Jul 27, 2021 10:30 AM
John Pizzarelli’s Ode to Pat Metheny
It was in his darkest hour, during the early stages of the 2020 lockdown, that guitarist-vocalist John Pizzarelli…
Bassist Nick Dunston is set to issue his debut as a leader, Atlantic Extraction, Nov. 1 through Out of Your Head Records.
(Photo: Gaya Feldheim-Schorr)Bassist Nick Dunston’s name just keeps cropping up.
If you didn’t catch him on Amirtha Kidambi’s release with Elder Ones, From Untruth, keep an eye out for the upcoming Dave Douglas recording, Engage, with his contributions.
The bassist, though, also is an ambitious bandleader and composer who’s writing can make his quintet sound like a massive ensemble, flits among dense and aggressive pieces (“Tattle Snake”), and breathy, spacious snatches of calm (“A Rolling Wave Of Nothing”) on his upcoming debut, Atlantic Extraction, due out Nov. 1. For “S.S. Nemesis,” an avant-leaning cut off that album premiering below, he reaches back through history to reassess the melody of a Stephen Foster work.
“I want to also think about the other definition of ‘extraction.’ ‘Oh! Susanna’ is a minstrel song, and the tradition of appropriating historical artifacts (sometimes racist ones), as a means of subverting, creating and thriving is something that Afrodiasporic people are all too familiar with,” Dunston wrote in an email. “All of this stems from a fundamental goal of my work, which is to establish a deeper connection with my ancestry and to contribute my own narrative to the continuum of that lineage, whether it be biological, social and/or artistic. ”
For more on Dunston’s work, visit his homepage. DB
John Pizzarelli hit the woodshed, literally, to develop material for his new recording Better Days Ahead: Solo Guitar Takes On Pat Metheny.
Jul 27, 2021 10:30 AM
It was in his darkest hour, during the early stages of the 2020 lockdown, that guitarist-vocalist John Pizzarelli…
This year’s New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival has been canceled. It was scheduled to take place in October.
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Corea was named Artist, Pianist and Keyboardist of the Year for the final time in the 69th Annual DownBeat Critics Poll.
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Editor’s Note: This article is from the August 2021 DownBeat Critics Poll issue.
At the time of this writing,…
Carla Bley, the 2021 critics’ choice for the DownBeat Hall of Fame
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Given the tenor of the times, Carla Bley’s extraordinary career shouldn’t have happened. What were the chances…
Squint is Julian Lage’s debut on Blue Note Records.
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Clasping his hands to his chest, then raising them to the heavens, Julian Lage evoked echoes of the exuberant child he…
