-garde and free jazz pianist Matthew Shipp performed and recorded in a variety of small group settings. Often, he was paired with reed players such as Allen Lowe, Mat Walerian, Daniel Carter, Roscoe Mitchell and on an astounding dozen albums with Ivo Perelman. But it is in solo piano ...

Frode Gjerstad: Bop Stop

By GIUSEPPE SEGALA

A cavallo tra gli anni Settanta e Ottanta, quando nella scena jazz norvegese la presenza dell'etichetta germanica Ecm stimolava e indirizzava le scelte di tanti musicisti, il sassofonista Frode Gjerstad si volgeva a un altro panorama, cercando il contatto con le odissee procellose dell'improvvisazione storica europea, volgendosi soprattutto all'area britannica. Qui collaborò con grandi maestri che ...

Tom Abbs & Frequency Response: Hawthorne

By KARL ACKERMANN

Bassist and multi-instrumentalist Tom Abbs began his Frequency Response series in 2003 with Conscription (CIMP Records). The group--then a quartet--included tenor saxophonist Brian Settles and drummer Chad Taylor. Alto saxophonist Jason Candler, violinists Jean Cook and Jenna Barvitski are later additions to Frequency Response. On their long-awaited fourth album Hawthorne, Abbs again stands in as a ...

Shipp / Lowe / Baker / Ray at Le Poisson Rouge

By KARL ACKERMANN

Shipp / Lowe / Baker / Ray Le Poisson Rouge New York, NY August 11, 2018 Bring together Matthew Shipp, Newman Taylor Baker, Allen Lowe and Kevin Ray and you have more than an inspired music event; this is a living history that--by professional extension--covers the study of ...

Salim Washington: To Be Moved to Speak

By SETON HAWKINS

To audiences in Boston or New York, Salim Washington is not just a great musician, he is a community builder. Having first established the Roxbury Blues Aesthetic, then the Harlem Arts Ensemble, Washington has throughout his career carefully nurtured collectives of musicians who in turn generated irreplaceable music scenes at venues like Connolly's in Boston and ...