Results for "Michael McNeill"

Michael McNeill

Born: April 16, 1982

Pianist Michael McNeill has cultivated a personal style that has found a home in contexts both mainstream and avant-garde, from the ethereal chamber-jazz sounds of resAUnance, to the post-bop energy of Kelly Bucheger's What Would Mingus Do?, and in his own music for his trio with veteran improvisers Ken Filiano (bass) and Phil Haynes (drums) and for the Buffalo Jazz Octet. His two CDs with Filiano and Haynes have drawn praise from critics in the US and abroad, who note that the band plays “thoughtful... interactive music that is seriously playful” (StepTempest), “brimming with intelligence and passion” (AllAboutJazz.com), and that the trio “has much to offer not only to jazz or classical music, but music as a whole” (Music On The Run, Brazil).

Refractions

Label: Jazz Dimensions
Released: 2020
Track listing: Ugly Beauty; Hackensack; Light Blue; Reflections; Let's Cool One; Monk's Mood; Straight, No Chaser.

The First Journey

Label: Self Produced
Released: 2020
Track listing: Sign Unseen, Odd Shuffle, Walking Glass, Black Cauldron, Candela, The One Inspired, Down Beaten.

John Bacon / Michael McNeill / Danny Ziemann: Refractions

by Nicholas F. Mondello
May 16, 2020

The Thelonious Monk canon has proved to be fertile ground for jazz musicians' explorations. The reasons range from a sincere and deep appreciation of Monk's melodic and harmonic approaches to a sort of a quirky fascination with the eccentricity of some of Monk's off-center sounds. Pianist Michael McNeill's trio effort, Refractions, is less a hagiography of ...

Budd Kopman's Best Releases of 2016

by Budd Kopman
December 18, 2016

Of the seventy or so albums I was fortunate to review this year (with many still waiting in the wings), the releases below (in chronological order) are those that moved me the most and hence that I remember the clearest, even after a year. The quality of the music is uniformly high, and leaving something off ...

resAUnance: Migration

by Budd Kopman
July 20, 2016

Highly emotional and ravishingly beautiful, Migration is a feast for the ears and heart. Performed by resAUnance, a cooperative quartet, which began as a trio comprised of vibraphonist/percussionist John Bacon, vocalist Esin Gündüz, pianist Michael McNeill with electric cellist Jonathan Golove added later, this combination of unique instrumentation and innovative musicians has created an astonishing multipart ...

Flight

By Michael McNeill

Label: Self Produced
Released: 2015
Track listing: Placid Ruffled; Za; Skies; No Dice; Picture Window; Land; Wild Geese Suite: Cloudburst, Placid Ruffled, Follow Our Sun; In That Number.

Michael McNeill Trio: Flight

by Hrayr Attarian
October 7, 2015

On his second release as a leader Flight pianist Michael McNeill elegantly embellishes his own intricate compositions with bold spontaneity. He imbues the melodic elements of the album with subtle angularity and maintains a strong lyrical sense even while flirting with dissonance.The contemplative “Za," for instance, has a crystalline harmonic structure within which McNeill ...

Michael McNeill Trio: Flight

by Budd Kopman
September 8, 2015

Michael McNeill and his trio (bassist Ken Filiano and drummer Phil Haynes) return after Passageways with the marvelous Flight. The first notes of “Placid Ruffled" indicate McNeill's classical background and compositional intent. The album is extremely well recorded, allowing, at least with headphones, for every overtone and their interactions to be heard clearly (especially ...

No Dice

August 29, 2015

Album: Flight
By Michael McNeill
Label: Self Produced
Released: 2015
Duration: 4:35