Results for "Jack Bowers"

Jack Bowers

Jalen Baker: RePaved

by Jack Bowers
October 13, 2026

RePaved, vibraphonist and composer Jalen Baker's third album as leader of his own ensemble, is an eight-part suite that depicts in musical terms the history of Houston, Texas' historic Black neighborhoods and his family's deep connection to the city's Third Ward, which spans four generations. As is usually true of thematic music, that becomes ...

Fernando Ferrarone: Beautifully Different

by Jack Bowers
October 12, 2026

It is one thing to be a multi-instrumentalist; it is quite another to play two or more instruments so remarkably well that heads start to turn and listeners ask, “Who was that?“ Florida-based Fernando Ferrarone is in the latter class. He plays electrifying alto saxophone on the first and last tracks of Beautifully Different, impeccable trumpet ...

Christian Finger: Zeit Zirkel

by Jack Bowers
October 11, 2026

Listening to Zeit Zirkel (Time Circle), German-born and New York-based drummer Christian Finger's sixth album, you might not surmise that he was the leader of this ensemble--unless, that is, you glanced at the album jacket. Yes, Finger is present on every track and he anchors the quintet's reliable rhythm section. And yes, he composed ...

Tommy Muellner: Solitary Moon

by Jack Bowers
October 4, 2026

Pianist Tommy Muellner, a fixture on the Chicago-area jazz scene for many years, has not recorded often--Solitary Moon is only his second album as leader, following 1998's (All) About Time. That is a 28-year span between visits to the studio, more than numerous careers, let alone recording sessions. This is by and large lovely ...

Dwayne Dolphin: Let the Music Play

by Jack Bowers
October 3, 2026

Bassist Dwayne Dolphin, less than happy with the jazz he was hearing in person or on the radio, set out to simply Let the Music Play on an album whose happy vibe, he hoped, would rekindle “the spirit of jazz" that he remembered growing up with in his native Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. While “happy" is an intuitive ...

Ross Margitza: Discovery

by Jack Bowers
October 2, 2026

Discovery is a well-polished and smooth-running vehicle for pianist and composer Ross Margitza's able trio, further enhanced on the opening track by the uncommon talents of its special guest, soprano saxophonist Joel Frahm, and on four by the Soha Quartet's shimmering strings. Truth be told, the album would be impressive even if it were ...

Adios, Chico

by Jack Bowers
June 29, 2001

This article first appeared on All About Jazz in June 2001. Big--band Jazz lost another of its brightest lights on June 27 when bandleader Chico O'Farrill, an early champion and tireless promoter of Afro--Cuban Jazz, died in Manhattan at age 79. O'Farrill's popularity had crested during the past half--dozen years ...

Martin Iaies, featuring Klaus Gesing: People, Places

by Jack Bowers
September 27, 2026

As though being a spendid jazz guitarist, composer and arranger were not enough, Argentina-born, Austria-based bass guitarist Martin Iaies was savvy enough to invite renowned woodwind artist Klaus Gesing to sit in on three numbers on Iaies' 2026 recording, People, Places. Iaies ushers an 11-member ensemble--not quite a big band, but fairly close--through its ...

Ulysses Owens, Jr. and Generation Y: Kind of Grunge

by Jack Bowers
September 26, 2026

New York-based master drummer Ulysses Owens Jr. is back, Generation Y in tow, with another generous helping of so-called “grunge jazz" deftly transformed to straight-ahead patterns in a style similar to that of the legendary Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers. This is not, however, precisely the same Generation Y that recorded the well-received ...