Ben Markley Big Band: Ari's Funhouse

by Jack Bowers
May 15, 2022

Ari's Funhouse, recorded in July 2021, sprang from a chance encounter at a Texas jazz festival in 2019 between New York-based drummer & composer Ari Hoenig and Denver-based pianist & arranger Ben Markley. After performing with Hoenig in a small group, Markley asked if he might score some of Hoenig's songs for a big band. Hoenig ...

Birdless

April 16, 2022

Album: Ari's Funhouse
By Ben Markley
Label: OA2 Records
Released: 2022
Duration: 09:49

John Gunther

John Gunther — Saxophonist • Composer • Multi-Reedist • Educator

John Gunther picked the saxophone in third grade because he liked its shape—and everything since has grown from that lucky choice. He’s now an acclaimed performer, composer, collaborator, and educator whose work moves fluently between jazz, classical, new music, chamber settings, world traditions, and electronics. “In the 21st century, we carry the sum of human music in our pockets,” he says. “Part of our job as artists is to figure out how to process and navigate that.” Gunther draws on jazz, folk, classical, and global “style tributaries,” shaping them with an ear for melody, groove, and narrative.

Bob Washut Dodectet: Journey to Knowhere

by Jack Bowers
April 28, 2018

Even as experience is often the best teacher, so it is that the teacher often has the most useful experience. Bob Washut, who has been a teacher for roughly four decades, brings that experience and more to bear on Journey to Knowhere, preparing an ambrosial banquet for his twelve-member Dodectet whose main course consists of seven ...

Trickster Tales: John Gunther & the Carpe Diem String Quartet

By John Gunther

Label: John Gunther Music
Released: 2017
Track listing: "Anansi and the Sky God" The title of the composition comes from the West African folk tale of the trickster spider “Anansi” and his adventures with the Sky God. The piece is in six movements with each movement highlighting both a character in the folktale and a specific African musical instrument or music tradition. The work incorporates non-traditional elements of composition for the string quartet including improvisation and extended instrumental techniques. I. Anansi goes to Nyame the Sky-God and asks the price for all the stories in the world. (Isicathamiya) II. Onini the Python (Kora) III. Mboro the Hornet (Fiddling of Dagbon) IV. Mmoatia the bad-tempered Fairy (Mbiri) V. Osebo the Leopard (Gahu drumming) VI. Anansi delivers his captors to Nyame & is made god of all stories Also featured on the recording are arrangements of the music of Thelonious Monk including “Monk’s Mood”, “Crepuscule with Nellie”, “Think of One” and “Bye Ya”

John Gunther Trio: Devotion

By John Gunther

Label: John Gunther Music
Released: 2017

Underground Legend Richi James Debonis (a.k.a. Richi Van Zeppelin) Brings His Nowtet To Denver's Dazzlejazz Club, Thursday, July 11

July 2, 2013

Virtuoso drummer, composer, arranger, vocalist and underground legend Richard James DeBonis — a.k.a. Richi Van Zeppelin — brings his incomparable NOWtet for a very rare appearance to Denver's DazzleJazz Club on Thursday, July 11, 2013. The group will perform Richi's own compositions, along with his remarkably varied, accomplished arrangements of classic Led Zeppelin songs for contemporary ...

Swingin' on a Riff . . . Hangin' by a Thread?

by Jack Bowers
June 14, 2013

Betty and I returned to Albuquerque on Memorial Day after attending Swingin' on a Riff, the latest in a series of marvelous semi-annual events presented by Ken Poston and the Los Angeles Jazz Institute for more than twenty years at venues in and around L.A. This one was held May 23-26 at the Los Angeles Marriott ...

Dave Brubeck: Small Groups, Large Stature

by Jack Bowers
January 3, 2013

Dave Brubeck wasn't really a big-band kinda guy; in fact, he was seldom seen in groups larger than four or five. On the other hand, he was an extraordinary musician, one whose influence will no doubt be felt for generations to come. Brubeck, who remained active almost to the end of his life, died December 5 ...

Fred Hess Big Band: Speak

by Florence Wetzel
August 22, 2012

In the liner notes to Speak, saxophonist/band leader Fred Hess makes an important point: although the golden era of traveling big bands is long past, the big band format lives on in school ensembles, as well as through individuals such as himself, whose love for this format plows right through all the logistical difficulties. Anyone seeking ...