Reviews that mention David Liebman
November 23, 20211
Expansions
Dot Time Records DT 9104
Marco Colonna
Offering: Playing the Music of John Coltrane
Niafunken NFK015 Setola de Maiale SM 4210
John Coltrane’s lasting influence on Jazz and saxophonists in particular is clearly demonstrated on these releases which interpret part of his recorded legacy in almost diametrically opposed fashions. Even though American soprano saxophonist Dave Liebman and Italian sopranino saxophonist/bass clarinetist Marco Colonna each play tunes from all phrases of Coltrane’s career the results are as dissimilar as bagels and biscotti. MORE
January 16, 2021
Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol & Whatsnext?
The Rise Up: Stories of Strife, Struggle and Inspiration
Dünya 014
A complex but not complicated work The Rise Up is a tripartite orchestral tone poem dealing with Sufi, Sephardic Jewish and Muslim Middle Eastern history with American soprano saxophone master Dave Liebman as chief soloist. With each section divided into three parts, Turkish-American composer Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol’s score melds scraps of the region’s traditional music with explicit Jazz improvisations and Westernized arrangements reminiscent of Gil Evans’ work.
Known for his inspiring improvising and pedagoguery, Liebman has performed with everyone from Elvin Jones to Evan Parker. A multi-instrumentalist and ethnomusicologist composer, on the faculty of Boston’s New England Conservatory, Sanlıkol has composed operas and worked with everyone from Esperanza Spalding to the American Composers Orchestra. These orchestrations for 27 musicians and singers involve a clutch of traditional instruments from Arab countries as well as brass, woodwinds and strings. MORE
May 17, 2010
Lieb Plays Weill
Daybreak-Challenge DBCHR75439
Dave Liebman Group
Turnaround: The Music of Ornette Coleman
Jazz Werkstatt JW 079
Dave Liebman/Evan Parker/Tony Bianco
Relevance
Red Toucan #RT 9338
Three by Lieb:
By Ken Waxman
After more than three decades, saxophonist Dave Liebman is the epitome of the modern improviser whose work is constantly first-class, but rarely challenging. Two of these CDs alter those expectations, showing that his style can be extended. MORE
May 17, 2010
Turnaround: The Music of Ornette Coleman
Jazz Werkstatt JW 079
Dave Liebman/Evan Parker/Tony Bianco
Relevance
Red Toucan #RT 9338
David Liebman Trio
Lieb Plays Weill
Daybreak-Challenge DBCHR75439
Three By Lieb:
By Ken Waxman
After more than three decades, saxophonist Dave Liebman is the epitome of the modern improviser whose work is constantly first-class, but rarely challenging. Two of these CDs alter those expectations, showing that his style can be extended.
Take Turnaround, where Liebman and guitarist Vic Jurius, bassist Tony Mariano and percussionist Marko Marcinko, romp through a collection of rearranghed Orenette Coleman tunes. More spectacular is Relevance, a two saxophone face-off between Liebman and London’s Evan Parker, his equivalent in the free music field, backed by drummer Tony Bianco. As good as it is, Lieb Plays Weill, only finds Liebman adding another to his collection of stellar interpretive performances. MORE
May 17, 2010
Dave Liebman/Evan Parker/Tony Bianco
Relevance
Red Toucan #RT 9338
Dave Liebman Group
Turnaround: The Music of Ornette Coleman
Jazz Werkstatt JW 079
David Liebman Trio
Lieb Plays Weill
Daybreak-Challenge DBCHR75439
Three By Lieb:
By Ken Waxman
After more than three decades, saxophonist Dave Liebman is the epitome of the modern improviser whose work is constantly first-class, but rarely challenging. Two of these CDs alter those expectations, showing that his style can be extended. MORE
August 8, 2009
David Liebman/Ellery Eskelin Quartet
Renewal
hatOLOGY 654
More astringent in their reed interaction then earlier tandem tenor teams such as Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis and Johnny Griffin or Al Cohn and Zoot Sims, the overwhelming techniques of American saxophonists David Liebman and Ellery Eskelin advantageously boost each other’s strong points.
