Results for "Nick Mazzarella"

Nick Mazzarella

Saxophonist and composer Nick Mazzarella has been described as "continuing the approach taken by like-minded trailblazing altoists Eric Dolphy, Ornette Coleman, Henry Threadgill, Oliver Lake, and Gary Bartz” by “seek(ing) to embody the history of the music while pushing it forward into new realms” (Troy Dostert, All About Jazz). He has been a consistent presence in Chicago's music scene since the early 2000s where his continuous performance schedule has made an aesthetically unique contribution to the city’s rich culture of jazz and improvised music. His working bands—the Nick Mazzarella Trio (with Anton Hatwich and Frank Rosaly); Meridian Trio (with Matt Ulery and Jeremy Cunningham); and the Nick Mazzarella Quintet (with Nate Lepine, Tim Stine, Matt Ulery, and Quin Kirchner)—have served as the primary vehicles for his endeavors as a composer and bandleader, while as a collaborator or sideman he has performed and recorded with such artists as Tomeka Reid, Joshua Abrams, Hamid Drake, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, Avreeayl Ra, Rob Mazurek, Geof Bradfield, Devin Hoff, and Makaya McCraven

Alexander Hawkins and Tomeka Reid: Shards and Constellations

By TROY DOSTERT

Although they have not recorded together previously, pianist Alexander Hawkins and cellist Tomeka Reid are both improvisers with omnivorous musical tastes and soaring ambition. Hawkins has fronted his own ensembles over the years—perhaps the most notable example being Step Wide, Step Deep (Babel, 2014)—but he's been active in freely-improvised contexts as well, working with everyone from ...

Tim Stine Quartet: Knots

By GLENN ASTARITA

Guitarist Tim Stine leads a democratically oriented quartet with progressive/free jazz Chicago heavyweights, providing a bit of credence to the album moniker since many of these pieces are woven together with incongruent angles and geometrical designs. With false endings, scrappy breakouts and off-metered pulses, the leader's intricate chordal and single note developments assist with maintaining an ...

Counterbalance

By NICK MAZZARELLA

Label: Astral Spirits
Released: 2019
Track listing: Phonetic; The Puzzle; About Looking; Counterbalance; Headway; Innermost.

Tim Stine Quartet: Knots

By MARK CORROTO

What is apparent straight away with Knots by the Tim Stine Quartet is the intense physicality of the performance. I'll posit Stine, a North Dakota native who grew up with classical music, was drawn to the creative music scene of Chicago because of its tradition of a robust and muscular sound. From Gene Ammons to Roscoe ...

Astral Spirits: Lifting the Spirit of Jazz

By JAKOB BAEKGAARD

While pop often follows predictable musical patterns, one of the greatest qualities about jazz is its sense of adventurousness and the ability to take the listener on a journey where the destination is unknown. The Astral Spirits label, based in jny: Austin, Texas, and run by musician Nate Cross, truly embraces this quality of jazz.

All new sounds with a focus on Simon Nabotov

By BOB OSBORNE

This week we focus on a batch of new releases including the latest album from Simon Nabatov who has a great band, they are so good I play something from each band member as well. Playlist Zach Brock, Matt Ulery, and Jon Deitemyer “Wonderment" from Wonderment (Woolgathering Records) 00:00 Simon Nabatov Quintet “Old ...

Andrew Collier, Jon Crompton, Zwitschermaschine & More

By MAURICE HOGUE

Portuguese drummer Joao Lencastre's tune Departure seemed like the right track to end a show, but perhaps I saved the best for last as well. His new recording Parallel Realities is a gem. Lencastre says he likes to hear dramatic contrasts in music, so that was his focus and the tool was using smaller groups within ...

Nick Mazzarella Trio: Counterbalance

By TROY DOSTERT

Although he is well-accustomed to working in other settings, alto saxophonist Nick Mazzarella is perhaps at his strongest in a trio format: specifically, the sax-bass-drums configuration that allows for both maximum harmonic freedom and focused rhythmic interaction. In 2017 his Meridian Trio (featuring bassist Matt Ulery and drummer Jeremy Cunningham) released Triangulum (Clean Feed), an excellent ...

Anti-Rubber Brain Factory & Sameer Gupta

By MAURICE HOGUE

This episode features two extremely original albums from France, and they couldn't be more different. Guitarist Marc Ducret tackles Shakespeare on his Lady M. He's not the first to look to the Bard of Avon for inspiration (Duke Ellington and Cleo Laine come to mind immediately), but he may be the first one to frame one ...