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Jacob Garchik

acob Garchik, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and arranger, was born in San Francisco and has lived in New York since 1994. At home in a wide variety of styles and musical roles, he has become a vital part of NYC’s downtown and Brooklyn scene, playing trombone with the Lee Konitz Nonet, Ohad Talmor/Steve Swallow Sextet, The Four Bags, Slavic Soul Party, and the John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble. In 2012 he released the acclaimed solo CD “The Heavens: the Atheist Gospel Trombone Album”.

Since 2006 Jacob has contributed dozens of arrangements and transcriptions for the Kronos Quartet of music from all over the world. His arrangements were featured on “Floodplain” (2009) and “Rainbow” (2010). He composed the score for Kronos for the documentary film “The Campaign” (2013) about the fight for marriage equality in California, which aired on PBS and at the frameline37 film festival in San Francisco. Complete list of arrangements for Kronos

As a trombonist Jacob has worked with many of the luminaries of the avant-garde, including Henry Threadgill, Laurie Anderson, Anthony Braxton, Anthony Coleman, Joe Maneri, Frank London, James Tenney, Josh Roseman, Don Byron, Terry Reilly, George Lewis, and Billy Martin. He has also played in ensembles led by rising artists such as Mary Halvorson, Dan Weiss, Miguel Zenon, and Steve Lehman. In 2013 he was named a “Rising Star” in the Downbeat Magazine Jazz Critic’s Poll.

Jacob also plays accordion, bass trombone, tuba, computer, and piano.

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Album Review

Simon Hanes: Gargantua

Read "Gargantua" reviewed by Mark Corroto


Two quotes come to mind in the wake of Simon Hanes' Gargantua. The first is from Perry Farrell of Jane's Addiction: “Camera got them images / Camera got them all / Nothing's shocking... “ The second, often attributed to William S. Burroughs: “Nothing is true, everything is permitted." Taken together, they suggest a world where boundaries dissolve and meaning becomes fluid. Hanes both affirms and challenges that premise in this sprawling, provocative work. Gargantua is written for an ...

Album Review

Simon Hanes: Gargantua

Read "Gargantua" reviewed by Vincenzo Roggero


Tre batterie, tre bassi elettrici, tre tromboni, tre corni francesi e tre voci, questo l'ensemble che mette in scena Gargantua, album proveniente dalla sempre più benemerita Pyroclastic Records. Inusuale, sorprendente, bizzarra strumentazione? Niente affatto, se in cabina di regia siede Simon Hanes, visionario artista, californiano di nascita ma residente a Brooklyn, che miscela le più disparate suggestioni musicali--siano esse polifonie rinascimentali, hard rock, noise, minimalismo, avant jazz, o colonne sonore italiane anni sessanta/settanta--con sorprendente nonchalance e altrettanto sorprendenti risultati. 

60
Album Review

Ye Olde 2: Ye Olde 2: At the End of Time

Read "Ye Olde 2: At the End of Time" reviewed by Glenn Astarita


Ten years after the first Ye Olde (Yestereve Records, 2015) was framed around a fantasy quest into a riotous Brooklyn guitar summit, trombonist extraordinaire Jacob Garchik returns with Ye Olde 2: At the End of Time, a 48-minute sci-fi prog jazz odyssey stretching from the heat death of the universe to the resurrection of consciousness itself. The original crew--Mary Halvorson, Brandon Seabrook, and Jonathan Goldberger on guitars, Vinnie Sperrazza on drums--anchors six of the eight tracks plus the ...

1
Album Review

Peter Lenz: Breathe

Read "Breathe" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Dopo aver espresso ottime doti di strumentista e leader col quintetto Silent Flow e col quartetto Lithium, il batterista austriaco debutta con successo nel campo dell'orchestrazione, scegliendo di operare con tre differenti organici: una big band di 17 elementi (nei brani “Enclouded" ed “Eleanor"), una big band ampliata a un quartetto d'archi (in “Between Lines" e “Von Inneren Grenzen") ed un ensemble da camera comprendente quartetto d'archi, tre fiati, contrabbasso e batteria (in “Breathe") Volendo dirigere personalmente gli ...

13
Album Review

Mary Halvorson: About Ghosts

Read "About Ghosts" reviewed by Doug Collette


Since Mary Halvorson began her prolific affiliation with Nonesuch Records, she has refused to repeat herself except with a purpose. The simultaneous release of Amaryllis & Belladonna (Nonesuch Records, 2022) was the precursor to the expansive Cloudward (Nonesuch Records, 2024), while About Ghosts represents a retrenchment, albeit a productive one. On five of these eight cuts, the identical Amaryllis Sextet that appeared on the latter LP interacts smoothly with guest saxophonists Immanuel Wilkins and Brian Settles. Such synchrony ...

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Album Review

Mary Halvorson: About Ghosts

Read "About Ghosts" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic


It has become more than an urban legend that Brooklyn's genius-in-residence Mary Halvorson is supernaturally up to something. Some new route around something else. On her second resiliency test of the year--her first, the fiery Bone Bells (Pyroclastic, 2025) alongside hot-house pianist Sylvie Courvoisier still rattles the playlist--Halvorson's About Ghosts tells of wide open spaces with a wide open lens. Its intricate inner architecture is so comfortably ethereal that you sway freely within its charm and frenzy. About ...

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Album Review

Miguel Zenón: Golden City

Read "Golden City" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro


La musica contenuta in questo album trae spunto da una commissione ricevuta da Miguel Zenón per la composizione di una suite basata sulla storia di San Francisco e della Bay Area, evidenziando in particolare i contributi offerti da parte delle comunità giapponese, cinese, messicana e, ovviamente, afroamericana. Ne è nata così questa Golden City, presentata in anteprima al San Francisco Jazz Center nel 2022 e incisa poi a fine novembre dell'anno seguente. Per l'occasione Zenón (portoricano, lo ricordiamo) ...

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Recording

Abstracts, a new CD by Jacob Garchik

Abstracts, a new CD by Jacob Garchik

Source: All About Jazz

Announcing Abstracts, a new album on Yestereve Records by trombonist and composer Jacob Garchik. He is a member of the critically acclaimed Lee Konitz New Nonet, which recently recorded live at the Jazz Standard. He also plays with the Steve Swallow/Ohad Talmor sextet, the John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble, Frank London's Klezmer Brass All-Stars, Slavic Soul Party, and many others. He is as comfortable and experienced playing duets with Lee Konitz as he is freely improvising with Joe Maneri, working with ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Gargantua

Pyroclastic Records
2026

buy

About Ghosts

Nonesuch Records
2025

buy

Ye Olde 2: At the End...

Yestereve Records
2025

buy

Cloudward

Nonesuch Records
2024

buy

Slow Water

Papillon Sounds
2024

buy

Miniature America

Cygnus Recordings
2024

buy

The Number of the Beast is 666

From: Gargantua
By Jacob Garchik

The Cocktail Party

From: Miniature America
By Jacob Garchik

Eager

From: Slow Water
By Jacob Garchik

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