Results for "Dan Willis"

Dan Willis

Dan Willis, one of New York City’s most active and versatile woodwind specialists, performs regularly across a wide spectrum of music from Jazz to New Music. He is currently a member of composer, David Chesky's “Area 31,” which Classics Today defines as, "A new modern downtown Manhattan chamber ensemble of all young star virtuosos." And, recently, Dan served as a featured performer on traditional Armenian folk double-reed instruments, the Dukuk and the Zurna, at the New York premiere of “Strophes,” a work composed and conducted by Yakov Koslov. Both of these endeavors attest to the rich vocabulary within Dan’s musical language. In addition to his work in the classical genre, he has toured Japan and the U.S

Schweizer & Drake, Tom Rainey & El Negocito Artists

by Maurice Hogue
May 19, 2021

This episode features some excellent new releases: veteran free jazzers, pianist Irène Schweizer and drummer Hamid Drake, tearing it up at a European festival, the sublime trio Ocelot from Brooklyn, South Korean drummer Soojin Suh, pianist Dahveed Behroozi, Tom Rainey & Obligato live in Europe, and Split-Bit from jny: Berlin, plus tracks from several artists who ...

Dan Willis, Paul Dunmall, Amok Amor & Treesearch

by Maurice Hogue
May 5, 2021

Many jazz musicians in Poland consider playing and/or recording the music of Poland's father of jazz, Krzysztof Komeda, a rite of passage. A similar feeling exists with most jazz musicians anywhere about the music of Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman and more. This episode features some recordings that follow that path. Saxophonist Dan Willis tackles ...

The Monk Project: Dan Willis and Velvet Gentlemen

By Dan Willis

Label: Belle Avenue
Released: 2020
Track listing: Hackensack, Eronel, Epistrophy, Crespuscule with Nellie, Criss Cross, Rhythm-a-ning, Pannonica, Think of One EWI/Think of One

Heavy Rotation For A Pandemic Summer

by Mark Corroto
August 27, 2020

In the summer of 2020 one result of the COVID-19 isolation, and artists inability to tour and perform is that they have time to deal with projects halted by this pandemic. Musicians, producers, and engineers have mixed, mastered and released an abundance of music. Many of the titles have been, and will be covered by our ...

"The Monk Project" By Saxophonist Dan Willis & Velvet Gentlemen Due July 17 From Belle Avenue Records

June 7, 2020

Dan Willis puts his idiosyncratic spin on the tunes of the godfather of jazz idiosyncrasy with the July 17 release of The Monk Project (Belle Avenue). The saxophonist/multi-reedist’s fourth album with his ensemble Velvet Gentlemen—guitarist Pete McCann, keyboardist Ron Oswanski, bassist Evan Gregor, and drummer John Mettam (with special guests bassist Kermit Driscoll and drummer Ian ...

Raul Agraz: Between Brothers

by Jack Bowers
March 29, 2016

Venezuelan-born and classically trained trumpeter Raul Agraz makes an impressive North American debut with Between Brothers, a vibrant album of Latin-oriented jazz whose harmonic and rhythmic quotients are about as strong and steady as one could wish. As is the case in other contexts these days, the term “brothers" is presumably used in a metaphorical sense, ...

The Satie Project II

By Dan Willis

Label: Daywood Drive Records
Released: 2014
Track listing: Gnossienne # 7; Gnossienne # 6; Pieces Froide I; Vexations Alternate 1; Gnossienne # 5; Gnossienne # 3;07; Pieces Froide III; Vexations Alternate; Gnossienne # 4; Gnossienne # 2; Pieces Froide II; Vexations.

Dan Willis and Velvet Gentlemen: The Satie Project II

by Maurizio Zerbo
March 7, 2014

Più che un mero omaggio a Erik Satie, Dan Willis opera una superba ristrutturazione delle già rivoluzionarie partiture originali mediante l'aggiunta di parti composte per l'occasione. Il musicista statunitense si conferma così autorevole esponente contemporaneo di una musicalità trasversale, aperta alle contaminazioni. È sufficiente l'ascolto del brano di apertura, “Gnossienne # 7," per rendersi conto di ...

Dan Willis and Velvet Gentlemen: The Satie Project II

by Dave Wayne
January 27, 2014

The music of Eric Satie may well be some of the most malleable and adaptable works ever composed. This could be partly due to the fact that Satie himself stood well outside of the musical mainstream of his time, thus his compositions are comparatively unencumbered by the stylistic baggage of his era. Satie was avant-garde before ...