Reviews that mention Jacob Garchik
September 27, 2021
Idiom
Pi Recordings 89
Designed to show off tenor saxophonist/flutist Anna Webber’s skills as composer and player are the idioms developed on each disc of this two-CD set. Without knowing their genesis in extended woodwind techniques, the five idioms expressed can be appreciated as appropriately moving Jazz and improvised music. That’s partially a testament to what the British Colombia-born Brooklyn-based musician’s conceptions and also because the interpretations involve some of the east coast’s most accomplished players. MORE
February 16, 2021
Clear Line
Yestereve Records 06
Drawing on jazz big band section work, European village marching bands and notated music for winds, composer/conductor Jacob Garchik has composed nine POMO interludes for four trumpets, four trombones and three saxophones. Eschewing a rhythm section and string sweetening, he endows the compositions with coordinated horn work for rhythmic impetus and savory harmonies, while leaving space for creative soloing.
At the same time with blustery brass and popping reeds often emphasized to create contrapuntal backing, individual’s features are short but to-the-point. Besides brief mood setting sequences, extended tracks highlight different strategies from Fusion-referencing brassy horn expositions to enough key percussion that suggest bagpipe-blowing tremolos. “Moebius and Mucha” is the most overt swinger with bugle-bright trumpet work cutting across sliding connections from the other horns. Meanwhile “Sixth” is a quasi-rondo that subverts its mellow form with colorful upwards movements that encompasses brass and reed call-and-response before textures meld into a stop-time climax. MORE
January 11, 2021
El Intruso 13th Annual International Critics Poll 2020
Spanish Website
Ken Waxman’s ballot
Ken Waxman
(Periodista canadiense, editor de JazzWord. Durante muchos años ha escrito para los principales periódicos canadienses e internacionales y realiza comentarios sobre música en diferentes programas de radio) www.jazzword.com
Músico: “Covid 19”
Músico Revelación: “Covid 19”
Grupo: Leimgruber/Demierre/Phillips
Grupo Revelación: Tonus
Álbum: Various Artists – New Improvised Music from Buenos Aires (ESP Disk)
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June 17, 2019
Clockwise
Pi Recordings P179
By Ken Waxman
Reaching an elevated trajectory following her last CD, B.C.-born, New York-based tenor saxophone/flutist Anna Webber aided by a seasoned septet, re-conceptualizes into new compositions impressions of 20th Century composers’ percussion works.
Percussiveness not percussion is the major focus, even though her studio reassembling of Ches Smith’s echoing tympani on the Felmanesque “King of Denmark II” are suitably staggering. Mostly though Smith sticks to drums and vibraphone to provide the precise clamor and ringing clatter that swing alongside Jacob Garchik’s emotional trombone flow; place-marking stops or sweeping glissandi from Christopher Hoffman’s cello and Chris Tordini’ bass; pulsing chromatics from pianist Matt Mitchell; and stylistic chirps or snarls from Webber and tenor saxophonist/clarinetist Jeremy Viner. MORE
March 8, 2018
John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble
All Can Work
New Amsterdam NWAM094
By Ken Waxman
Drummer John Hollenbeck convened 20 of New York’s most accomplished improvisers to interpret his newest compositions and arrangements. Concerned mostly with the harmonic relationship among instrumental sections and textures which blend into pastel billows, Hollenbeck’s conception is horizontal and flowing with limits on solos. It’s characterized by the kiss, composed for a Romeo and Juliet project, which embeds pianist Mat Mitchell’s dynamic theme elaborations within a buoyant, sprightly narrative. That said, the introductory Lud is built around multiple idiophone vibrations cushioned by horn breaths and which quickly draws you into Hollenbeck’s multiple creations. The concluding “The Model”, lifted from the repertory of German electronica band Kraftwerk is light, bracing and wraps up the session with hints of a spirited “I Love Paris”-like vamp. MORE
December 13, 2013
Illusionary Sea
Firehouse 12 Records FH12-04-01-017
More enterprising than most of her earlier discs, New York guitarist Mary Halvorson created this series of compositions for an expanded ensemble, most of whose members she works with in other contexts. The results are audacious, proving that the guitarist, who first made her reputation with Anthony Braxton, is a sophisticated composer as well as soloist.
That said many of the tracks have a resemblance to Henry Threadgill’s jaunty writing for similar-sized ensembles. But, as would be expected, while Threadgill emphasizes low brass and rhythm, Halvorson’s weight is more on guitar and saxophones. Dividing the reed duties here are alto saxophonist Jon Irabagon and tenor saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock, while the rhythm section consists of bassist John Hébert and drummer Ches Smith. Brass power arrives from trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson and trombonist Jacob Garchik. Garchik’s and Laubrock’s contributions were added to the others who usually make up the guitarist’s working quintet, so her challenge was reconceptualising the five-part arrangements for seven. Listening to the sympathetic outcome though, you’d never know that the pieces hadn’t been created for that configuration from the get-go. MORE
June 3, 2013
Garchik/Sacks/Ambrosio/Sperrazza
40Twenty
Yeah Yeah Records YY 0004
Samuel Blaser Quartet
As The Sea
hatOLOGY 718
Extending the wide reach necessary to play their instrument with an equally ample range of ideas and skills, trombonists Samuel Blaser of Switzerland and New York’s Jacob Garchik confirm with these CDs that that the evolution of imaginative brass playing continues.
Blaser, whose experience encompasses working with other enlightened players like Swiss percussionist Pierre Favre and American drummer Gerry Hemingway, has composed a four-part suite to show off his prowess and that of his combo, featuring French guitarist Marc Ducret, Swiss bassist Bänz Oester and American drummer Gerald Cleaver. All-American and with a name that references the grueling club gigs of the 1950s, 40Twenty is a co-op quartet which highlights the improvisational and compositional muscle of all its members which include Jacob Garchik on trombone, pianist Jacob Sacks, bassist David Ambrosio and drummer Vinnie Sperrazza. MORE