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Jared Hall: Hometown
by Jack Bowers
The Hometown in question is Spokane, Washington, where trumpeter and composer Jared Hall was born and raised. On his third album for Origin Records, Hall salutes the hometown to which he has returned after years as a touring musician with a splendid series of his original compositions and new readings of others by Bobby Hutcherson and Thelonious Monk. To help carry out his plan, Hall enlisted the services of four stellar sidemen: tenor saxophonist Troy Roberts, pianist Ben ...
Continue ReadingJared Hall: Influences
by Paul Rauch
Jazz music has proliferated through generations traditionally by means of the oral tradition--meaning that knowledge is passed on by mentors, some by personal connection and others by more casual means. In modern times, this tradition lives alongside the jazz school phenomenon, where classrooms and studios incubate talent, while students inescapably still must pay their dues on the bandstand, playing with musicians that are more accomplished and more experienced. Trumpeter Jared Hall has for years straddled that fine line ...
Continue ReadingNancy Erickson Lamont: Through the Passages
by Nicholas F. Mondello
On occasion with so many artists presenting recordings, a reviewer may innocently fall into the trap of bypassing a jewel by an unfamiliar singer. Such was the case here. The subsequent discovery was fortuitous. Seattle-based vocalist and composer, Nancy Erickson Lamont's Through the Passages is a thoroughly fascinating, absorbing 12-original-track session with the artist surrounded by an A-1 crew of the Pacific Northwest's best. It is undoubtedly a pearl of a find. “Tick Tock" opens the date ...
Continue ReadingRay Vega & Thomas Marriott East West Trumpet Summit: Coast to Coast
by Jack Bowers
Coast to Coast is the third East West Trumpet Summit recorded by Ray Vega and Thomas Marriott in a musical partnership that has spanned nearly three decades. The years have been kind, and when it comes to playing persuasive jazz, neither Vega nor Marriott appears to have lost a step. Marriott, a native of Seattle, and Vega, New York-born and bred, first met in 1995, and the mutual admiration and respect was immediate. Their first two albums as co-leaders were ...
Continue ReadingRay Vega & Thomas Marriott East West Trumpet Summit: Coast to Coast
by Paul Rauch
For some people, the whole notion of an east-west summit of anything in jazz brings up the perceived differences over time between American west coast jazz and its east coast counterpart. The basic premise is that jazz on the American west coast is a cousin to the cool jazz movement, a calmer, less soulful part of the tradition that relies more on composition and arrangement than the playing of individual improvisers. East coast jazz is seen more as hard driving, ...
Continue ReadingPhil Parisot: Inventions
by Jack Bowers
Even at a time when jazz has broadened its horizons to encompass music from a wide variety of sources, it is not often that one happens upon a jazz album inspired by the life and music of Johann Sebastian Bach. However, that is the premise animating drummer Phil Parisot's sunlit Inventions, an astute post-bop session wherein Bach's muse may be present but whose point of view, exemplified by Parisot's stylish compositions, is decidedly contemporary. The truth is, if ...
Continue ReadingJared Hall: Seen on the Scene
by Jack Bowers
Seen on the Scene, Seattle-based trumpeter Jared Hall's second album as a leader, has a lot going for it: tight-knit group unity and tasteful dynamics; bright, technically polished solos by all hands; and engaging tunes by Hall and the late bop master, Tadd Dameron. As a bonus, the acclaimed alto saxophonist Vincent Herring is “on the scene" to share the front line with Hall, elevating the session whenever he assumes the spotlight. Hall's sound is crisp and ...
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