AARON BAHR SEPTET - Places (Real and Imagined)
Available from Bandcamp
Aaron Bahr - Trumpet and Compositions; Clay Lyons - Alto Saxophone; Eitan Gofman - Tenor Saxophone; Yoav Eshed - Guitar; Jonathan Elbaz - Piano; Kazuhiro Odagiri - Drums; Michael Bates - Bass
Recorded September 23/24 2019 at Big Orange Sheep, Brooklyn, New York, USA
Seven musicians, who have a sound like fourteen, reveal some truly skilful artistry and a unique sound all their own. Trumpeter Aaron Bahr wrote seven of the nine tracks. The other two are Lennie’s Pennies by Lenny Tristano and Never Let Me Go by Ray Evans (lyrics) and Jay Livingston (music). This was featured in the film The Scarlet Hour (1956) and sung by Nat ‘King’ Cole.
Bahr is a jazz trumpeter and composer living and working in New York City. He has earned accolades for his big band writing. He teaches at the Brooklyn Music School, where he is an instructor on piano and trumpet. He won his Bachelor’s Degree in Jazz Composition at Berklee College of Music in Boston and his Master’s at the New England Conservatory of Music also in Boston.
The roots of childhood interest in music generally and jazz particularly seem quite commonplace through the septet, as do the Boston colleges, by and large.
Bahr has claimed that he studies and works towards creating music that stirs both cerebrally and emotionally, in the genre of solid, hard-bop, instrumental jazz. I found this to be true for me and through each member of the sextet as they all drove towards reiterating the essential elements of the resonance of classical jazz. There is some brilliant polyphonic interplay here along with open-minded outlooks upon the captivating compositions.
This is highly stimulating music.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
Available from Bandcamp
Aaron Bahr - Trumpet and Compositions; Clay Lyons - Alto Saxophone; Eitan Gofman - Tenor Saxophone; Yoav Eshed - Guitar; Jonathan Elbaz - Piano; Kazuhiro Odagiri - Drums; Michael Bates - Bass
Recorded September 23/24 2019 at Big Orange Sheep, Brooklyn, New York, USA
Seven musicians, who have a sound like fourteen, reveal some truly skilful artistry and a unique sound all their own. Trumpeter Aaron Bahr wrote seven of the nine tracks. The other two are Lennie’s Pennies by Lenny Tristano and Never Let Me Go by Ray Evans (lyrics) and Jay Livingston (music). This was featured in the film The Scarlet Hour (1956) and sung by Nat ‘King’ Cole.
Bahr is a jazz trumpeter and composer living and working in New York City. He has earned accolades for his big band writing. He teaches at the Brooklyn Music School, where he is an instructor on piano and trumpet. He won his Bachelor’s Degree in Jazz Composition at Berklee College of Music in Boston and his Master’s at the New England Conservatory of Music also in Boston.
The roots of childhood interest in music generally and jazz particularly seem quite commonplace through the septet, as do the Boston colleges, by and large.
Bahr has claimed that he studies and works towards creating music that stirs both cerebrally and emotionally, in the genre of solid, hard-bop, instrumental jazz. I found this to be true for me and through each member of the sextet as they all drove towards reiterating the essential elements of the resonance of classical jazz. There is some brilliant polyphonic interplay here along with open-minded outlooks upon the captivating compositions.
This is highly stimulating music.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
