Results for "Glenn Astarita"

Glenn Astarita

Born: August 21

I own a jazz/blues club (Water's Edge Bar & Grill) in Slidell, LA and write for Downbeat magazine, the New Orleans Weekly Gambit, All About Jazz and other music related mags/zines. Play the drums (briefly studied with Andrew Cyrille) and trying to start a house band at the club. Did some freelance photography years back, i.e. Corporate Functions, landscapes, drunks. Also spent time in a rainforest in Indonesia.

I'm an Information Technology Consultant (Not too persistent, but pushy by nature.) Hence, results oriented. Resumes are available upon request

Soft Machine: Other Doors

by Glenn Astarita
November 30, 2023

Soft Machine's Other Doors is a compelling exploration into the progressive jazz-rock fusion realm, highlighting the band's evolution and continued dedication to innovative musical expression and capturing the essence of Soft Machine's improvisational brilliance. The record unfolds like a sonic journey, inviting listeners into a world of intricate compositions and virtuosic performances. What sets Other Doors ...

An AAJ Interview with Ben Allison

by AAJ Staff
January 12, 2023

This interview, conducted by Allen Huotari, was first published at All About Jazz in September 1999. As history has taught us, it's not enough to be gifted with talent, one must live up to the burden that “potential" brings. Paradoxically and ironically, the blessing of having one's abilities recognized in public forum is the ...

Azymuth: Telecommunication

by Glenn Astarita
October 31, 2022

This Brazilian trio had its roots in the 1960s but under different group monikers. They also recorded for the renowned jazz label Milestone Records, releasing several albums. To a considerable extent they were largely praised by critics via the musicians' tightknit but not over-cooked spin on jazz fusion, featuring indigenous percussion tinted with samba-like overtones. According ...

Soft Ffog: Soft Ffog

by Glenn Astarita
October 15, 2022

Guitarist Tom Hasslan (Krokofant) drummer, Axel Skalstad (Krokofant) bassist, Trond Frønes (Red Kite, Grand General) and keyboardist Vegard Lien Bjerkan (WIZRD) debut on this new sub-label (It It Jazz?) by the venerable Nordic prog rock label Karisma. The musicians formed this unit back in 2016 but for various reasons took some time getting it together. Respectively, ...

Big Bad Brötzmann Quintet: Bambule!

by Glenn Astarita
August 21, 2022

This set finds legendary free jazz innovator Peter Brotzmann leading his Big Bad Quintet, along with fellow German improvisational champions, keyboardist Oliver Schwerdt, drummer Christian Lillinger, bassist John Eckhardt and fabled British bassist John Edwards to round out a sweltering session, teeming with notions of turmoil, and enduring interchanges. Brotzmann is like a turbo-charged ...

Silvan Schmid: Augmented Space

by Glenn Astarita
July 2, 2022

Progressive Switzerland and Netherlands-based trumpeter Silvan Schmid (Gamut Kollektiv, KvG's Bottom Orchestra) delves into risky territory via these avant-garde solo performances. The good news is, that these are not cacophonous screeching, squealing and directionless free-form improvisations, although minor parts include oddball phrasings and upper-register plaintive cries. Yet the artist remarkably induces a polyphonic sound by often ...

Anthropods: Anthropods

by Glenn Astarita
June 23, 2022

American drummer/composer Mark Holub--currently residing in Vienna--is the founder of the ultra-hip jazz quintet, Led Bib. Yet he presents somewhat of a U-turn on his debut as a leader, which leans more toward progressive chamber, spiced with nouveau classical overtones and spunky rock grooves, all consummated by engaging improv among the performers. The musicians ...

Eric Plandé / Hasse Poulsen / Claude Tchamitchian: Beyond Dreams

by Glenn Astarita
June 13, 2022

Here, we can throw genre type discussions out the door, since this European trio transparently interconnects worldly motifs with tribal insinuations, classic free jazz interplay and asymmetrically improvised and structured song forms. In addition, the musicians artfully generate a magnetic field that also includes bluesy vamps with melodious contrasts and unison phrasings, often cast with ethereal ...

Various Artists: Black Lives - From Generation to Generation

by Glenn Astarita
May 19, 2022

Indeed, African Americans are the architects of several musical formations, hearkening back to Scott Joplin's development of 'ragged' rhythms i.e., Ragtime, along with blues, funk, jazz, and other genres, often evolving into various tangents and offshoots. And on this comprehensively entertaining set produced by Belgian Stefany Calembert with assistance from her husband and acclaimed bassist Reggie ...