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Pete McGuinness: Mixed Bag
by Angelo Leonardi
Quella che Pete McGuinness guida a New York è tra le poche orchestre capaci di coniugare smagliante professionalità tecnica, ricercatezza e fantasia. È una big band incantevole eppure è meno nota di quanto meriti e quest'album è solo il quarto registrato in due decenni di vita. McGuinness ha operato come trombonista dalla fine degli anni ottanta e come bandleader dal 2006, dopo aver messo a frutto gli studi svolti con Bob Brookmeyer e Bill Holman. Da qualche anno ha dovuto interrompere l'uso del ...
Continue ReadingPete McGuinness: Mixed Bag
by Pierre Giroux
With Mixed Bag, Pete McGuinness once again affirms his place among the elite of modern big band composers and arrangers, presenting a luminous tapestry of jazz idioms that ranges from the exuberantly traditional to the adventurously modern. As the title suggests, the album is a delightful potpourri. However, rather than feeling scattered or unfocused, McGuinness weaves his eclectic inclinations into a coherent and emotionally engaging statement. He brings to bear not only the encyclopedic command of a seasoned jazz craftsman ...
Continue ReadingThe Pete McGuinness Jazz Orchestra: Mixed Bag
by Jack Bowers
Award-winning arranger Pete McGuinness has chosen to name the fourth recording by his stellar New York-based Jazz Orchestra Mixed Bag, a term whose meaning may be construed as positive or less so, depending on the context. As he explains in the album's liner notes, McGuinness accentuates the positive, writing that to him, “Variety has always been the spice of life. I don't like the feeling of being pigeon-holed into a certain bag...For this project...I've included many 'bags' that I love ...
Continue ReadingRuss Anixter's Hippie Big Band: What Is?
by Jack Bowers
Although the music of New York-based bandleader and arranger Russ Anixter may leave the average listener bemused and scratching his or her head, even the more perplexed among them would have to concede that Anixter has his personal North Star, and that he and the eleven-member Hippie Big Band follow it to the letter. Having grown up in San Francisco in the 1960s, Anixter was irresistibly drawn to bands such as The Grateful Dead, Santana and others who made improvisation ...
Continue ReadingSpin Cycle: Spin Cycle III
by Mark Corroto
The quartet we know as Spin Cycle delivers III, the band's follow up to Assorted Colors (Sound Footing Records, 2018). Here, the compositional partners Scott Neumann and Tom Christensen exercise their omnivorous tastes on a broad --ranging spectrum of sound. Like their previous two albums, the pair employ guitarist Pete McCann and bassist Phil Palombi, two über sidemen to accomplish their insatiable need to explore multiple genres and eras. There is something here for everyone. The opening track ...
Continue ReadingSpin Cycle (Tom Christensen & Scott Neumann): Spin Cycle III
by Dan McClenaghan
Spin Cycle III, by the group Spin Cycle, co-led by drummer Scott Neumann and saxophonist Tom Christensen, opens in a high octane mode, via Neuman's sizzling drums, Pete McCann's stinging guitar and Phil Palombi's muscular, juiced-up bass laying down a precision foundation, with the crisp articulation of Christensen's tenor sax out front. The tune is “Churn," written by the saxophonist, and it has a fine focus of a hot fusion romp. “Drain The Swamp," another composition from Christensen, ...
Continue ReadingBill Warfield and the Hell's Kitchen Funk Orchestra: Smile
by Jack Bowers
Having no idea what to expect from an ensemble labeled the Hell's Kitchen Funk Orchestra, the game plan must be to advance with caution, as any orchestra with trumpeter Bill Warfield at the helm can't be all bad. After listening, it becomes clear that the game plan was sound and the premise accurate: Smile, the HKFO's second recording, isn't all bad. The question is: did Warfield and the orchestra have its own game plan? If snatching every ingredient within reach ...
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