Seconded by the spontaneous pulses of drummer Jim Black from Eskelin’s working trio, and the steady back-up of bassist Tony Marino from Liebman’s regular band, the quartet ranges through a series of originals written by band members plus two versions of Eric Dolphy’s “Out There”. Although of different generations – Liebman was born in 1946, Eskelin in 1959 – their mutual respect means that the resulting unison or double counterpoint styling harmonically plugs any pre-existing timbral gaps from either soloist. A similar irregular vibrato allows each saxophonist to frequently improvise a half-step apart until one dips into slurred basso growls and the other nervy altissimo shrills. MORE
November 14, 2006
Three For All
Challenge Records CHR 70130
Baby boomers on either side of 60, these three jazzmen triply confirm that veterans continue to make personal, well-crafted music without falling into the twin traps of self-parodying nostalgia or unwarranted experimentation.
Veteran of their own bands and associations with heavyweights such as Miles Davis, John Scofield and Carla Bley, saxophonist/flautist Dave Liebman, electric bassist Steve Swallow and drummer Adam Nussbaum apprenticed in the 1960s and 1970s and survived most of the twists and trends of the decades since. Mostly avoiding fads like fusion, they’ve stayed true to their own vision(s). MORE
June 26, 2006
The Distance Runner
hatOLOGY 628
By Ken Waxman
New York-based saxophonist David Liebman is the epitome of the self-aware contemporary saxophonist: conspicuously primed for any situation.
Veteran of hundreds of recordings, with an apprenticeship in drummer Elvin Jones' and trumpeter Miles Davis' bands, not only has he flirted with mainstream jazz, chamber music, fusion, and free playing, but his worldwide teaching activities have included time spent at universities and giving clinics, as well as authorship of books on harmony, melody, and developing a personal saxophone style. MORE
February 28, 2005
Quick Response
CDM Records CDM 1005
AL ASHLEY
These Are Them
Jazzand 1001
Blues and funk don’t have to be the only music played by an organ combo as these sessions led by veteran jazzers demonstrate. If anything, both are reminiscent of the pre-Jimmy Smith sax-guitar-organ dates that were more concerned with swinging than sounding churchy. Certainly both dual keyboard men -- Kyle Koehler on QUICK and Oliver Von Esson on THESE -- seem to relate more to Swing era organists like Wild Bill Davis or post-boppers like Larry Young than the funk crowd. MORE
August 11, 2003
Cosmos
Cadence Jazz Records CJR 1158
ISGLEM
Fire
NORCD 0343
Created two months apart in the widely divergent climates of steamy Florida and chilly Norway, the music of the two proficient duos here has more in common than either would have imagined at the time.
Americans, saxophonist and flautist Dave Liebman and drummer and percussionist Abbey Rader are two of the most technically proficient musicians around. Both -- Liebman especially -- are celebrated for teaching master classes, writing instructional manuals and participating in numberless instrumental clinics for younger musicians. At the same time both are full-time players, committed to the exploratory sounds identified with John Coltrane and Elvin Jones. Liebman was in Jones’ band in the early 1970s, while Rader played in the late pianist Mal Waldron’s groups and partnered with violinist Billy Bang. MORE
January 8, 2002
No Images
CRI Blueshift 2002
JOHN HOLLENBECK
Quartet Lucy
CRI Blueshift 2003
JOHN HOLLENBECK
The Claudia Quartet
CRI Blueshift 2004
Moving among improv, big band jazz, New music and song-based material, percussionist/composer John Hollenbeck has made a name for himself in New York over the past half-decade. During that time, Hollenbeck, who also has a master’s degree from Rochester’s Eastman School of Music has worked with folks as varied as dancer/composer Meredith Monk, arranger Bob Brookmeyer, “downtown” trumpeter Cuong Vu and Klezmer brassman Frank London. MORE