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Jazz Articles about Gary Bartz
Charles Tolliver: Right Now... And Then
by Andrew Schinder
While jazz fusion dominated the commercial jazz scene during the 1970s, beneath the surface many musicians eschewed current market trends, and continued to develop and push forward the hard bop, modal, and spiritual sounds established during the previous decade. Many of those artists recorded for Strata-East Records, the now-seminal label co-founded by trumpeter Charles Tolliver and pianist Stanley Cowell in 1970. Before co-founding Strata-East, Tolliver had established himself in the New York scene as a strong and intense horn player, ...
Continue ReadingGary Bartz: Damage Control
by Marco Iacoboni
"Ntu" in lingua bantu significa unità in ogni cosa. Tempo e spazio, vivi e morti, forze visibili e invisibili, fuse in un'unica visione filosofica e spirituale, profondamente legata alla cultura africana e afroamericana. Il progetto Ntu Troop di Gary Bartz si è evoluto naturalmente dallo spiritual jazz al movimento B.A.M. (Black American Music), fondendo elementi soul, funk, folk africano, hard bop e jazz d'avanguardia. Una ricchezza di suoni e di atmosfere che non solo rendono la bellezza di questa musica ...
Continue ReadingLa Tanya Hall: If Not Now, When...
by Pierre Giroux
With If Not Now, When... , La Tanya Hall emerges not just as a vocalist but as a storyteller, deeply connected to the quiet power of a well-chosen song. This is her most personal statement yet, an album crafted with intention rather than for show, where each track earns its place through lyrical depth and emotional impact. Hall avoids the obvious, assembling a selection of lesser-known material that invites the listener inward, asking for attention rather than applause. Supporting this ...
Continue ReadingGary Bartz & NTU: Damage Control
by Pierre Giroux
After a 12-year break from the recording studio, legendary saxophonist Gary Bartz makes a powerful return with Damage Control. This deeply personal passion project honors and re-imagines the soul genre. The album showcases Bartz's unwavering curiosity and artistic evolution, transforming soulful classics into meditative, jazz-infused compositions that cross genre boundaries. At the heart of the album's unity is Bartz's core trio, featuring pianist Barney McAll and drummer Kassa Overall. This trio is often joined by a lineup of exceptional musicians ...
Continue ReadingGary Bartz Is Nobody's Jazz Musician
by Bridget A. Arnwine
Gary Bartz is nobody's jazz musician. What he has built and created as an artist with a career that spans six decades defies labels, especially ones that have storied racist connotations and otherwise derogatory origins like the word jazz. He is a composer of the finest order and as gifted as the most revered names in classical music. Defining his work as improvised music is too simple a term to fully capture the essence of what Bartz and “jazz" musicians ...
Continue ReadingGary Bartz, Zoh Amba, Greg Tardy and Oscar Rossignoli
by Hobart Taylor
New music from Gary Bartz, Zoh Amba, Oscar Rossignoli and Allison Miller. Playlist Gary Bartz “In Search of my Heart-Love Surrounds Us" from Damage Control (OYO) 00:00 Zoh Amba “ Seaside" from Sun (Smalltownsounds) 10:08 Host Speaks 17:02 Allison Miller “Fierce" from Big and Lovely (Royal Potato Family) 18:35 George Burton Alexa Barchini “Your Skin/White Noise" from White Noise (Porge) 26:07 Oscar Rossignoli “Levitations, Pt. I" from Levitations (Self-Produced) 32:38 Host Speaks 44:30 Adrian Younge Samantha Schmütz “Quando ...
Continue ReadingGary Bartz Quintet at Jazz Alley
by Paul Rauch
Gary Bartz Quintet Jazz Alley Seattle, WA April 29, 2025 As an alto saxophonist, NEA Jazz Master Gary Bartz has merged freedom and form in historic fashion, in the process acquiring an understanding of the art of improvisation, or what Bartz refers to as “informal composition," in a unique and enlightened way. His vital expressionism has traveled from hard bop to Latin, to fusion in a seamless progression that has enabled a boundless ...
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